A very simple wiring lesson. It’s pretty self explanatory, but if you need more explanation, check out ‘Wiring a Young Tree’ in Bonsai Today issue 107 (Bonsai Today back issues are currently 70% off at Stone Lantern).

That’s a lot of bonsai wire
It’s now official. We have sold almost exactly one ton of Bonsai Aesthetics wire since we started offering it on June 26th of this year.

Two very good reasons
There are two very good reasons why Bonsai Aesthetics wire is so popular: first, quality: it’s easy to use and it holds very well. Second, low prices.

1 Kilo rolls
We offer 1 kilo rolls of Bonsai Aesthetics wire for $14.80 to $18.50 each, depending on how many you buy.

100 gram rolls
We offer 100 gram rolls for $2.12 to 2.65 each, depending on how many you buy.

Why wire?
There was a time when some bonsai purists refused to use wire to shape their trees. That time is now gone. Virtually all bonsai artists now use bonsai wire. If you compare bonsai from the pre-wiring era and now, the results are all you need to know about wiring. Though it’s true that other breakthroughs (like carving with power tools) are involved, still, wiring has revolutionized bonsai. It allows you to do things that would take much, much longer without wire. It also allows you to do things you could never do without wire.

A simple quiz to bend your mind during these dark winter months. From Bonsai Today issue 1.

Japanese bonsai wire
We also offer excellent low prices on Koyo Japanese bonsai wire.

Back in good hands
I stumbled upon the photo below in a 2009 post in Bonsai Tonight. It’s the same tree you see above, after what looks like a period of neglect. At that point in 2009 it was in the care Shinji Suzuki, one of Japan’s most famous bonsai artists; a person whose hands are no doubt capable of restoring it to its former splendor. We can only wonder what happened to this marvelous tree between 1987, when Kimura restyled it, and 2009.

2009 at Suzuki’s Taikan Bonsai Museum (from Bonsai Tonight). Enjoying a period of rest and recovery.

Gracing the cover of Bonsai Today. Unfortunately, this issue is sold out. Fortunately, we still have about 50 back issue in stock (at 70% off ).

I couldn’t resist. Also from Bonsai Tonight.

Marco Invernizzi, Bill Valavanis and Isao Omachi

Your generosity comes to fruition: I received this note and photo from Bill Valavanis the other day.“This afternoon, Saturday, November 19, 2012 Marco and I met with Isao Omachi to present him with several checks in the amount of US $55,000.00 received from the generous donations around the world. Isao was very appreciative of the gift which will assist his family to re construct their lives.” Isao’s house and bonsai collection were completely lost in Japan’s devastating earthquake/tsunami.

Just got this postcard in the mail from my friends and compatriots at the NBF. The tree is a formal upright Japanese White pine. Decent formal uprights are rare and this splendid samurai is far beyond just decent.

This is shot taken from a video that shows the Bonsai displayed by the Bonsai Societies of Florida at the Epcot.

Bonsai from Scratch Honorable Mention Winners

A heartfelt thanks to all of you who entered our contest. Your efforts made for a high-quality, dynamic and enjoyable experience. And thank you also to our great panel of judges. Your participation added richness and depth to the contest. Lest I forget, thank you also to those of you who donated prizes (Robert Steven – artist, author & teacher, Todd Hansen - Sanctuary Bonsai, & Paul Stokes - ofBonsai Magazine). Your generosity is appreciated.

First, second, third, forth & fifth prizes have already been awarded.
Now for the Honorable Mentions.

Congratulations to Ryan Wagner. His Juniper pro-nana won the First Honorable Mention prize in our Bonsai from Scratch Contest. Ryan’s prize is a $50 gift certificate to Stone Lantern.

Congratulations to Johnson Teh. His Yaupon holly won the Second Honorable Mention prize in our Bonsai from Scratch Contest. Johnson’s prize is Robert Steven’s ground-breaking book, Mission of Transformation.

