SANJSKI TEDEN

I can't believe how much happened again in this last days. I can hardly noticed all happenings around me. To have a person as Hans Van Meer is in my garden - that is really something special. He bring a lot of good energy, energy which will last for a while! Hans also attended the regular Wednesday's workshop of Tora group and we bent some trees together:

Noro, koliko stvari se je spet zgodilo v zadnjih dneh. Komaj dohajam dogajanje okrog sebe. Imeti na svojem vrtu človeka, kot je Hans Van Meer, je res nekaj posebnega. S seboj je prinesel toliko dobre energije, da je bo dovolj še za nekaj časa. Hans je sodeloval tudi na redni sredini delavnici skupine Tora in skupaj smo zvili nekaj dreves:

Miha and Hans studying the tree

Matej and Hans discussing yamadori-potting

Matej's pine was a main tree this week. We started to work on it last Wednesday, when me and Matej couldn't go further, it was midnight and we were really tired. So we postponed the final shaping for this week. We created a great tree with great future. It still leggy for now, because the needles were too far on the tips of the branches. But in next spring, when it will be re-potted in to bonsai-pot, tree will gain on character. A new great tree was created in atelier and this is the most important thing!

Prav Matejev bor je osrednje drevo tega tedna. Na drevesu smo začeli delati že prejšnjo sredo, ko sva na koncu, tja proti polnoči, z Matejem le obnemogla in dokončanje prestavila za teden dni. Nastalo je krasno drevo z lepo prihodnostjo. Za zdaj še malce pretegnjeno in skuštrano, ker so bile iglice vendarle zelo daleč na koncu vej. Že prihodnjo pomlad ob presaditvi v posodo pa bo spet pridobilo na krakterju. Iz ateljeja je odšlo novo odlično drevo, in to je najpomembnejše!

Pinus sylvestris - before

Pinus sylvestris - after

Tree and the happy owner

At the end of our socializing with Hans, Roland makes a fire under his barbecue and evening quickly transformed in to night ...  

Za konec druženja s Hansom je Roland zakuril raženj in večer se je prevesil v noč!

Roland making the dinner

Janez teaching Hans some Slovenian wisdom

Also Miha and Grega came in to atelier this days. Miha was in for basic workshop, Grega worked on a nice Prunus with typical Japanese character. Nice!

V preteklih dneh sta se v ateljeju oglasila tudi Miha in Grega. Miha na začetnem tečaju, Grega pa je delal na simpatični rešeljiki s tipičnim japonskim pridihom. Lepo!

Miha was working on pine

Grega working on Prunus mahaleb

P.S.: The week is still not over - Roland and me will be in Zagreb this weekend, if you want to see a demonstration on spruce, you are invited to come to Croatia in Saturday!

P.S.: Tedna še ni konec - vikend bova z Rolandom preživela v Zagrebu, če bi radi spremljali demonstracijo na smreki, ste v soboto vabljeni na Hrvaško!

GNEČA

This time workshop was crowded! :-) Weekly workshops in TORA atelier are well implemented and the response of students is very good.

Tokrat je bila v delavnici že kar gneča! :-) Tedenske delavnice v TORA ateljeju so se lepo uveljavile in odziv je zelo dober.

A few trees did a step forward; Jan re-potted his Acer and Juniperus in to first bonsai-pots. Acer got interesting pot, a bit too large, but it will be great in the autumn with Acer's red leaves. Until then the tree will rest. Juniperus will be shaped before the summer.

Kar nekaj dreves je v sredo napravilo korak naprej; Jan je presadil javor in brin v prvi bonsajski posodi. Javor je dobil zanimivo posodo, sicer nekoliko preveliko, ki pa bo zaživela ob jesenski rdeči barvi listov. Do trakrat bo javor počival. Brin pa bo definirano obliko dobil še pred poletjem.

Janez has no jaundice, he was working on Cotinus! :-)

Janez nima zlatenice, ampak je delal na ruju! :-)

Nik wired an interesting Ulmus. It is different, isn't it?

