Sekibonsai
Shohin
Years ago (like 25) there was a nursery with an abandoned area that would give us great deals on stock that had just been left to grow wild. Alas, the nursery bulldozed it and its since been developed. My friend Steve carved on this one in a work shop with that Emerald Coast guy so it was a bit unnatural but hadn't done much else and one day showed up at my house and dumped all his works in progress. "I'm done with bonsai and focusing on gold fish." Or maybe it was dogs. Or Tai Chi... I think all those years we worked together he had one tree in a real pot and only because he was tired of me busting chops. He had this great eye for styling but didn't always fire on all cylinders... I think that was the last time I saw him.
Anyhow, the tree remained alive, carved but unstyled until about 2000 when I was studying with Colin Lewis. It had this long upper trunk with rooster comb of branches on one side far removed from all tat deadwood. We talked about a few options, splitting the trunk and severe bending was one. I had snagged his new book "The Book of Bonsai Design" and there is a shohin shimpaku in there that made the light go on. When I got home from SC I grabbed the tree out of the nursery (ignoring my visiting sister in law) and proceeded to split the trunk in three strips, wrap it up with copper and raffia and enlisting my wife's help I bent the budjeezums out of it until it actually looked like something. Keep in mind, there wasn't a whole lot of people doing this then so I figured I was dooming it with my medium level skills. It was progressing nicely until "that dark time" (if you know you know if you don't it ain't your business). It was one of the few bonsai that survived and I managed to get it strong enough to repot and finally into a better pot this year where I hope to get it styled this fall or more likely next spring.
It still struggles with stability issues which has always been a deterrent to keeping it healthy- there is a great mass of roots but nothing really chunky that can be used to keep it from being floppy in the pot. So it will continue to have a prop and once the pictures were taken, several guy wires added. The foliage i s not ideal- also kind of floppy and refuses to produce manicured pads so there may be some grafts in its future...
Decades have rendered the early dead wood carving a bit more "acceptable" and perhaps I'll get it a bit more natural looking soon.
Anyhow, the tree remained alive, carved but unstyled until about 2000 when I was studying with Colin Lewis. It had this long upper trunk with rooster comb of branches on one side far removed from all tat deadwood. We talked about a few options, splitting the trunk and severe bending was one. I had snagged his new book "The Book of Bonsai Design" and there is a shohin shimpaku in there that made the light go on. When I got home from SC I grabbed the tree out of the nursery (ignoring my visiting sister in law) and proceeded to split the trunk in three strips, wrap it up with copper and raffia and enlisting my wife's help I bent the budjeezums out of it until it actually looked like something. Keep in mind, there wasn't a whole lot of people doing this then so I figured I was dooming it with my medium level skills. It was progressing nicely until "that dark time" (if you know you know if you don't it ain't your business). It was one of the few bonsai that survived and I managed to get it strong enough to repot and finally into a better pot this year where I hope to get it styled this fall or more likely next spring.
It still struggles with stability issues which has always been a deterrent to keeping it healthy- there is a great mass of roots but nothing really chunky that can be used to keep it from being floppy in the pot. So it will continue to have a prop and once the pictures were taken, several guy wires added. The foliage i s not ideal- also kind of floppy and refuses to produce manicured pads so there may be some grafts in its future...
Decades have rendered the early dead wood carving a bit more "acceptable" and perhaps I'll get it a bit more natural looking soon.
