Put up or Shut up

Went away for a while because I got tired of hearing from people here at B-Nut who
know nothing more about bonsai that what any one could pick up on the internet, telling
me I didn't know what I was talking about...

Then I started thinking... you know what? Why am I letting these people who claim to
of been in Bonsai pretty much the entirety of my life, who can't even demonstrate to
anyone here, "one" tree that is of any quality ??? But, yet they can sure talk the talk...
Perhaps, it's time we all see who can walk the walk ??? And let the chips fall where they
may. From now on, why don't before you actually comment on every single thread, as
some sort of an authority, you actually prove that you kinda know what you are talking
about? Perhaps it is time for a weeding out process... I mean, just because you have a
thousand stumps of a particular tree, does not mean you actually know how to do any
actual work on them.

So, from now on I am going to actually post trees, good and bad, of "actual" work that
has been done on "real" trees... Imagine that, and hopefully it might actually catch on ???
I might even keep this thread going as a blog, continuing to post up future work.


Here is a tree, that I have had for a while, it is a Buttonwood. I have been told by quite a
few older bonsai folk who have been working with B-woods for pretty much forever, that
what I am doing can not be done... That a B-wood trunk cannot be bend like a juniper,
because they are not flexible like junipers. That they will break. Here is a record of what's
been happening since I have been away... I have had a lot of time to get work done, since
I stopped arguing with fools.

April 26, 2014
Venturing into unchartered territory...
I know this is done with Junipers, but haven't seen too many try with B-Woods. Separating the live wood from the deadwood, and bending the live portion into a new location. One of the main reasons, I think for not doing it is that unlike junipers, b-woods are not very flexible... But, hey, no pain no gain, right??? We'll see if it makes it... I think the key, is to do it slowly, in stages, and let it adjust. So, for to day... I will stop at just the separation of the two and let it settle. Fingers, crossed !!!

May 31, 2014
Thought I would update the progress on one of my B-woods. Last time I posted I had just separated the deadwood and the live vein. Today, I carved the remain d-wood on the live portion, added support wires, raffia, electric tape, and then final #6 copper wire. Rather than lay the 2 wires right next to each other, I spaced them apart so to give extra support, and was very hard to cram the wire between the live and dead portions, so unfortunately the wire looks a little messy, but hey as long as it works ! I am stopping for now at the final image seeing that the tree is beginning to sulk, leaves drooping. Fingers crossed it makes it... I will let it recover for now, and will later bend the trunk back in on itself to compact it.

June 13, 2014
Phase 3 for those of you who have been following my B-wood extravaganza...
After the first initial bend I did last time the tree sulked for a couple of days, I kept it watered good... and then it just popped back to life, and started sending out all kinds of new growth. So, today I decided to move forward... I would like to do as much stress to the tree as possible in the shortest amount of time and then get it over with and just let it recover, for the next year or so. I like working with turnbuckles, specially seeing that I don't have anyone to aid in the work. I applied some blocking to help move the fulcrum point of the bend away from the crotch of where it connected back at the dead wood. Seeing that I am unable to cram sufficient wire into this point, and did not want it to rip apart. Doesn't look pretty, but does the job. Then bent it down... In the future, I might do one more bend in the middle, to tighten up the overall composition. We will see. Lastly, I wired a couple of the main branches to get them going in the right direction, and reduced all the foliage to the second pair of leaves, to help with back budding. Now I will just let it grow the rest of the year and work on foliage and fine wiring, if the tree permits. By, the way, no sulking this time, so far.

March 31,2014
Here is another Buttonwood that I styled. After styling, it was slip-potted into it's new
pot. I did retain a lot of the original non-bonsai soil with it, mainly because from my
experience with B-woods this really is best
The last couple of pics were taken a week and a half ago, just before it went up for
auction at classifieds... Didn't sell, but no worries, I don't need to give my trees away
for free.

May 26,2014
I picked up this Pink Pixie Bougie at our convention for a trade... from the same individual who I got my raintree from a year ago. I think the trunks have some awesome movement... and thought I would post some pics of various angles to see what, and if you all saw a better design than I am seeing... I really am digging the last pic with it all the way laid down. What do you all think ???

Pink Pixie before and after... reduced and a couple of major branches adjusted. This is as much as I can for now, tomorrow it will be repotted and removed from the mud that it seems to be in now...

May25,2014
Styling competition yesterday at the Florida Bonsai Convention in Orlando.
10 competitors were given a tree to style. I won first place and a $1000 prize.
Tree later sold at auction for $150, which is not so bad seeing that most people
down here in Florida hate working on Juni's.

April 14, 2014
I got this Brazilian Raintree at last years BSF Convention, as part of
a trade for my art. It was about 5 feet tall had a trunk that shot straight up,
that was removed before firs pic, and it was propped against the wall, cause it
kept falling over... Coming up on it's one year anniversary in May.

May 30,2014
Sometimes the $10 Home Depot trees don't turn out so bad...
Foemina Juniper, second styling.

