KUROMATSU

A week of hard work on neglected Kuromatsu (japanese black pine, Pinus thumbergii) is done; first phase on this very big tree is completed. Tree is from Rok's collection and was neglected for a last five maybe even ten years. It is a yamadori, that fact add a value to the tree, but in the other hand it has some faults. This time, after the tree came to the shop, we dealed with faults made by careless owner before the tree came in to Rok posession. The main problems were the main branches which started to grow upwards again, then the big open space in the upper part of the tree. But first we cut all the phatetic guy wires whic did nothing else then just made the tree ugly.

 

Teden dni trdega dela na zanemarjenem japonskem črnem boru je za nama; prva faza na tem zelo velikem drevesu je končana. Drevo je iz Rokove zbirke in je bilo zanemarjeno zadnjih pet, morda celo deset let. Je jamadori, kar dodaja vrednost, toda na drugi strani ima tudi nekaj napak. Tokrat, potem, ko je drevo prišlo v delavnico, sva se ukvarjala z napakami, ki so posledica nepravilne vzgoje lastnika pred Rokom. Glavne težave so bile: glavne veje, ki so se že začele dvigovati, velika luknja v zgornjem delu krošnje. Najprej pa sva porezala vse patetične napenjalne žice, ki niso služile ničemur drugemu kot temu, da je bilo drevo grdo.

 

Kuromatsu as arrived to the shop

 

Ugly wires were cut off

 

Problem in the top: big empty space

 

After we cut all old needles we started to wire and slowly build the structure from bottom towards the top. When I first saw this big tree (one realizes how big is it only if one see it in live) my plan was to deal with every needle, to made the final styling. But with closer inspection it was obvious that the tree was so neglected that needed a much more - so we went way back in to the branch structure, repairing the crossed branches, cut the thicker ones and so on ...

 

Ko sva porezala vse stare iglice sva začela z žičenjem in postavljanjem strukture od spodaj navzgor. Ko sem to veliko drevo videl prvič (kako veliko je, človek spozna šele, ko ga vidi v živo) sem mislil, da bom lahko na mesto postavil vsako iglico, napravil finalno oblikovanje. Natančnejša analiza pa je pokazala, da je bilo drevo tako zanemarjeno, da je potrebovalo veliko več - tako sva morala veliko bolj nazaj z urejanjem strukture vej, popravljanjem prepletenih vej, rezanjem predebelih ...

 

TORA international bonsai school apprentice Gašper working on big Kuromatsu

 

The first phase is now completed. The tree is wired again, the branches are in position. Pine has great old bark, the smaller crown is now part of the story, wached over by parent crown on bigger trunk. The tree still needs a lot of work in the future - but for now this is it. Now the tree wil rest, in next season we'll do a next step with proper watering, feeding, pinching and cutting candles and so on ...

 

Prva faza je zdaj končana. Drevo je ponovno ožičeno, veje so tam, kjer morajo biti. Bor ima krasno staro lubje, manjša krošnja je del zgodbe, nad njo bdi večja na glavnem deblu. Drevo bo v prihodnosti potrebovalo še veliko dela, toda za zdaj je to to. Drevo bo zdaj počivalo, naslednjosezono pa bomo nov korak naprej napravili s pravilnim zalivanjem, gnojenjem, vršičkanjem in rezanjem svečk ...

 

Before - after

SAKKA-TEN

Tora international bonsai school organizes excursions for our students too. This time we went to Florence, Italy. Nippon Bonsai Sakka Kyookai Europe organized its bienal exhibition, Sakka-Ten, Autumn trees. One can read on their web-pages all about rules and standards. This time there were a little less trees then I expected, also the exhibition room was somehow small, but nevertheless there were some excellent bonsai trees. Here are some photos from this really nice event: 

 

Bonsajska šola Tora za študente organizira tudi ekskurzije. Tokrat smo se odpravili v Firence. Nippon Bonsai Sakka Kyookai Europe je organiziral bienalno razstavo, Sakka-Ten, jesenska drevesa. Na njihovi spletni strani si lahko preberete vse o pravilih in standardih. Tokrat je bilo na policah nekoliko manj dreves, kot sem pričakoval, tudi razstavni prostor je bil nekoliko premajhen. Vseeno pa je bilo nekaj razstavljenih dreves vrhunskih. Tu je nekaj fotografij s tega res lepega dogodka:

 

 

 

 

I especially liked this spruce (Picea abies):

 

Zelo mi je bila všeč tale smreka (Picea abies):

 

 

Infront of exhibition room, on the square in the middle of Fiesole above the Florence, one could find some traders. Many times I am surprised about prices, because this days one rarelly can find fair pricess of trees, pots and tools. I still don't know why a neglected sohin Cryptomeria with bad nebari and almost no tappering should cost 1000 eur and why some scissors, even though special, have 600 eur price-tag on it ... But obviously traders still can find a people which buys such things ... 

 

Pred razstavnim prostorom, na trgu sredi Fiesola nad Firencami, je bilo zbranih neka jprofajalcev. Velikokrat me cene presenetijo, saj dandanes človek redko naleti na poštene cene za drevesa, posode in orodje. Še vedno mi ni jasno, zakaj bi  morala znemarjena Cryptomeria šohin velikosti, z slabim nebarijem in skoraj brezu ožanja stati 1000 eur in zakaj bi moral neke škarje, pa čeprav posebne, imeti na sebi ceno 600 eur ... Toda očitno prodajalci še vedno najdejo ljudi, ki to kupujejo ...

 

BRIN R

This is a story about another Juniperus virginiana, most common juniper used in gardens and streets as green barriers or something like that. So material is easy to find. Virginiana is of course never going to be as fine as Itoigawa variety, one can't gain such a definition wit Virginiana as with Itoigawa. And there is also a problem with fungus. But nevertheless It is a nice material to work with. Tomaž R. came to atelier two years ago with such material. He wanted a tall tree, so we made one :-)!

 

To je zgodba o še enem Virginijskem brinu, vrsti, kije zelo pogosta v vrtovih in po ulicah za ozelenjevanje itn. Materijal je torej relativno dostopen. Virginiana seveda ne bo nikoli tako dobra kot Itoigawa, z Virginijskim brinom se nikoli ne da doseč takšne definicije, kot z itoigawo. In tu je tudi težava z gobo. Kljub vsemu pa je to dober materijal. Tomaž R. je pred dvema letoma prišel v atelje s takim materijalom. Želel si je visoko drevo, pa sva ga naredila :-)!

 

Juniperus virginiana, 2012

 

After two seasons tree returned to shop. As one can see at photo below, the tree grow a lot, the wire was cut off, juniper needed a new styling. Because the top has all sorts of problems I sugested to owner a lower tree. And this time he agreed! :-)

 

Po dveh sezonah se je drevo vrnilo v delavnico. Kot lahko vidite na spodnji sliki, je drevo lepo pognali, bilo je razžičeno in potrebovalo je novo oblikovanje. Ker je bilo z vrhom veliko težav sem Tomažu predlagal nižje drevo in tokrat se je strinjal! :-)

Juniperus virginiana, November 2014

 

So we made the plan, and Tomaž started to work. He cut the top off, we turned it in to ten-jin, then he wired all the branches. One side branch we turned in to a new top.

Napravila sva načrt in Tomaž se je lotil dela. Odrezal je stari vrh, oblikovala sva ga v ten-džin, potem je ožičil vse veje. Eno stransko vejo sva oblikovala v nov vrh.

Tomaž working, Aleš supervising :-)

 

Juniper wired up, and prepared for re-styling

Juniper virginiana, after re-styling

 

We ended with a much more compact and atractive tree wich has a good future. If it'll only avoid fungus infection!

 

Rezultat je veliko bolj kompaktno in atraktivno drevo z lepo prihodnostjo. Če se bo le izognilo okužbi z gljivo!

 

Juniper virginiana, before - after, November 2014

 

Meanwhile the first apprentice of TORA international school, Gašper, works hard. He re-styled a neglected spruce for our customer. He did a great job, only needed one or two advices and corrections. He is really tallented and he improves his skills fast.

 

Med tem Gašper še naprej trdo dela. Preoblikoval je zanemarjeno smreko za eno od strank. Opravil je dobro delo, le enkrat ali dvakrat je potreboval nasvet ali popravek. Res je talentiran in hitro napreduje.

Spruce before

Gašper working

 Spruce after