Congratulations to Steve Ristau. His Japanese yew won the Third Honorable Mention prize in our Bonsai from Scratch Contest. Steve’s prize is Robert Steven’s classic book, Vision of My Soul.

Congratulations to Robert Spencer Sencer. His Cedar of Lebanon won the Forth Honorable Mention prize in our Bonsai from Scratch Contest. Robert’s prize is $25 gift certificate from Cafe Press, the ofBonsai Magazine store.

Congratulations to Jeff Doyle. His Echiniformis White spruce won the Fifth Honorable Mention prize in our Bonsai from Scratch Contest. Jeff’s prize is $25 gift certificate from Cafe Press, the ofBonsai Magazine store.

Prize winners: Please contact me so we can make sure you get your gift: wayne@stonelantern.com

Bunjin or Literati, bonsai elegance by any name
The following is from something I wrote for The Magician: The Bonsai Art of Kimura.

“Bunjin style bonsai originated in China among scholars and artist who were known as literati, which is another name for bunjin. Originally, literati style bonsai – which dates back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907) – was influenced by Chinese brush painting. With a little imagination, the connection can be readily seen.

Perhaps the keys to understanding bunjin are the notions of simplicity and elegance. These qualities arise as expressions of freedom; freedom from conventional and habitual way thinking, doing and seeing. This type of freedom – which is highly valued in some traditional societies and is not easily obtained – results in a direct and immediate way of experiencing the world. This could be called intuition…”

That’s enough for now (I know your time is precious). If you’re one of those strange people who likes to read the ramblings of others, you can always purchase (our peruse your copy of) The Magician.

This triple humpbacked pine combines elegance and a rugged wildness. I don’t know who it belongs to (please don’t show me up by pointing out that it’s in an issue of Bonsai Today or one of our books, there’s no more room on my face for any more egg), but I’d guess that it’s Japanese. It’s from Lombok’s photos on facebook. Like about half of the bonsai you find on facebook, it’s unattributed.

A study in simplicity. This Japanese Red pine (Pinus densiflora) is the result of a challenge to Masahiko Kimura (the world’s best know bonsai artist) to create a bonsai with only one branch. It’s from The Magician: The Bonsai Art of Kimura 2. The original article is from Bonsai Today issue 69.

Few and far between. Have you ever seen a true fir (Abies) bonsai? How about a bunjin fir bonsai? This one is a Grand fir (Abies grandis) that belongs to Lee Cheatle. Grand firs are native to the Pacific Northwest. The photo is from the 2010 US National Bonsai Album.

Bunjin is not just about pines. Bonsai Today back issues (including this bunjin special) are currently 70% off at Stone Lantern.

It’s October 15th
A friendly reminder to of you who have sent in your before photos of untrained stock, your ‘after’ photos must be received by Oct 15th for our Bonsai from Scratch Contest. That’s just over 2 weeks from now. Don’t procrastinate! There are lots of valuable prizes and you just might win something.

You can still enter
We will accept ‘before’ photos right up until the deadline. This means of you wait until October 15th to send your before photos, you’ll have to send your ‘after’ photos at the same time.

Donate a prize and your fame will spread like wild fire
If you donate a prize for our Bonsai from Scratch Contest, your name (and your business name) will be listed with links in the following places (at least two times each): Bonsai Bark and our Stone Lantern Newsletter. Please contact me if you are interested: wayne@stonelantern.com.

America’s premier bonsai magazine is slowly disappearing
Every couple weeks or so we sell out of a back issue of Bonsai Today. Now we’ve decided to accelerate the process to make space for other new bonsai products (stay posted).

60% off and rising, but don’t wait
We’ll start at 60% off and increase that discount every few weeks. But don’t wait, some issues are almost gone.

Kenzans too
We’ve decided to do the same with our kenzans (flower frogs). We’ll start at 40% off. Same thing though, if you wait too long, you won’t get what you want.

The same goes for Netsuke
We’re going to liquidate these sweet little Japanese (made in China) figurines too. Right now they are 35% to 80% off. Again, don’t wait. When they’re gone, they’re gone.

