A regular update on the life and times of John Hanby’s Newstead Bonsai Centre……..
Topical Times – A busy Midweek Workshop…..
Snow and traffic congestion stopped two of my regulars attending todays class but with six students raring to go it still turned out to be a hectic day. In addition to trees brought along for some general advice it seemed that each student had with them at least one tree for wiring and styling.
Chris’s Larch had some heavy branches at the top which needed some serious bending in order for them to work together. I thought we would have to remove at least one of them but we managed to retain them all. In due course the shari at the top will be extended down the trunk.
Keith’s dwarf pine was thinned out quite dramatically to two branches which were then wired and then arranged to give a strong Japanese style image.
Andy’s large Pinus Sylvestris proved quite a handful. Two overgrown branches at the top of the tree were removed whilst large lower branches needed some heavy wiring. The finished triangle can potentially become a really nice tight image with a neat tapering trunk line. The removed branch stubs will be reduced and converted to deadwood.
With phil’s Mugo pine it was a case of using either the heavy low branch or the rest of the tree but not both! He decided on the upper section of the tree so the bottom branch was made into deadwood….it will be enhanced further by a shari in due course.
The small Ittogawa Juniper was wired and shaped leaving branches long to keep the tree vigorous. These will gradually be reduced during the coming growing season. Jins and shari will be created after the wire has been removed.
This Spruce really was a large muti-trunked bush with inverse taper brought about by the trunks separating at a fairly high level. It was a case of finding the best trunk and removing the others. You can see that the chosen trunk has good taper, movement and plenty of side branches. The stubs will be made into deadwood and then liked with a shari to create a better trunk line and overcome the problem of inverse taper. The branches will then be completely wired……….
…………..but maybe that is for next time!!!