RETUSA

Uroš called for help in autumn 2010 and work on the tree begun. It is an ordinary commercial ficus with grafted branches, but nevertheless it has a different potential then most of them. Even though it was in bad condition when I first saw it, I immediately recognized it's potential. Since then Uroš learned how to care for it, how to overwinter it, new leafs grew, it got a new pot and it is potted in to right substrate. After a year and a half of preparing, today the time for first styling has come.

Uroš me je jeseni 2010 poklical na pomoč in delo na drevesu je steklo. Gre za običajen komercialni fikus s potaknjenimi vejami, vseeno pa ima drugačen potencial kot večina ostalih. Kljub temu, da je bil v zelo slabem stanju, sem to opazil že na prvi pogled. Od takrat se je Uroš naučil skrbeti zanj, ga pravilno prezimiti, listi so pognali na novo, dobil je novo posodo in posajen je pravi substrat. Po letu in pol priprave je danes prišel čas za prvo resnejše oblikovanje.

Ready for work

Me and Roland went to the Štajerska region in the morning and started to work. First we must defoliated the tree, but if the tree is so big this is quite a challenge. Some carving was done to cower the grafting spots and then wiring has take place.

Z Rolandom sva se na Štajersko odpravila zgodaj dopoldne in pljunila v roke. Najprej je bilo treba drevo razlistiti, kar pri tako velikem drevesu ni mačji kašelj. Nekaj malega rezkanja, da se zabrišejo sledi rezanih vej in cepljenih mest, potem pa je prišlo na vrsti žičenje.

Roland finishing with defoliation

Uroš was happy with the result, me and Roland were satisfied with our work. Now it is clear, why some species of the ficus is also called the birch-leaved - the silhouette is very similar to the full-grown birch! It is pleasure to work on a tree cared by Uroš. Because you know, that he'll do everything he can to take a good care of the tree. That the tree will be in good condition when you'll come back and that it will do a step forward. It so different (and that is too often) when you come back and you see a tree in very bad condition and you must concentrate on saving a tree over and over again instead to concentrate on it's development.

Uroš je bil nad rezultatom navdušen, z delom sva bila zadovoljna tudi midva z Rolandom. Zdaj je jasno, zakaj se vrsti fikusa reče tudi brezolistni fikus - silhueta je povsem podobna brezi! Večletno delo na drevesu, za katerega skrbi človek, kot je Uroš, je užitek. Ker veš, da bo napravil vse, da bo drevo v dobri kondiciji. Da bo, ko se boš vrnil, drevo pokalo od zdravja in da bo lahko napravilo korak naprej! Povsem drugače (in vse prevečkrat) pa je, če se k drevesu vrneš in najdeš razdejanje, ter se moraš spet in spet posvečati reševanju drevesa in ne njegovemu napredku.

Roland and Uroš with finished tree

Work on a tree was closely monitored by flock of storks. 15 of them landed on the grassland near the house. Even the oldest residents don't remember so big flock of storks on this aria. Another good sign!

Delo na drevesu je ves čas budno spremljala jata štorkelj. Kar 15 se jih je spustilo na travnik ob hiši. Menda tudi najstarejši ne pomnijo tako velike jate štorkelj na tem območju. Še en dober znak!

SREDA

There was a Wednesday again and TORA group met again at weekly session. After exciting winter months with a lot of heavy bending and major works now the time for more peaceful work on trees has arrived: defoliation, pinching, detailed wiring, work on details. Tomaž came in just to cut one single branch on his Fagus :-) . Matej defoliated one of his big Prunus trees, Miha also worked on Prunus. It did a step forward even though Miha decided not to cut the tree shorter. It has a major mistake in the middle part of the trunk. But Miha has a lot of better material still at home, so ...

Spet je bila sreda in novo redno tedensko srečanje je za nami. Po razburljivih zimskih mesecih, ko smo na veliko krivili in na drevesih opravljali večje posege, je zdaj letni čas za umirjenejše delo na drevesih: razlistanje, vršičkanje, podrobno žičenje, dela na detajlih. Tomaž je recimo prišel odrezat le eno vejo na bukvi :-). Matej je razlistal še eno od svojih mrcin, tudi Miha je delal na rešeliki. Napravila je korak naprej, čeprav se je Miha odločil, da drevesa kljub očitni napaki v srednjem delu, ne bo krajšal. Ima še veliko boljšega materijala na zlogi ...

Roland finally finished detailed wiring on his Juniperus. It was worth to wait, the result is very good!