Nik je ožičil zanimiv brest. Drugačen je, kajne?

Marija wired her Juniperus squamata.

Marija je ožičila brin squamata.

We'll continue next Wednesday. It will be very interesting.

Naslednjo sredo pa naprej. Bo zelo zanimivo.

Oh yes, me and Miha finally coordinate our time-schedule and we worked on one of his great spruce. This time we only opened it and let the air and sunshine into the crown. First step. We'll do the next in autumn!

A ja, pa z Mihom sva končno uskladila čas in delala na eni od njegovih številnih vrhunskih smrek. Tokrat sva jo le razprla, spustila zrak in svetlobo v krošnjo. Prvi korak torej. Naslednji mogoče že jeseni!

DELAM

So much work, days are too short in this period of time! I can not describe here at all what is going on in atelier, because we work a lot. If you are interested in, just drop by! ;-)

Anyway, Roland came in for NTC training, he worked on another juniper, he used some new meters of wire. Roland still develops his skills very fast and in May he'll be very competitive. This time result is fragile little tree in literati style, it was created from a big bush. I am sorry but I don't have the before picture ...

Te dni je dela toliko, da so dnevi absolutno prekratki! Tudi tu niti približno ne morem predstaviti, kaj vse se v ateljeju dogaja, saj je dogajanja res ogromno. Če vas zanima, se pa oglasite! ;-)

Pa vseeno - Z Rolandom sva trenirala za NTC, še en brin je obdelan, še nekaj metrov žice je navite. Roland še naprej napreduje z velikimi koraki in bo po mojem mnenju maja na tekmovanju zelo konkurenčen. Tokratni rezultat je krhko drevesce v slogu literati, ki je nastalo iz ogromnega grma. Žal slike prej nimam ...

Slovenian new talent Roland Petek working

Of course, also the regular weekly workshops of TORA group of students is still going on. We finished the first phase on Miha's Elephant. The trunk is now where we wanted it. This is pine with great movement! Next step in autumn.

Tudi redne tedenske delavnice ožje skupine TORA seveda še naprej potekajo s polno paro. Dokončali smo prvo fazo na Mihovem Slonu, ki ima zdaj rilec zvit tja, kamor je treba. Bor s krasnim gibanjem! Naslednja faza sledi jeseni.

Little Janez's Prunus is proof that we don't work only on big trees, but on all good trees. This tree has a really good base, nebari, tapering, the left top still needs a year or two to develop, but one can already see a great result in this tree. It was very interesting that Janez completely calm himself during work on this tree. Normally he is very impulsive and many times I have a hard time to calm him down,  but this time he obviously got in touch with the tree. This is it!

Andrej joined the group for the first time.

Da v ateljeju ne delamo samo na velikih, ampak se posvečamo vsem dobrim drevesom, je dokaz tudi mala Janezova rešelika. Drevo ima izjemno bazo, nebari, ožanje, levi vrh zdaj potrebuje kakšno leto ali dve, da se bo okrepil in zrastel nad desnega, toda v drevescu se že sluti krasen rezultat. Sicer pa je bilo najbolj zanimivo to, da se je ob delu na tem malem bonsaju Janez povsem umiril in osredotočil na žičenje. Njegov način dela je običajno zelo impulziven, tako da ga je včasih težko brzdati, tokrat pa je očitno delal na drevesu, s katerim sta se začutila. To je to!

Prvič se je skupini pridružil tudi Andrej.

Little prunus before

Andrej and Janez studying the temporary results

AZALEJA

Last three days I was working on azalea. Since it came in to my garden as stump without pot, it stepped a few nice steps forward. I am building the crown slowly from inside, I am taking care of every single branch, giving it movement. Last year I grafted two missing branches. They are developing nicely and they will fill out the crown. This time the fine wiring and shaping was my task.   

