Meanwhile, a lot of trees were styled in our studio, new and old students worked on their projects and enjoyed in Tora International Bonsai School environment. This is a story about one of the many projects, story about Juniper from Sašo Taškar's collection. Sašo is a professional gardener, so he has access to the vast amount of garden material. Of course not all material is suitable for bonsai, but sometimes he finds some old plants which are not interesting for owners anymore, but they have a lot of character and are good for bonsai. This Juniperus virginiana came in to atelier as a big green bush two years after it was collected in an urban environment.
Kar nekaj dreves smo oblikovali med tem v našem studiju, novi in stari člani šole so delali na svojih projektih in uživali v okolju šole Tora. To je zgodba enega od mnogih projektov, zgodba o brinu iz zbirke Saša Taškarja. Sašo je profesionalni vrtnar, tako da ima dostop do skoraj neomejene količine vrtnega materijala. Seveda ni ves primeren za bonsaj, toda tu in tam naleti na staro drevo, ki za lastnika ni več zanimivo, toda ima veliko karakterja in je primerno za bonsaj. Ta virginijski brin je v atelje prispel kot velik zelen grm dve leti po tem, ko je bil izkopan.
Juniperus virginiana as arrived to the atelier in September 2016
The big problem for almost all beginners is to see a bonsai in such a bush. Also Sašo came to me with a question: "Can we do something out of this?" After a few second of observation I replied: "Of course we can!" How I knew, that a bonsai is hiding in this bush? I saw some interesting lines, tapering and suitable branches. More than enough that I knew we can make a good tree out of this material. This ability one can develop only with experience, with work on many trees and of course with some talent. Then, with time, one can see more and more solutions in the starting material. But in this case Sašo trusted me all the decisions.
Videti bonsaj v takšnem grmu, je velika težava za skoraj vse začetnike. Tudi Sašo je najprej vprašal: " A lahko iz tega grma kaj naredimo?" Po nekaj sekundah analize drevesa sem odvrnil: " Seveda lahko!" Kako sem vedel, da se v tem grmu skriva bonsaj? Videl sem nekaj zanimivih linij, ožanje in primerne veje. Več kot dovolj, da sem vedel, da lahko iz tega materiala napravimo dober bonsaj. To sposobnost se da razviti samo z izkušnjami, z delom na mnogih drevesih in seveda z malo talenta. S časoma potem v začetnem materijalu vidiš več in več rešitev. Toda v tem primeru mi je Sašo zaupal vse odločitve.
This will be the future front ... Before the works started
So, first we decided which side is best for front and cut all redundant branches. Soon enough, it was clear, that the left side of the crown, the secondary trunk must go. There were no suitable branches, and also two trunks were too similar. So we decided to go with simple, classical tree.
Najprej smo se odločili, katera stran je boljša za prednjo in odrezali vse odvečne veje. Kar kmalu je bilo jasno, da se bomo morali znebiti leve strani, drugega debla. Tam ni bilo primernih vej, pa tudi obe debli sta si bili preveč podobni po debelini. Odločili smo se, da bomo oblikovali enostavno, klasično drevo.
After we cut all redudant branches the interesting lines were more visible
Sašo then worked on deadwood, wiring took another three or four sessions in TORA atelier, but finally the work was done and the styling begins. The result is a nice compact tree with a lot of dynamic.
Sašo je potem delal na mrtvem lesu, žičenje je opravil v naslednjih treh ali štirih seansah šole, končno je bilo delo opravljeno in oblikovanje se je lahko začelo. Rezultat je simpatično kompaktno drevo s kar nekaj dinamike.
Sašo started with work on dead-wood
Wiring took one ...
twoo ...
three workshop sessions, before the styling took part
The result studied by some TORA student
The bottom left jin will be drastically shortened in the near future, some deadwood will be added on the trunk, crown will gain much more definition. And of course, the tree will be repoted in to bonsai pot. But the major work has been done, we set the future of this tree. Now is Sašo's turn to keep this tree nice and happy and in two or three seasons it can be show-ready!
Spornji levi džin bo v bližnji prihodnosti precej zmanjšan, neka jmrtvega lesa bo dodanega na deblu, krošnja pa bo pridobila na definiciji. In seveda, drevo bo presajeno v bonsajsko posodo. Toda glavno delo je opravljeno, drevesu smo določili prihodnost. Zdaj je Sašova naloga, da drevo pravilno vzdržuje in v dveh do treh sezonah je že lahko primerno za razstavo!
Juniperus virginiana, December 2016
before/after
