A regular update on the life and times of John Hanby’s Newstead Bonsai Centre……..
Topical Times – Beginners Two Sunday April 7th 2013
Another chance to have a peek at a group of beginners and see what they got up to on their second day.
Having attended Beginners One earlier in the year 6 students returned for the Part Two day course on Sunday 7th April.
Basically Part Two involved the students selecting a piece of raw material from our stock and spending most of the day wiring and styling the tree to create their very own bonsai. Once this work was completed the practicalities of watering, feeding, position, and pests/diseases was discussed.
Today most students chose pines to work on. These dwarf varieties we have really are good value. Priced between £30 and £45 they produce detailed compact bonsai with an instant air of maturity. Similar material from Japan would probably cost three or four times this amount. The students did very well with the intricate detailed wiring. Check out the results below.
This really is a great “hands-on” day for the beginners tackling wiring and deadwood creation for the first time. I am there to help with the styling whilst my trusted, experienced helpers……Len, Derek and Ian are on hand to supervise and help with the wiring.
Possible styles for each tree are discussed and the student then makes their decision. I remove everything I think we won’t need and then they wire all that is left.
Students have a free hand in choosing their material and have the option to purchase it at the end of the day (but without any obligation whatsoever). A successful outcome is guaranteed because if they decide not to buy it I still have to sell it. When you look at the finished product you will understand that it would be much better for me if they didn’t take it home!!!
Unfortunately this hardly ever seems to happen. With our help their first attempt really is a tremendous achievement. I look forward to working with them and their trees again in the forseeable future.