A sampling of some of our kenzans. We have other sizes and shapes as well.

One of the 34 different Netsukes we offer. All are 35% to 80% off. Don’t wait, when they’re gone, they’re gone.

It’s not too late
There’s still time to enter our $1,000 Bonsai from Scratch contest. True, mid-summer is tricky and you might not be able to put your tree into a bonsai pot, but that’s okay, you can enter it in a nursery container if you’re not comfortable root pruning. Or, you can gamble and stick it into a pot.

Lots of prizes
Go ahead, take the leap. You just might win something. Here’s a link to the prizes and rules.

You don’t have to live in the tropics…
… to grow tropical bonsai (but it helps). At this moment, we might as well be in the tropics here in northern Vermont. Last night it rained so hard that torrentially is an understatement, and today it’s nasty hot and muggy. Still, it’s nothing like the tropics, where tropical bonsai really grow, rather than just survive eight months indoors.

Summer Sales
Bonsai Today magazines: 60% off the price that shows on our website
Stainless Japanese bonsai shears and other stainless cutting tools have all been deeply discounted
Embroidered Bonsai T-shirts: an additional 10% off the price that shows on our website
Netsuke Japanese figurines: new astoundingly low prices
Kenzans (flower frogs): 25% off the price that shows on our website
100 gram Bonsai Aesthetics wire now 1.90 per roll
Hundreds of other items, almost all discounted

Also from Pedro’s facebook photos. All it says is: Display Ganador (winning display) VIVA PUERTO RICO!!!!!

This cascade is from Pedro’s website. My apologies for cutting off the base of the stand (it’s a long story).

Tropical style tokonoma. Also from Pedro’s wall photos. Tokonoma is a Japanese word that means ‘display alcove.’

Those magical few days…
I remember the first time I saw a what I thought was a so-so bonsai displaying gorgeous flowers. It was in Bonsai Today (long before I became the publisher) and the photo was from Japan. After some puzzling, it became apparent that the tree had been styled to display the flowers. Everything else was secondary. So secondary, that I imagine the tree would find a home out of sight on a back bench somewhere for most of its life. Except for those few days or weeks of magic each year, when the flowers appeared.

Gorgeous flowers, okay tree. This Camelia appears on the cover of Bonsai Today issue 66. Without the flowers, you’d probably never see it in the pages of a quality magazine, let alone on the cover.

Gorgeous flowers, excellent tree; the best of all possible worlds. No need to hide this gnarly old Ume on a back bench when the flowers are gone. This photo which appeared in an earlier post on Bonsai Bark, is from the Bonsai Guest House in Osaka Japan.

Absolutely unforgiven. This mess is from a commercial site (not worthy of link). It can be yours for only $150. No shame.

Bonsai Today, the benchmark English language bonsai magazine
Bonsai Today magazine has long been revered for its depth, range and quality of bonsai articles. For years it was the benchmark English language bonsai magazine, with each issue full of tips and instructions from the masters, dramatic cutting-edge bonsai, and bonsai news from around the world.

Making space
We’ve decided to sell out our remaining back issues to make space in our warehouse for a host of new products we are introducing. Some issues are almost gone. Eventually they will all be gone and you’ll have to pay inflated prices on eBay if you want their invaluable information. This is a great opportunity to put together your collection of some of the most useful bonsai information anywhere. At 60% off, no less.

Our shipment of Bonsai Aesthetics wire is in from China and the prices are amazing. The rolls that are pictured here are actually Japanese bonsai wire, which we still offer, and at reduced prices.

Bonsai wire for only 1.90 per roll
We have lowered the price on our Bonsai Aesthetics 100 gram rolls of wire to only 1.90. This is good quality anodized (copper colored) aluminum wire. We lowered the price because we’ve run out of most sizes of 1 kilo Bonsai Aesthetics wire (in less than two weeks), so we decided to make ten rolls of 100 gram wire the same price as a 1 kilo roll.