What a lot of interesting work. Congrats on the first place and the grand. That's a good day!

I think I see a theme.... which is actually hard to do for most practitioners.... cept I think it might be a wee bit over applied...lol

I'm very happy for your victory... was it the Joshua Roth?

Warmly,

Victrinia

May 30,2014
Here is a Black Pine that has been sitting around for awhile...
That I originally picked up from Lowe's for $15. Now obviously
this has years of filling in, but the main bones are now set in place.
Next on it's list after it recovers is to start working it into a pot at it's
new angle.

Update on my Chinese Elm, styled in a weeping willow Fashion
that was reduced earlier this year and is now filling in.

May 30,2014
Here is one more I was working on today. These aren't great trees, but they are good for practice. This one has a bit more of a Chinese Penjing
style. This one is a Blue Point Juniper of which the foliage likes to grow up, and really takes a long time to revert to adult foliage and perhaps are better left as juvenile ???

June 23,2014
Been redesigning my Tea, tonight I took a break from carving my panels, (my hand hurt), and did some more work on it. Sorry, pic isn't better. Transition from where it was 2 yrs ago, to a year ago, and final pic is today. This is obviously an import tree that I picked up for pennies
years ago... but as I progress and got better at bonsai, I started trying to figure out how to
take the import/pom-pom look out of the tree... Very satisfied with where it is heading now!
Will still take years to get where I am heading, but no worries.

Another one of my B-woods, that was let go for a year, and last year had a slight
restyle done. It still needs some back branches, but pretty happy with where it is
heading... did reduce part of the top shari/jin, that extended off into oblivion, mainly
because, it drawed the eye away from the tree. Now, just working on foliage and
backbudding, filling in.

sawgrass said:

May25,2014
Styling competition yesterday at the Florida Bonsai Convention in Orlando.
10 competitors were given a tree to style. I won first place and a $1000 prize.
Tree later sold at auction for $150, which is not so bad seeing that most people
down here in Florida hate working on Juni's.
View attachment 55833View attachment 55834

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No disgrace...but...I always assumed you were older. Is this you in the photo? (A bit off topic...sorry)

Your Chinese Elm, styled in a weeping willow Fashion will always make me stop and pause.

sawgrass said:

May25,2014
Styling competition yesterday at the Florida Bonsai Convention in Orlando.
10 competitors were given a tree to style. I won first place and a $1000 prize.
Tree later sold at auction for $150, which is not so bad seeing that most people
down here in Florida hate working on Juni's.
View attachment 55833View attachment 55834

Click to expand...

Congrats on the styling competition. I wish I was there to bid on that one. You've got a keen eye for styling no doubt. Maybe you could impart some knowledge on us. I can't be the only one struggling with the design side of bonsai. Curious to know why you said people in Florida hate working on Junipers? I know Fiduccia works on them along with several other notables. I'm a nobody but I really like them as well. You've been at this a lot longer than I so I was just wondering why you threw that in your post? Is it the heat, the care, the bugs?

By the way, I seen your Buttonwood for sale and almost PM'd you on it. I'm a hard head though and don't want to be the caretaker of someone else's work.

June 13,2014
Thread grafting one of my ficus today, where I had a large branch die sometime back, unfortunately right in the middle of the trunk... I have brought down the main brances
by undercutting a "v" notch in them as well as the main apex, which has been angled from it's stove-pipe position. So, it has some scars to heal, but no worries, when this tree is ready for show, this wound and all the others, where I have under notched branches and pulled them down, will of all healed. I have a while to go still... left bottom branch I plan on extending as well. Also, I am considering one more "v" notch at the end of the main left branch, to bring it
down as well.

sawgrass said:

June 13,2014
Thread grafting one of my ficus today, where I had a large branch die sometime back, unfortunately right in the middle of the trunk... I have brought down the main brances
by undercutting a "v" notch in them as well as the main apex, which has been angled from it's stove-pipe position. So, it has some scars to heal, but no worries, when this tree is ready for show, this wound and all the others, where I have under notched branches and pulled them down, will of all healed. I have a while to go still... left bottom branch I plan on extending as well. Also, I am considering one more "v" notch at the end of the main left branch, to bring it
down as well.
View attachment 55858View attachment 55859View attachment 55860

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Okay, there's a topic that should have its own thread; v-notching. I've seen it on YouTube but I'm a little unsure about using it on my Juni's. Will they reattach and will they be noticeable?

This little Texas Ebony that I picked up in trade at a convention a half a year ago,
I did some major root work on. It had a couple of really bad crossing roots, that
luckily I was able to remove, leaving only a very small indent on the base of the
trunk which would easily be hidden, by the newly forming roots that had grown
above it since. Sadly, no follow up pics, as I actually sold it for $350 at our convention.
Was sad to see it go though, it had really filled it dramatically and will not be surprised
if it ends up in next years show. Really cool tree, I am thinking perhaps I should contact
the individual I got it from and ask if he has any more ?