Jan 25 2012

Vintage Photos of collecting yamadori

In the continuing spirit of Vintage bonsai photos here are a collection pre 2000 photos showing just how insane I was in the early days of collecting yamadori.

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Jan 24 2012

Buxus Workshop, creating a dramatic bonsai from very poor material

Written by Steve (harleyrider) Jackson

I got a phone call from Tony asking if I’d like to join him and Matt at Tickle Towers to help work on a Buxus stump. Obviously, I had to think about it for several nanoseconds before jumping at the chance. I mean, come on, how often do you get asked by a bonsai genius to participate in the creation of a potential show-winner?

So, early the following Saturday, I met up with Matt near my local Maccy-D’s and we drove the 20-odd miles to Tony’s, both of us full of nervous anticipation at showing our meagre skills to The Master.

Having received the customary warm welcome/cup of coffee, we were ushered straight into the garden where we were greeted by the sight of several new trees we had never seen before. This is becoming something of a recurring theme, as every time I visit I fall over rows of yamadori that weren’t there last time!

Anyway, on the stone workbench in the centre of the garden were several fine examples of raw material, amongst which we spied the object of today’s ‘lesson’. After discussing what we each thought of the potential of these new acquisitions, Tony cleared the decks, leaving the Buxus stump in pride of place. I can’t be sure, but I’m sure I saw it looking round the three of us nervously as we approached.

Tony began to explain what his vision for the tree was, and what he hoped to achieve during the course of the day. It went something like this. “Shorten the stump by a good 6 inches, remove this branch, that branch, that branch and possibly this one, create a ‘keyhole’ channel from the base right up to here, hollow out the trunk from the top all the way down to here, possibly remove this stump and hollow it through to the main trunk, tidy up all the small spurs where old branches once lived, remove any sign of man having touched the tree at all by several devious means, fully wire the remaining branches then give them an initial styling. Right, any questions?”

Matt and I just stared at each other open-mouthed. Surely it can’t be possible to do this amount of work in 5 hours?

Wanna bet?

This post is intended to show newbie and old pro alike what can be achieved using just a well-thought out plan, a few simple tools and a poor piece of material. Oh, and any spare apprentices you happen to have lying about the place.

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Jan 19 2012

Ready for Noelanders Trophy XIII

The car is packed and I am ready to leave tomorrow morning. I am picking up Mikey in Leeds and then onwards to Hull and P&O ferry to Rotterdam. We dock about 8.30 and then its about 3 hours to The Noelanders trophy Centrum voor Duurzaam Bouwen, Marktplein 1 in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. Last year I was the first trader to arrive so it was easy for me to unload, sit back and watch everyone else struggle. Peter Landerloos has been kind enough to accommodate Mikey and Me for the weekend  I am showing the raft beech that won a Ginkgo award in 2007.

The tree is owned by David Barlow, over the last couple of days we have been putting the final touches to the tree. It looks great.

I know that this will be the biggest and best Noelanders ever and it is great to be part of such a high class show.

On the way Home I will be calling in to see Hans van Meer my old friend who will be one of the visiting artists a the Burrs workshop in November Mikey and I are getting the ferry back to the UK on Monday evening.