Zadnje tri dni sem se ukvarjal z azalejo. Od leta 2009, ko je prišla v moj vrt kot štrcelj brez posode, je napravila že kar nekaj lepih korakov naprej. Krošnjo gradim počasi, od znotraj navzven, vsaki veji posvečam veliko pozornosti s tem, da ji dam potrebno gibanje. Dve manjkajoči veji sem lani cepil in cepiča se lepo razvijata. Kmalu bosta popolnila krošnjo in silhueta bo počasi že prava. Tokrat je bilo na vrsti natančno žičenje in oblikovanje:

Azalea 2010

Azalea 2012 - before

Azalea 2012 - after wiring

Later I re-potted it in to first bonsai-pot. Because it is still potted to high the pot optically seems to small. But because of root-ball I couldn't pot it lower. When I'll lower the root-ball in next few years this pot might be just right. We'll see ;-)

Kasneje sem azalejo še presadil v prvo bonsajsko posodo. Ker je posajena veliko previsoko, saj zaradi koreninske grude nižje ni šlo, posoda optično deluje premajhno. Toda, ko bom drevo v nekaj sezonah znižal, bo posoda najbrž kar prava. Bomo videli ;-).

As I finished re-potting Boštjan came in and his mugo pine did a first step towards final goal ...

Ravno ko sem končal s presajanjem se je oglasil še Boštjan in njegov mugo je napravil prvi korak proti končnemu cilju ...

SLON

Last night in my workshop was busy again - Jan worked on his little Chamaecyparis, prepared it for exhibition in Celje, Tomaž Marija and Roland were here for short visit, Miha re-potted his azalea in it's first bonsai-pot. Azalea has nice developed root-cake so there was no problems with re-potting. The pot fits it perfectly, it will be even more visible when azalea will open it's flowers. From now on Miha will concentrate on work on crown.

Sinoči je bilo v delavnici spet zelo živahno. Jan je svojo malo pacipreso pripravljal za razstavo v Celju, Tomaž, Marija in Roland so prišli na ogled, Miha je azalejo presadil v prvo bonsajsko posodo. Azaleja ima lepo razvito koreninsko torto in s presajanjem ni bilo težav. Posoda ji popolnoma pristaja, še bolj bo prišla do izraza ob cvetenju. Zdaj se bo Miha posvetil delu na krošnji.

Main aim of the evening was Janez's pine, which we started to work on already three weeks ago. We created great elegant tree featured nice line. What a tree for meditation. Next spring it will be re-potted in to round unglazed pot and the figure will be perfect! Pine has made ​​a remarkable transformation. Janez - good job!

Glavni cilj večera je bil Janezov bor, ki smo ga začeli obdelovati že pred tremi tedni, zdaj pa je končno dočakal svoj večer. Nastalo je izjemno elegantno drevo z izrazito linijo, ki kar kliče po meditaciji. Še okrogla neglazirana posoda naslednjo pomlad in podoba bo popolna! Bor je napravil izjemno preobrazbo. Bravo, Janez!

Pinus sylvestris, June 2011

Pinus sylvestris - when arrived in to TORA workshop

Pinus sylvestris - after

P.S.: I will write about elephant from the headline next time ;-)

P.S.: O slonu iz naslova bom pisal naslednjič ;-)

P.P.S.: Today was a collecting day!

P.P.S.: Danes je bil dan za kopanje jamadorijev!

GOGI

Gogi is a designer of www.eba2012.si/en web page, he is also author of show logo - dragon in the crown of bonsai. Now the pay-day is here :-) . Roland gave him a nice yamadori, I contributed a beginner's workshop. Gogi went home much happier than if he charged his service in cash. We have a great day; Gogi is great guy, he showed extraordinary will for work on the tree and even after 8 hours of work he was not in bad mood. Contrary - from hour to hour he was merrier and this good vibe he scattered around. Roland worked on Carpinus, It went one step further. We started outside, at spring sun: 