Roland je končno dokončal podrobno žičenje na svojem brinu. Splačalo se je potruditi, rezultat je zelo dober!

I was working on one of my junipers, I cut all the back-up branches, so all the energy will be now concentrated in the crown. After one of the most important branches died off in the middle of the crown, now it is nicely full again. The shadow of new bonsai is already visible, even though it has still a long way to go ... Step by step!

Tudi jaz sem delal na enem od svojih brinov, odrezal sem mu rezervne veje, tako da bo vsa energija zdaj skoncentrirana v krošnji. Potem, ko mu je odmrla ena pomembnejših vej v sredini krošnje, je zdaj po novem žičenju spet lepo polna. Obrisi novega drevesa se kažejo, čeprav ima še dolgo pot pred sabo ... Korak za korakom! 

P.S.: Yesterday Blaž took one of the junipers that was left behind by EBA new talents. There are juts 5 more, if you want one you must hurry.

P.S.: Včeraj je Blaž prišel po enega od brinov, ki jih niso pokupili novi talenti na EBA konvenciji. Samo še 5 jih je ostalo, tako da pohitite.

FIKUS

I don't have so many opportunities for work on tropical species. But this ficus was already for the second time in my atelier; some three months ago I cut it a little for the first time for one of my customer. Last night we cut it a little more and put wire on it. This tree is grown from cutting and it's owner works on it for at least 15 years. In all this time the tree wasn't wired at all. Of course it will never become a great bonsai. But the owner put the stone in to the roots and he made a concrete pot for it. Is this a bonsai art? Of course. Not in top artistic sense, but nevertheless the owner is happy with it. Now, as he knows how the tree can be changed with wire in a few minutes and it can become even a little tree, he is sorry for all lost time and he regrets why he didn't start to work on a proper material. But he didn't know a different way. The happiness in his eyes after work on a tree tells it all!  

V bistvu nimam velikokrat priložnosti delati na tropski vrsti. Tokrat se je v ateljeju že drugič znašel fikus benajmin, ki sva ga s stranko prvič obrezala že pred kakimi tremi meseci. Sinoči sva ga še malo bolj sfrizirala in ožičila. Dotično drevo je zrastlo iz potaknejnca, gospod se z njim ukvarja že vsaj 15 let in v vsem tem času ga ni niti enkrat ožičil. In seveda iz njega ne bo nikoli nastal vrhunski bonsai. Je pa med korenine vtaknil kamen.  In mu iz betona izdelal posodo. Je to bonsajizem? Gotovo. Ne sicer v tistem vrhunskem umetniškem smislu, vendar pa gospodu vseeno prinaša neizmerno veselje. Zdaj, ko je spoznal, kako lahko z nekaj žicami v hipu postane povsem drugačen, celo malce podoben drevesu, mu je seveda žal, za ves izgubljeni čas, da se ni že prej začel ukvarjati s pravim materijalom. Ampak druge poti niti ni poznal. Zato pa veselje v očeh ob preobrazbi drevesa pove vse.

With picnic in Domžale we ended the spring part of club's season. Nice socializing in good company - this was just a fine end of the most important season in club's history. EBA was a success, now we deserved some party. But even though that the drink and food were for free, there was no crowd; it is obvious that enthusiasm is fading after almost 10 years of club's work.

Spomladanski del klubske sezone smo zaokrožili s piknikom v Domžalah. Prijetno druženje v dobri družbi je bila samo pika na i doslej najpomembnejši sezoni v klubski zgodovini. EBA je uspešno za nami, zasluženo smo si privoščili malce zabave. Žal je bila tudi na pikniku (kljub zastonj hrani in pijači ;-) ) udeležba bolj skromna; očitno je, da intuziazem po skoraj desetih letih delovanja kluba popušča.

But my energy is increasing. More and more time of my life is dedicated to bonsai. Since I moved to new atelier also school is thriving. And this week was no difference.

Sam imam zaleta vedno več. Vedno večji del življenja zaseda bonsajizem, od kar sem se preselil v novi atelje je šola zaživela in se le še razvija. Tudi ta teden ni bilo nič drugače.

If you are seeking for knowledge - welcome to my atelier, the first part of the season is almost over, but you can reserve the autumn's sessions!

Vsi znanja željni ste še vedno vabljeni v atelje, počasi se prvi del sezone zaključuje, termini bolj ali manj zasedeni, vendar pa si lahko že zdaj rezervirate jesenske termine!