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

Fall Color: Writ Small

Trident maple from the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, North American Collection in Washington DC. Donated by Brussel Martin. You can tell by the color It’s most definitely fall here in Vermont (you can tell by the color and the swoonable luminous sunny days). But even though our fall color is renowned, we’re not the only place with such good fortune. Washington DC, Japan, Germany, pretty much everywhere there are distinct seasons have their own psychedelic displays. This time it’s a Japanese wax tree (Rhus succedanea) in Japan. The photo is from Bonsai Today issue 26. Fall color in Germany. … Continue reading Fall Color: Writ Small

The Magician: After & Before

After. Pretty impressive, no? You’ll encounter very few bonsai that are both this powerful and this refined anywhere on this planet. In fact, I challenge you to find even one that rivals it (they do exist, but are oh so rare). Photo from Bonsai Today issue 59 (still available). Too refined? Masahiko Kimura has fallen out of favor with some people over the last few years. You might hear or see comments about how his bonsai is overly sculpted, overly refined, unnatural looking. For where I sit, it’s unfortunate when we feel we must take sides and pick either refined … Continue reading The Magician: After & Before

The First Netsuranari

After restyling by Isaburo Nishiyama. A bamboo stick is used to support guy wires on this famous old sinuous root (netsuranari) Japanese white pine. See below for the before shot and for the original photo taken in 1937. All are from Bonsai Today issue 44. The original lives According to an article that appears in Bonsai Today issue 44, the tree pictured here is the first netsuranari (sinuous root style) bonsai. It came to light in 1937 at a famous Japanese auction where it was distinguished from the older clump style bonsai. Sinuous root style have multiple trunks growing from … Continue reading The First Netsuranari

North American With An International Flavor

Subscribe and recieve two free back issues…. …if you mention Bonsai Bark International Bonsai, issue one, 2010. Inside you’ll find: Training Dwarf Japanese Five-Needle Pine Bonsai; Magic Moments, the Artistry of Kimura; Japanese Five-Needle Pine: Cultivation and Training; Foliage Size Reduction for Pines; A Little Magic with Shohin Bonsai; Suiseki & Bonsai; Pruning, Masterpiece Gallery; Shohin Bonsai Symposium 2; 10th Asia Pacific Bonsai & Suiseki Exhibition. One of the very best International Bonsai has long one of my favorite bonsai publications. It has been around since 1979 (no mean feat, especially if you are familiar with the deadline grind) and … Continue reading North American With An International Flavor

Laying An Old Misconception To Rest

Flowering cherry (Prunus apetala) by Kyuzo Murata. From his book Four Seasons of Bonsai (sadly, long out of print). Misconception “in Japan, flowering bonsai, need to be displayed with only few flowers. It is considered bad taste to present a bonsai in full flowering.” (from a comment on facebook). Rules vs guidelines There are a host of misconceptions about bonsai. They often arise when we think there are fixed rules (there aren’t any in bonsai, except maybe in judged contests, and these are often fluid). There are however, plenty of useful guidelines. Pinching flowers One guideline that can be helpful, … Continue reading Laying An Old Misconception To Rest

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

Drawing Your Bonsai

A page from Bonsai Today issue 34 (all in stock Bonsai Today issues are currently 25% to 35% off). The artist (bonsai and sketch) is Yukio Karino (mistranslated last name?). You can do it! We’ve featured bonsai drawings way back in the early years of Bonsai Bark (2009). We still think it’s a good idea and suggest you try your hand at it. Contrary to the pervasive poverty mentality many of us have about these things, you can do it if you just take your time. The drawings (you can call them sketches if that helps) don’t have to be … Continue reading Drawing Your Bonsai

Colin Lewis Interview: “They’re All Important”

Faces of a transplanted bonsai artist. From Colin’s’ website. From bad weather to more bad weather Colin Lewis is a Englishman who somehow has ended up in the woods of Maine, where he raises bonsai, teaches, unpacks from his bonsai road show and drinks copious amounts of coffee in his pajamas. Most people who know Colin say that if you can get past his heavy foreign accent (joke!), you can learn a lot from him. Especially when it comes to the art of bonsai. An uncommon mix Among other things, Colin has a somewhat uncommon mix of talents. He can … Continue reading Colin Lewis Interview: “They’re All Important”

What About Refining Bonsai?

One page of a sixteen page article on refining branches, from Bonsai Today issue 13 (long out of print, but we’ve bought back a few old issues and are offering them at antique prices at Stone Lantern). Do you really care about refining bonsai? Years ago I heard an old Japanese master say that the primary difference between Japanese and Western bonsai is refinement. I concur; at the time, most Westerners we not taking the time and trouble to develop fine branching (and other things) to the extent that the Japanese were. Now, though much has changed and Western bonsai … Continue reading What About Refining Bonsai?