Gogi je oblikoval spletno stran www.eba2012.si , je tudi avtor logotipa razstave - zmaja v krošnji bonsaja. Zdaj je prišel čas za plačilo njegove storitve :-) . Roland je podaril lep jamadori, jaz sem prispeval tečaj in Gogi je odšel domov veliko bolj srečen, kot če bi zaračunal običajno ceno v denarju. Skupaj smo preživeli super dan; Gogi je neuničljiv Štajerec, ki je pokazal izjemno voljo za delo na drevesu in ga tudi dobrih 8 ur dela ni spravilo v slabo voljo. Nasprotno, iz ure v uro je bil boljše volje in svoje razpoloženje trosil tudi naokoli. Roland je delal na gabru, ki je napravil še en korak naprej. Začeli smo zunaj, na spomladanskem sončku:

"Do you really think, that this is OK, what sen-sei will say?"

"Pa res misliš, da je to prav, kaj bo rekel sen-sei?"

Gogi and I worked on good Fagus; Roland gave a material, which is far beyond the beginners level, it would be a challenge also for many experienced artists. So we started to work and from this bush

Z Gogijem sva delala na dobri bukvi; Roland je prispeval materijal, ki je daleč presegel začetniški nivo, izziv bi predstavljal za marsikaterega izkušenega bonsajista. Zato sva z Gogijem zavihala rokave in iz tega grma

in eight hours we created a nice bonsai with great future. For broadleaved it has a incredible finished crown already after first shaping. Abundance of branches allowed good selection, ramification was fantastic. Just re-potting in to proper pot, taking care of details and after year or two the Fagus will be ready for show. For broadleaved incredible fast. The biggest weakness of the tree is lower part of trunk, also nebari isn't the best. But at yamadori one can't expect perfection.

v osmih urah ustvarila bonsaj z lepo prihodnostjo. Za listavca ima drevo po prvem oblikovanju že neverjetno dodelano krošnjo, obilica vej je omogočala dobro selekcijo, tudi razvejanost je bila fantastična. Še presajanje v posodo, urejanje podrobnosti in čez leto ali največ dve, bo bukev že pripravljanje na razstavo. Za lsitavca res neverjetno hitro. Največja slabost drevesa je raven spodnji del in ne najboljši nebari, ampak pri jamadoriju popolnosti ne gre pričakovati. 

Meanwhile Roland was still staring in to his Carpinus ... :-)

In med tem, ko sva z Gogijem končala, je Roland še kar strmel v svoj gaber ... :-)

P.S.: Tomaž R. was also here, but we'll finish his tree tomorrow.

P.S.: Tu je bil tudi Tomaž R., njegovo drevo bomo dokončali jutri.

BUKVA

This time only Miha came to weekly workshop. He says that working one to one is better, he learns more. For sure. It is completely different if one can concentrate only on one tree. We worked on small Fagus sylvatica - small only by centimeters. It is very old tree, has incredibly dence crown and has some fine details. Only nebari is missing. But, maybe Miha will improve nebari with grafting. Then he'll get a great tree. We started outside, at warm spring sun. First we cut off the right top branch. Tree gain the movement and tapering.

Tokrat je bil tu le Miha. Pravi, da je ena na ena veliko bolje delati, da se več nauči. Gotovo. Povsem drugače je, če se lahko osredotočiš le na eno drevo. Delala sva na mali bukvi, ki pa je mala le po centimetrih. Gre za staro drevo, ki je neverjetno razvejano z nekaj izjemnimi detajli. Edino kar mu manjka, je nebari. Morda pa se bo Miha odločil in poskušal nebari izboljšati s cepljenjem. Potem bo imel vrhunsko drevo. Začela sva zunaj, na toplem spomladanskem sončku in najprej odrezala desni vrh. Drevo je tako pridobilo na gibanju in ožanju.

Then we positioned important branches with minimum wiring. Most work was done by cutting, the rest was done by nature. Well, there is still some work, but for now this is it. Fagus started it's bonsai-journey.

Potem sva z minimalno žičenja usmerila najpomembnejše veje. Večino dela sva opravila kar z obrezovanjem, saj je vse ostalo že opravila narava. No, kar nekaj dela je še, toda za zdaj je to to. Bukev je stopila na bonsajsko pot.