Marco Invernizzi at Descanso Bonsai

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Sorry for the last minute notice, but anyone interested can see Marco Invernizzi do a demo tonight, Tuesday November 18th, at 7:30pm at the Descanso Bonsai Society, 1418 Descanso Drive, La Cañada Flintridge, CA 91011. Admission is free along with refreshments.

Juniperus Californica
 

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Ack! Even 24 hours notice and I might have been able to get there :) Take some photos to share with all of us unfortunates.
 

ianb

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Dagnabbit, I was looking forward to seeing him at Kofukai last weekend but it got pushed to the 22nd. Of course I'm flying back to the east coast for thanksgiving then so I'm a bit bummed. Oh well maybe next year.
 

Attila Soos

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I got to the meeting straight from my office, no time to go home first. So, obviously had no camera with me.

Marco worked on 4 trees: 3 shimpakus purchased from the House of Bonsai, and a San Jose juniper (it looked like a prostrata to me). He took each of them to a different stage of development. One of the shimp ended up all wired, pruned, and he even created some shari. All these trees were small-ish, good for shohin and chuhin size. Another shimp was wired but not pruned, another was just cleaned and prepared for styling.

Marco talked a lot, he is a good speaker. He wants to make sure that the audience understands everything that he does, so all questions are encouraged. He also wants people to sit close, in order to see everything. All trees will be auctioned at the next Descanso club event.

From what I learned from him this night, one thing stood out: do not pinch your junipers and cypresses. Marco is against pinching, he recommends very selective pruning with a scissor - even when maintaining foliage pads. Pinching, when not done by a top expert, usually damages indiscriminately all the new buds. The branch ends up with all the buds damaged, often causing it to die, as a result. And if it doesn't die, it will languish for a long time before it recovers. That's because, when we pluck the foliage, our fingers grab everything. There is some good logic in this, and next time I will make sure to leave plenty of untouched new buds, when I work on my foliage pads.

It would have been a nice evening for me, had it not been ruined the end by one of the organizers (the guy handling the raffles). I was just about to leave, but I wanted to check out a little black pine and an olive that was standing next to this guy. The olive was a sorry-looking stump, no styling or anything close to styling. Just a raw stump. And as I was standing there, I committed a major blasphemy: I touched a leaf on the olive. It was an instinctual move, since I work with bonsai material every day in my garden, as I look at small details on a tree. I didn't even realize that I touched the thing. Beside, I would think that at workshops, demos, and other learning experiences, people are encouraged to experience bonsai in every way, including touching.

Just imagine the horrible offence that I committed: touch a leaf on a stump. The next thing that I saw is that the guy went besirk. He yelled at me, and told me in no uncertain terms that I offended him personally and he will not forgive me for that. "You can't touch leaves" - he shrieked. His face was red and hostile (the real reason for his hatred may have been that I kindly declined to purchase raffle tickets from him).

Since I was on the way out, I quickly apologised and, embarrassed and shocked by the sudden harsh treatment, I left the building. I felt lucky that he didn't punch me in the face. For a moment, anger took over and I felt like returning to the hall and smash the stump in front of the idiot, but then common sense prevailed: I didn't want to spend the night at the local deputy's station.

Nice way to attract new club members, buddy!
(I am not officially a member of Descanso Bonsai Club, but it is right next door, so I was considering becoming one. I also have many trees that I was considering donating to a club. But after this incident, I think I will postpone my membership indefinitely - I would NOT want to be in the same room with this pitbull at every club meeting)

So, for you kids, next time you visit a bonsai show, keep your hands hidden behind your back, or you may get shot by one of those bonsai extremists.:)
 
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greerhw

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I got to the meeting straight from my office, no time to go home first. So, obviously had no camera with me.

Marco worked on 4 trees: 3 shimpakus purchased from the House of Bonsai, and a San Jose juniper (it looked like a prostrata to me). He took each of them to a different stage of development. One of the shimp ended up all wired, pruned, and he even created some shari. All these trees were small-ish, good for shohin and chuhin size. Another shimp was wired but not pruned, another was just cleaned and prepared for styling.

Marco talked a lot, he is a good speaker. He wants to make sure that the audience understands everything that he does, so all questions are encouraged. He also wants people to sit close, in order to see everything. All trees will be auctioned at the next Descanso club event.

From what I learned from him this night, one thing stood out: do not pinch your junipers and cypresses. Marco is against pinching, he recommends very selective pruning with a scissor - even when maintaining foliage pads. Pinching, when not done by a top expert, usually damages indiscriminately all the new buds. The branch ends up with all the buds damaged, often causing it to die, as a result. And if it doesn't die, it will languish for a long time before it recovers. That's because, when we pluck the foliage, our fingers grab everything. There is some good logic in this, and next time I will make sure to leave plenty of untouched new buds, when I work on my foliage pads.

It would have been a nice evening for me, had it not been ruined the end by one of the organizers (the guy handling the raffles). I was just about to leave, but I wanted to check out a little black pine and an olive that was standing next to this guy. The olive was a sorry-looking stump, no styling or anything close to styling. Just a raw stump. And as I was standing there, I committed a major blasphemy: I touched a leaf on the olive. It was an instinctual move, since I work with bonsai material every day in my garden, as I look at small details on a tree. I didn't even realize that I touched the thing. Beside, I would think that at workshops, demos, and other learning experiences, people are encouraged to experience bonsai in every way, including touching.

