WROCLAW

So, the XXX. EBA Convention in Wroclaw, Poland, is officialy closed. As I wrote in post before, I was part of a EBA Demo Show, and together with my assistant Tomaž Hafner worked on giant spruce collected by Miha Oberstar in Slovenian Alps. The tree took a lot of atention even before we started to work on it. In the evening before Nataša asked me if I can make a sketch of a tree, so she could understand what styling I have in mind. So I took a peace of paper and drew it down. Next day all went exactly as we planned.

 

Tako, XXX. EBA konvencija, ki jo je gostil Wroclaw na Poljskem, je uradno končana. Kot sem napisal že zadnjič, sem bil del EBA Demo Showa, z asistentom Tomažem Hafnerjem sva delala na veliki smreki, ki jo je v naših Alpah izkopal Miha Oberstar. Drevo je poželo veliko zanimanja še preden sva se lotila dela. Večer pred demonstracijo, me je nataša prosila, če lahko narišem skico, da bi lažje razumela, kakšen stajling imam v mislih. Vzel sem košček papirja in narisal skico. Naslednji dan je vse šlo natančno po načrtu.

 

Starting material

 

We started with wrapping the raffia and heavy bending of two main branches. Constant spraying is very important when one work on spruce ... If this work has been done at my studio, I would stop right after the bending and put the tree to rest. But at the demo we did a step more. We wired also the primary branches. And sprayed the tree all the time :-)

 

Začela sva z navijanjem rafije in močnim krivljenjem dveh glavnih vej. Nenehno pršenje je zelo pomembno pri delu na smreki ... Če bi smreko delal v mojem ateljeju, bi se po krivljenju vej ustavil in drevesu privoščil nekaj mesecev počitka. Toda na demonstraciji sva napravila še en korak naprej. Ožičila sva primarne veje. In ves čas smreko pršila :-)

 

 

 

After four hours of work, Tomaž thank you, you did a great job!, we completed the first styling. We didn't wire the secundary branches and we didn't touch the fresh tips, because this would be really stressful for the tree in this time of the year. Result is seen on the next picture. Really old, powerful tree with great bonsai future!

 

Po štirih urah dela, Tomaž hvala, zelo si se odrezal!, sva prvo oblikovanje dokončala. Nisva žičila sekundarnih vej in nisva se dotikala svežih vršičkov, saj bi bilo to za drevo v tem letnem času zelo stresno. Rezultat je na spodnji sliki. Staro, izjemno močno drevo z sijajno bonsajsko bodočnostjo!

 

 

The next step will be done in autumn or when the new owner will decited to do it. I hope I'll see this tree some day again on a big show!

 

Naslenji korak bo napravljen jeseni ali, ko se bo novi lastnik pač odločil. Jaz samo upam, da bom to drevo nekoč spet srečal na kakšni veliki razstavi!

 

The Polish organizators did a good job, the exhibition was on a relatively high level. The first prize was given to Tsuga by Harald Lehner, Germany. For me, at least the Crataegus by Richard Chambers was better (Crateagus was already exhibit by Kevin Willson on Noelanders trophy, however the duo is actually one team ..), the presentation of japanese Larch by Rafal Kulesz was also great by my humble opinion.

 

Poljski organizatorji so se odrezali, razstava je bila na relativno visokem nivoju. Prvo nagrado so podelili čugi Haralda Lehnerja, Nemčija. Zame je bil boljši vsaj glog Richarda Chambersa (glog je na Noelanders trophyju že razstavljal Kevin Willson, ampak ta dva sta tko ali tako en tim ...), po mojem skromnem mnenju pa je bila odlična tudi predstavitev japonskega macesna, ki jo je pripravil Poljak Rafal Kulesz.

 

 

 

Next convention will be hosted by Kestutis Ptakauskas and his team in Lithuania!

 

Naslednjo konvencijo bo v Litvi z svojo ekipo gostil Kestutis Ptakauskas!