Weekly Wire: Bonsai Surperstar, FREE Fertilizer, Making Uro, Spring!

Goyo-matsu (Japanese white pine) from the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum. FREE FERTILIZER! We are giving away our favorite fertilizer over on Stone Lantern. Just for the fun of it (and to encourage you to place an order and to feed your bonsai!) Happy white Easter from Walter Pall. This morning Walter posted a whole bunch of photos a lot like this. There’s even some scary photos that shows fully and partially leafed out maples covered with snow. Here’s the good news from Walter: “While I am posting these photographs it has stopped snowing and even the sun is … Continue reading Weekly Wire: Bonsai Surperstar, FREE Fertilizer, Making Uro, Spring!

Weekly Wire: Marco’s Before & After, Our Favorite Book & A Fabulous Fake

Before and after. It helps to start with great stock. Still, it takes a skilled hand to successfully tackle such powerful tree. The artist is Marco Invernizzi.and as you may have noticed, the after is just right. It’s a Japanese black pine. It’s from the ‘before and after’ section of Marco’s website. Whatever it is, it’s wonderful. We just featured this ‘bonsai’ in our last post. Turns out it’s a fabulous fake. Or, maybe fake isn’t the right word. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that it’s a wonderful clay representation of a bonsai. The artist is Paul … Continue reading Weekly Wire: Marco’s Before & After, Our Favorite Book & A Fabulous Fake

Weekly Wire 8 & Scratch Honorable Mention Winners

Bunjin pine from Bonsai Today magazine. We’ve been talking about Bunjin style bonsai quite a bit lately, so why not stay on topic? This one’s trunk is a little heavier than most bunjin, but no problem. The same goes for the crown; it too is a little heavier than crowns on most bunjins, but goes well with the heavy trunk. One of this tree’s distinguishing features, the vertical downward direction of the right branch, is characteristic of many bunjin style trees. Marco Invernizzi, Bill Valavanis and Isao Omachi Your generosity comes to fruition: I received this note and photo … Continue reading Weekly Wire 8 & Scratch Honorable Mention Winners

Weekly Wire 7: The Old School Way

Displaying bonsai the old school way. It’s always great to see a world-class bonsai displayed in a well-put-together Tokonoma. It’s from Kunio Kobayashi’s website. Just in case you haven’t heart of Mr. Koybayahsi, he’s considered by many to one of the world’s most prominent bonsai masters. Speaking of Bonsai Masters: We almost never use the term here on Bonsai Bark or at Stone Lantern. In fact, I think we’ve used it only for Masahiko Kimura and Kunio Kobayashi. This is not to say there aren’t others in their league, it just that it’s such a tricky term that’s so often … Continue reading Weekly Wire 7: The Old School Way

Swept Away

Doing what you can We encourage you to think about helping the Omachi family. You can simply send your contribution to the address above, or, if you have questions you can contact marco@marcoinvernizzi.com. Doing what we can Stone Lantern is pledging 10% of all sales of Japanese items to the Japanese Red Cross and several of our contributors and customers have already pledged their help by donating contest winnings (see comments here).

More Shots (& Big, Big, Big Book Sale)

Another shot from the 2nd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibit (here for a post from a few days ago). This one (and the last one in this post) was sent to us by Bill Valavanis; the tireless man behind the whole wild and wonderful thing. Big, big, big book sale at Stone Lantern Just trying to squeeze this in to drum up a little business. Mid-summer always requires some extra effort. All the way from Japan. Kunio Kobayashi was not the only famous visitor (and in this case, judge), but he’s the only one with the title ‘Grand Master’ before his … Continue reading More Shots (& Big, Big, Big Book Sale)

Some Noelanders Mysteries Solved

Another great unidentified tree from the Noelanders Trophy VII No NameBonsai Gallery (see yesterday’s post) that is featured on bonsai4me. I love the way this tree’s wild essence has been left intact, just the way Mother Nature intended. This comes through loud and clear in the deadwood that speaks of great age and looks so perfectly natural; as though the artist never touched it. Mysteries solved Thanks to our friend Ferry Freriks (you might remember Ferry as the winner of our $100 Unique Bonsai Contest), many of the mysteries in yesterday’s No Name Bonsai Gallery have met the light of … Continue reading Some Noelanders Mysteries Solved

Roy, Walter, Shinji, Isao & The Ichiban

Isao Omachi using the part of the Ichiban blade that is designed for cutting wire. Isao Omachi’s comments Here’s part of what Isao Omachi has to say about his Ichiban: “Compared to a normal pair of bonsai scissors, these are light and comfortable in the hand; you barely have to raise your elbow. You can multitask with ease, cutting swiftly through branches and wire… In addition to Ichiban’s unique design and efficiency, any level of bonsai student can have fun using a pair…” Roy Nagatoshi, Walter Pall, Shinji Suzuki and Isao Omachi So far Marco has sent us testimonials from … Continue reading Roy, Walter, Shinji, Isao & The Ichiban

Ichiban #2: Research & Development

Before you make a decision on what might be one of your most important bonsai investments yet, you can do a little research by checking out Marco Invernizzi’s Ichiban site. In addition to being one of the most accomplished and influential Western bonsai artists, Marco is the designer of the Ichiban.

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