Just imagine the horrible offence that I committed: touch a leaf on a stump. The next thing that I saw is that the guy went besirk. He yelled at me, and told me in no uncertain terms that I offended him personally and he will not forgive me for that. "You can't touch leaves" - he shrieked. His face was red and hostile (the real reason for his hatred may have been that I kindly declined to purchase raffle tickets from him).

Since I was on the way out, I quickly apologised and, embarrassed and shocked by the sudden harsh treatment, I left the building. I felt lucky that he didn't punch me in the face. For a moment, anger took over and I felt like returning to the hall and smash the stump in front of the idiot, but then common sense prevailed: I didn't want to spend the night at the local deputy's station.

Nice way to attract new club members, buddy!
(I am not officially a member of Descanso Bonsai Club, but it is right next door, so I was considering becoming one. I also have many trees that I was considering donating to a club. But after this incident, I think I will postpone my membership indefinitely - I would NOT want to be in the same room with this pitbull at every club meeting)

So, for you kids, next time you visit a bonsai show, keep your hands hidden behind your back, or you may get shot by one of those bonsai extremists.:)


Any of you guys own cameras ?

Harry
 

Attila Soos

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Any of you guys own cameras ?

Harry


I have a good excuse: I got there directly from my work, I didn't have time to pick up a camera from home.

By the way, when I asked Marco about "How is Harry doing", he said that you are doing great. So, I will take his word for it.:)
 

king kong

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[


.


It would have been a nice evening for me, had it not been ruined the end by one of the organizers (the guy handling the raffles). I was just about to leave, but I wanted to check out a little black pine and an olive that was standing next to this guy. The olive was a sorry-looking stump, no styling or anything close to styling. Just a raw stump. And as I was standing there, I committed a major blasphemy: I touched a leaf on the olive. It was an instinctual move, since I work with bonsai material every day in my garden, as I look at small details on a tree. I didn't even realize that I touched the thing. Beside, I would think that at workshops, demos, and other learning experiences, people are encouraged to experience bonsai in every way, including touching.

Just imagine the horrible offence that I committed: touch a leaf on a stump. The next thing that I saw is that the guy went besirk. He yelled at me, and told me in no uncertain terms that I offended him personally and he will not forgive me for that. "You can't touch leaves" - he shrieked. His face was red and hostile (the real reason for his hatred may have been that I kindly declined to purchase raffle tickets from him).

Since I was on the way out, I quickly apologised and, embarrassed and shocked by the sudden harsh treatment, I left the building. I felt lucky that he didn't punch me in the face. For a moment, anger took over and I felt like returning to the hall and smash the stump in front of the idiot, but then common sense prevailed: I didn't want to spend the night at the local deputy's station.

So, for you kids, next time you visit a bonsai show, keep your hands hidden behind your back, or you may get shot by one of those bonsai extremists.:)[/QUOTE]

.....................................

Was it a trunk chop? Was it the sacred top apical meristem to be groomed into the main branch? Your lucky you wern't impaled with a rusty spear at the belly button and shot through the neck with an arrow.
 
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Attila Soos

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Was it a trunk chop? Was it the sacred top apical meristem to be groomed into the main branch? Your lucky you wern't impaled with a rusty spear at the belly button and shot through the neck with an arrow.

:) :) :)

The guy was a fierce-looking midget, some kind of pigmy warrior. I tell you, I was running for dear life..
 
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king kong

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I was feeling pigmy warrior actually. Too bad you didn't know there was a chronic robo-midget before hand. You could have triggered a room clearing monster episode if he thought you were a bonsai molester. I wish I was there. I love those people.
 
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Olive Tree Incident

Attila,

I'm really sorry you had a bad experience at Descanso Bonsai, I hope you don't hold it against all of us and you come back to future meetings. We know how hard it is to find enthusiastic bonsai members and that behavior is unacceptable.

I've forwarded your post to the President of the club and we're going to figure out how to deal with this and hopefully you can find your way back to Descanso Bonsai to one of our meetings, a dig or even a workshop.

Juniperus Californica
 
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Attila Soos

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Attila,

I'm really sorry you had a bad experience at Descanso Bonsai, I hope you don't hold it against all of us and you come back to future meetings. We know how hard it is to find enthusiastic bonsai members and that behavior is unacceptable.

I've forwarded your post to the President of the club and we're going to figure out how to deal with this person, because he's done this before, and hopefully you can find your way back to Descanso Bonsai to one of our meetings, a dig or even a workshop.

Juniperus Californica


I really appreciate you kind response. They are many great people at the club, I know that this is an awkward situation.

Somebody from the club's board needs to tell this guy that "there is one thing to touch an exhibited tree, and it is something else to touch an olive stump that needs ten more years to become a bonsai". Anybody with common sense can tell the difference. Also, he should know that any club would rather lose a $30 tree than lose a member (possibly life-long member).

Anyway, many thanks again, for your concern.
 
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