Some of my stones.

[M.B.]

I thought the suiseki forum has been sadly overlooked lately so as suggested by B-nut about posting some photos to stir interest in bonsai, so might I stir some interest in suiseki (I must be really bored today).
The stones I'm posting I am considering having daizas made. I don't do wood working so will have to shell out the dough if I ever want to exhibit anything in my club show. I have found them to be very difficult to photograph (no wonder more people don't post them) and they look very different in person. Practice makes perfect so the more I take, the better they'll be, right?
So call me a spoon and let the stirring begin.........

 

[Smoke]

Hi there Max Baer,

I would suggest purchasing a book or two on Suiseki. What you have shown in the first three photos are not Suiseki. There are many factors that go into classifying suiseki but most importantly the first things to consider are;

1)Hard dark stone
2) Well worn from desert sand or moving water
3) Patina of age (smooth worn look)

These three exhibit none of those features wich are most important to call a stone Suiseki. While fossils could become a Suiseki under the right conditions, rough, freshly broken fossils would not be considered Suiseki. Sometimes a stone may be hard and dark, smooth from water and carry a great patina but still fall short of what a Suiseki is. It may just be beautiful, in that case it is considered Biseki, "beautiful stone". As a fossil collector myself, those are really cool. I collect coprilites myself. I let people know my $*&T don't stink!

Here are a few of my stones that I have collected that exhibit many of the features that make a stone worthy of being called Suiseki.

Cheers, Al

 

[M.B.]

I have a couple books on Suiseki and am aware they are not actually Suiseki in the traditional sense. Should I have stated that in the post? Since there is no Biseki forum, I didn't know it was a faux pas to lump interesting veiwing stones under the Suiseki heading.
The first 2 stones are not fossils. They are called "Chicken Track Jasper" or "Picture Jasper" from Mcdermit (not sure of the spelling) Nevada. This type of rock is valued by rockhounds for the scenery of rolling hills when the sides are sliced and polished. They often exhibit the decorative icing like formations on the outer surface. True, they are broken due to removal from the host rock but the rareity (IMO) is finding them with an interesting picture/object naturally formed in the rock.
I'll admit the 3rd stone does not have much patina at all. When wet it is almost black and makes the "snow" pop. The dark spot in the middle is actually a small crevice I filled with water. I wanted it to tell a story, to look like melted snow at the bottom of the hill but as I stated, the pictures didn't come out very well. I have thought about putting oil to darken the stone, but wouldn't that be considered cheating?
Anyway, mission accomplished. I stirred some interest and even got someone to post more pictures. Yay!

 

[M.B.]

Oh, forgot to ask, who's Max Baer (the actor?) you refer to. My name's Mary Beth .

 

[Smoke]

Oh, forgot to ask, who's Max Baer (the actor?) you refer to. My name's Mary Beth .

Hi Mary Beth, no you did not create a faux pas at all. I have not seen "M.B." around the forums so was not sure if you really knew what Suiseki is. The Max Baer thing comes from the NASCAR forum where everyone just seems to use initials to sign up with. A person has no idea( in this case I had no clue you were even female) who they are talking to. The person that comments back on all the questions is a professional writer for ESPN and he always uses the initials in a clever way to make up a name, (as I did). You will notice you did not sign your initial question.

In response to your initial post these are indeed very interesting rocks. Even with a diaza these would still be looked over at a Suiseki exhibit. They do not have the correct character to be considered Suiseki. Many of the things we do in bonsai and its related hobbies have been around for many years, centuries in most cases. Much of it is steeped in tradition and much of it comes from the Japanese part of Asia.

The mental model of;
what a bonsai is
what a kusamono is
what a Suiseki is
what a bonsai display is
are very much a mental part of our understanding. There is nothing wrong with creating a tangent within this culture but not all of the culture will be on board. You indeed may try to include what you feel may or should be part of what is called Suiseki, but it will be your task to gain a following. I hope you understand the nature of my post and how I feel about Suiseki. For me Suiseki is pure and should remain undiluted so to speak. Many people post to a bonsai forum and wish to call their recent aquisition from home depot bonsai, while the plant has had no training and has no shape. This dilution of the meaning of bonsai is something I wish to nip in the bud ASAP.

The photo below shows a piece of copper ore I found many years ago. I have thought about making a Diaza for it and displaying it in my home. I carve all my own Diaza for my stones, While it has a interesting shape and the copper shows very good signs of age and patina, I would never call this a suiseki or even a Biseki for that matter. I consider this mineral collecting at best.

Best regards, Al