Jinning: A Tidy Two Tool Tecnique

The type is almost microscopic, so we’ll synopsize a bit (see below for a slightly magnified version): 2. Use a concave cutter to score around the base of the branch you are jinning. 3 and 4. Crush the bark with pliers. 5. Pull the bark off with your fingers. 6. Create a natural shape by using concave cutters to apply small cuts and to pull of the resulting wood threads (you can use pliers to pull the threads if you want). From a article by David Benavente in Bonsai Today issue 85. An elegant solution, but what about other tools? … Continue reading Jinning: A Tidy Two Tool Tecnique

François Jeker Coming to Rosade Bonsai Studio

This soulful tree is exceptionally clean, fluid and well balanced; especially considering how far to the right it is leaning. I lifted it from François’ website. It looks like a very small needled pine, maybe a dwarf Scot’s of some kind, though I can’t really tell. Dead-on deadwood artist François Jeker does some of the most outrageous deadwood carving anywhere. If you don’t believe me, check this out. Or go to his site. Or buy his excellent book (en Espanol tambien). Or best of all, go see him at Rosade Bonsai Studio on May 15th. These illustrations by François give … Continue reading François Jeker Coming to Rosade Bonsai Studio

Introducing the Ichiban by Marco & Masakuni

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 … Continue reading Introducing the Ichiban by Marco & Masakuni

Revisiting John Romano’s Almost Famous Juniper

Carl Morrow sent us this digitalized revision (and two others, see below) of a juniper that was originally submitted to our ‘Fearless Bonsai Warrior‘ program, by John Romano. This is the second critique of John’s juniper that has been submitted to Bonsai Bark (here’s the other). 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 … Continue reading Revisiting John Romano’s Almost Famous Juniper

Jin & Shari #6: Carving an Old Hornbeam

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.

Jin & Shari #5: Carving Jin with a Draw Knife

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 … Continue reading Jin & Shari #5: Carving Jin with a Draw Knife

Jin & Shari #4 – Natural Aging

These four stages of natural aging on deadwood are from an article by François Jeker that appeared in Bonsai Today 103 (out of print). Francois is a accomplished bonsai artist (and deadwood master), gardener, author (Bonsai Aesthetics) and more. 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. … Continue reading Jin & Shari #4 – Natural Aging

Jin & Shari #3: The Three Types of Deadwood

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 … Continue reading Jin & Shari #3: The Three Types of Deadwood

Jin & Shari #2: A Western Deadwood Artist

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 … Continue reading Jin & Shari #2: A Western Deadwood Artist

Deadwood Lives Beyond HBO: Jin & Shari

This stately Foemina Juniper (Juniperus chinensis ‘Foemina’) is a pretty good example of what you can do with jin and shari. It is part of the wonderful world class bonsai collection at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum. It was donated by James (Jim) and Helen Barrett and currently resides in the John Y Naka North American Pavilion. 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 … Continue reading Deadwood Lives Beyond HBO: Jin & Shari