A Lost Treasure #6: Enchanted Lands

Enchanted lands, our fifth in a series of plantings (here for the previous one) from Toshio Kawamoto’s Sakei classic (long out of print). The tree are 3 five year old ezo spruce, 16 five to eight year old cryptomeria (6-8 inches tall), 7 three to eight year old satsuki azaleas and 3 three year old tsutsuji azaleas. The pot is a round unglazed tray, 28 inches (71cm) in diameter (you can’t really tell from the photo just how large the pot is). This diagram is designed to give you a little better idea of the layout and relationship of the … Continue reading A Lost Treasure #6: Enchanted Lands

The Magic Starts With An Idea

Finished. Most of Masahiko Kimura’s juniper masterpieces start and finish as one tree. Not so this one. The deadwood and each major branch all come from different places. How Kimura put all the pieces together is brilliant and novel. A few hints Rather than explain the whole process here, we’ll offer a few hints and leave the rest to your imagination (or, lacking that, you could get your hands on a copy of Bonsai Today issue 63 and see the whole process). Before. The pieces of the puzzle are gathered together. The deadwood after Kimura prepares it for the task … Continue reading The Magic Starts With An Idea

Rebalancing & Restyling a Bunjin Pine

After. The trunk is strong and fluid, the overall balance is good and the new pot is suited to bunjin style. By Furube Tetsuyi. From Bonsai Today issue 33. See below for the before photo. Changing the potting angle and rotating the trunk Though Mr. Tetsuyi did a few other things, the most obvious (aside from the new pot) is the fairly radical change in the planting angle. This along with rotating the trunk to soften the sharp almost 90 degree angles, are the first two major steps in restyling this old tree. The final steps involve pruning and wiring … Continue reading Rebalancing & Restyling a Bunjin Pine

Another Forest, But Mixed This Time

This mixed forest is from Spain. The Museo del Bonsai Marbella, to be exact (from Bonsais del Sur). It’s too bad the pot is chopped off and the whole photo is cramped, but that’s the way we found it. Still, from what we can see, it looks pretty good. Mixing it up Forests with mixed species can be a little tricky; not only does the planting have to make sense aesthetically (particularly when it comes to questions of scale), but the various types of trees should make sense growing together (would you find them growing together in nature?) Not that … Continue reading Another Forest, But Mixed This Time

Another Powerful Old Forest

This Japanese white pine is from our 2010 bonsai calendar. It brings to mind the pines on Point Lobos (California central coast). Though it’s difficult to be certain, it has the feel of a sinuous root (netsuranari) style forest (it appears that perhaps the large trunk is separate and the rest is a netsuranari, but again, it’s difficult to be certain). Netsuranari or not, all the trees seem to be cast from the same genetic mold. The appearance of age It is somewhat unusual to see forests here in West that use old trees. Most older stock, when you can … Continue reading Another Powerful Old Forest

Contest Winner (Better Late Than Never)

This planting (River in India by Lew Buller) was the subject of a critique contest that we posted back on September 2nd. Note from the present (March 19, 2014): This planting is NOT by Lew Buller. It is from his book Saikei and Art, but isn’t his. My apologies to Lew. Plenty to choose from Thanks to all of you that bothered to send a critique. We got plenty of good ones and just as I expected, they ranged all the way from very positive to critical. We even got one from Robert Steven (see below), author of Vision of … Continue reading Contest Winner (Better Late Than Never)

Weeping Bald Cypress Critique by Robert Steven

Robert Steven’s simulation of a Bald cypress that was submitted by Mac McAtee (see below for Mac’s original). It will cost you absolutely nothing (except maybe a little pride) Email us a photo of your bonsai and we’ll submit it to Robert Steven for a critique. Robert is a world renowned bonsai author, teacher and artist (you could say bonsai master, but I tend to shy away from using the term) and we are delighted to be the recipients of his generous offering of his time and expertise (how’s that for a string of prep phrases?). Normally you would pay … Continue reading Weeping Bald Cypress Critique by Robert Steven

New Planting Angle (Plus) Equals New Tree

After. Ezo spruce by Tomohisa Fujikawa. From Bonsai Today issue 50. Changing the planting angle is only part of the story At first glance you might think that just changing the planting angle is the whole story here. True, it’s a big part of the story and changing the planting angle so radically and making it look so natural is no mean feat. But if you take a closer look at the before picture (below) and the after picture (above) you might notice that there’s more than first meets the eye. The whole story If you’d like to see a … Continue reading New Planting Angle (Plus) Equals New Tree

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Our Calendar of Events Send us your upcoming events (including 2011 and beyond) and we will (in almost all cases) include them in our Calendar of Events. All entries will remain on the calendar until the event has passed. Put them in the comments below… …or email me: wayne@stonelantern.com Check out our tool sale. 30% to 40% off.

Penjing Book: All Good Things Must End & Tying Up a Loose End on a Robert Steven Critique

An old favorite is almost gone. Only 3 or 4 left Thought we’d give you a fair warning in case you’ve been meaning to procure your own copy. It’s a the only Penjing book in English and, in my opinion, belongs in that elite group we call classics. Tying up a loose end A while back, Robert Steven asked me to post an original picture that he used for a second critique of an Atlas cedar (the photo for the first critique was posted). Given that most people probably don’t bother to read comments on old posts, I thought more … Continue reading Penjing Book: All Good Things Must End & Tying Up a Loose End on a Robert Steven Critique