The Ichiban. Designed by Marco Invernizzi and built by Masakuni. As you may know, Marco is a gifted Western bonsai artist, and Masakuni is the benchmark bonsai tool company. Together they have created a revolutionary new tool for the serious bonsai artist (and the rest of us who practice the art of bonsai). The Ichiban comes in a handsome wood gift box (see below).
If you want one (no discounts though)
In agreement with Marco, Stone Lantern is acting as the Ichiban’s U.S. (and beyond) distributor. The one caveat is that this tool cannot be discounted. Your price is $350.00 plus shipping, no matter what discounts Stone Lantern is currently running.
Carl’s turn with John’s Juniper
The photos and text in this post were submitted by Carl Morrow. Carl has been here before with his own tree. Now he’s tackling John Romano’s juniper.
“A tree needs to tell a consistent story and when one has an outstanding feature or focal point then the theme created needs to be repeated through other parts of the tree to create a consistent image.
This is a lovely tree that I would happily play with. Deadwood is a very powerful focal point and it is difficult to look anywhere else when there is a stark white area on the tree. In the current form, John’s tree has single piece of deadwood that is not repeated anywhere else. What could have caused just one major branch to die without affecting anything else on the tree? The tip of the jin is firmly pointing downwards while the rest of the (trunk line and foliage) tree has an upward feel. For this reason I find the jin jarring and unnatural. I would do one of two things to solve this.”
Here’s a great example of an English hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) that started as large tree that was cut down and carved. The artist is Graham Potter of Kaizen Bonsai.
Carving video by Graham Potter
If you are interested in carving as well as reducing large field grown trees, check out the video below. It might just open up an entirely new way of doing things for you and your bonsai.
In this series of photos (from our Juniper book), Hideki Nakayatsu turns a needle juniper on its side to work on the apical jin (jin can be either a dead branch or a dead top of the trunk). He is using is a draw knife to carve natural looking grooves in the wood. Though there are other ways to get grooves in deadwood (dremels come to mind), a draw knife is a tried and true old standard.
This close up, though far from perfect, shows the grooves a little better. Deadwood naturally cracks and grooves along its length as it ages, so offering a helping hand is a quick way to give your bonsai an old weathered look. One secret to achieving a natural look is to let the knife move with the wood’s grain. It’s easier and the results are better.
Stage one
A freshly peeled branch or trunk will have completely smooth wood.
Stage two
Over the years, due to drying in the sun and wind, the wood will split into apical cracks (see below for more on apical growth and cracks).
Stage three
Much later, cracks that are perpendicular to the apical cracks will appear and form a “snakeskin” pattern.
Stage four
Continued exposure to harsh weather, fungal decay and xylophagous insects (insects that feed on woody plants) hollow the deadwood out in this final stage.
This classic Japanese white pine (Pinus parviflora) shows all three types of deadwood: sabamiki (hollow trunk), shari (deadwood on the trunk) and jin (dead branches or dead treetop; if you look closely you’ll see a few little dead branches sticking out). The tree is from our Pocket Bonsai Gallery (it originally appeared on the cover on Bonsai Today issue 43).
Backing up and starting over
Even though we’ve already posted a couple times on the topic, I’ve decided to go back to the beginning for those of you who don’t know much about deadwood on bonsai. If you’ve been around the deadwood block, then stay posted for some meatier stuff soon.
It started with Mother Nature
The idea for using deadwood in bonsai comes from nature. In fact, if you look around, it’s everywhere. Especially on conifers, where deadwood tends to last longer.
A detail of a Mugo pine (Pinus mugo, also called Swiss mountain pine) that was carved by François Jeker eight years before the photo was taken. François’ expert carving, and the sun, rain, wind and frost have combined to create a natural look and feel. The photo is from Bonsai Today issue 104 (out of print).
François Jeker
Though I’ve never met him and have only seen photos of him working and the results (like the one above), I suspect that François Jeker is one of the foremost experts, if not THE foremost expert, on deadwood in the West. If you’d like some evidence, check out Bonsai Today issues 103, 104 & 105 (103 & 104 are out of print, but don’t despair, we’ll run François’ articles right here as part of our deadwood series).
What are Jin & Shari?
Jin are dead branches (intentionally created or naturally occurring) that can lend of feeling of age and character to a bonsai. Shari is deadwood (sometimes called driftwood) on the trunk of a bonsai. Like jin, shari can be intentionally created or can occur naturally (usually on collected trees).
Bonsai Bark is written mostly by Wayne Schoech, publisher, Stone Lantern Publishing and former editor and publisher of Bonsai Today magazine. The idea is to promote and expand the bonsai universe by offering pithy commentary and occasional barking on its art, science and culture; with an emphasis on how-to projects.
The Ichiban. Designed by Marco Invernizzi and built by Masakuni. As you may know, Marco is a gifted Western bonsai artist, and Masakuni is the benchmark bonsai tool company. Together they have created a revolutionary new tool for the serious bonsai artist (and the rest of us who practice the art of bonsai). The Ichiban comes in a handsome wood gift box (see below). 
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