petek, 28. december 2012

DELAMO

Aleš came to what was likely the last basic-workshop in this year. He has some experience that he gathered himself, with the help of the internet and books. But already after a few minutes of attending the workshop he concluded that nothing can outweigh mere one hour of practical work under the right leadership. We worked on the silver spruce (Picea glehnii) and within a few hours Aleš created his first bonsai.  Material like this is still in stock, so welcome at the beginner's courses!

Na verjetno zadnjem tečaju v tem koledarskem letu se je oglasil Aleš. Že z nekaj izkušnjami, ki jih je nabiral sam, s pomočjo interneta in knjig. A je že po nekaj minutah druženja ugotovil, da nič ne more odtehtati že zgolj ene ure praktičnega dela pod pravim vodstvom. Delala sva na srebrni smreki (Picea glehnii) in v nekaj urah je Aleš ustvaril svoj prvi bonsaj. Nekaj podobnega materijala je še na zalogi, tako da ste vsi znanja željni vabljeni na začetne tečaje! 


After the basic-workshop you can join the Tora group in year-round intensive program. We meet once a week. At the last meeting this year Janez and Miha studied red pine, Roland was working on juniper. He finally decided how to create crown, the first branch is wired, the contours of the crown is already visible. The first workshop in the new year will be as early as 2 January!

Ko bo tečaj za vami, se lahko pridružite skupini Tora in celoletnemu intenzivnemu programu. Srečujemo se enkrat na teden. Na verjetno zadnjem srečanju v tem letu sta Janez in Miha študirala rdeči bor, Roland pa je delal na brinu. Dokončno se je odločil, kako bo oblikoval krošnjo, prva veja je ožičena, obrise krošnje se zlahka sluti. Prva delavnica v novem letu bo že 2. januarja!




P.S.: When you run out of words ... Raje, be strong!

P.S.: Ko zmanjka besed ... Raje drži se!

nedelja, 23. december 2012

ANDREJ

Andrej came to workshop with a Chinese juniper which has a good potential, but unfortunately it has fungus that can destroy all the work. Andrej know it now, but will try to fight disease in the tree, he will use the juniper, if nothing else to learn. Therefore we planed the work, how to get from material to the bonsai in a suitable pot in three years. Today we took the first step. Andrej will be learning all necessary  techniques.
 
Andrej je na nadaljevalni tečaj prišel s kitajskim brinom, ki ima dober potencial, a žal v sebi tudi gobe, ki lahko uničijo vse delo. Andrej to zdaj ve, a se bo trudil bolezen v drevesu zavreti, brin pa uporabiti, če ne drugega za učenje. Napravila sva torej načrt dela, kako iz materijala v treh letih priti do bonsaja v primerni posodi. Danes sva napravila prvi korak. Andrej se bo ob tem učil vseh potrebnih tehnik.
 
 
The starting material is juniper, which was saved from Andrej friend's garden. Under the hard outfit the soft soul is hidden :-) We created the line around which the crown will be build.
 
Začetni materijal je brin, ki ga je Andrej rešil s prijateljičinega vrta. Pod trdo zunanjosto se skriva mehka duša :-) Izpostavila sva linijo, okrog katere bova v nadaljevanju gradila krošnjo.
 
 
We cut some branches, bended the trunk and worked on dead wood. In the future the live veins will be highlighted also, trunk offers more options. While at the photos Andrej is working with power tool, most of the work was done by hand, because the results on the raw wood is so much better.
 
Porezala sva nekaj vej, skrivila deblo in delala na mrtvem lesu. V prihodnosti bodo poudarjene tudi žive vene, deblo ponuja več možnosti. Čeprav na spodnjih fotografijah Andrej dela z rezkarjem, je bilo večino dela opravljenega na roke, saj so rezultati na surovem lesu tako veliko boljši.
 
 
After the first step the difference is already visible. Because this is a school, we'll work step by step. Green mass is compacted on the right side of the trunk, there will be the main part of the crown which will balanced composition. Our goal, quite plausible, is illustrated. Of course, if the tree will cooperate and the fungus will not kill too many branches ...
 
Po prvem koraku je razlika že vidna. Ker gre za šolo, bova delala korak za korakom. Zelenje je skompaktirano na desni strani debla, tam bo večina krošnje s katero bo kompozicija uravnovešena. Cilj, povsem uresničljiv, je na spodnji skici. Če bo drevo sodelovalo in zaradi gobavosti ne bo odmrlo preveč vej seveda ...
 

 

petek, 14. december 2012

CESAR

Last night Tomaž and Miha came to atelier. Tomaž has started another step on his Chamaecyparis in broom style, first comes the detailed wiring, Miha has refined the dead wood on olive. If I would not tell, you would not know that the lower part of shari is added later, so that is tanuki! Miha has masterfully embedded it in a hollow tree.
 
Sinoči sta se v ateljeju oglasila Tomaž in Miha. Tomaž je začel drugi korak na svoji metlasti pacipresi, najprej je na vrsti podrobno žičenje, Miha pa je dodelal suh les na oljki. Če bi vam ne povedal, gotovo ne bi vedeli, da je spodnji del šarija dodan kasneje, da je tanuki! Miha ga je mojstrsko vdelal v votlo drevo.
 

 
On Tuesday,  at the reception organized by the Japanese Embassy in occasion of the emperor birthday, my Juniper was the king at the podium ...
 
V torek je na govorniškem odru ob sprejemu, ki ga ob cesarjevem rojstnem dnevu organizira japonsko veleposlaništvo, kraljev moj brin ...
 

 
(Foto: Roland Petek)
 

četrtek, 6. december 2012

SLON

Miha collected this Pinus sylvestris in March 2009. Apparently he needed only three minutes to collect! The lower part is very interesting, twisted, there obviously something happened in the past, but the upper level is straight - in the last few years pine was growing unconstrained, branches are elongated, green is far from the tree.
 
Miha je tale rdeči bor izkopal marca 2009. Menda je potreboval le tri minute, pa je bilo drevo zunaj. Spodnji del je nadvse zanimiv, zvit, tam se je v preteklosti očitno nekaj dogajalo, zgornji pa je raven - v zadnjih nekaj letih je bor neovirano rastel, veje so razpotegnjene, zelenje je daleč od debla.
 
 
When Miha first brought pine to the studio in early spring 2012, we immediately named it The elephant. With wholesale leg and long trunk it was clearly like an African elephant. If the name setting was easy part of the task, the work plan was anything but easy: the position in the container is weird, but because it was growing on a strange angle in the wild, it could not be planted otherwise. Apart from an interesting lower part the pine was not promising nothing - so we had a difficult task to deal with.
 
Ko je Miha zgodaj spomladi 2012 bor prvič prinesel v atelje, smo ga takoj krstili za Slona. Z debelo nogo in dolgim rilcem je spominjal na afriškega debelokožca. Če je bilo določanje imena lahek del naloge, pa je bil načrt dela vse prej kot enostaven: položaj v posodi je čuden, ampak ker je v naravi rastel pod čudnim kotom, ga drugače ni bilo mogoče posaditi. Razen zanimivega spodnjega dela bor ni obljubljal nič drugega - skratka pred nami je bila težka naloga.
 
 
The first task was to bring green closer to the tree and to made the whole tree compact. This was done at the first session, hard bending was the only intervention before the new growing season. One of the two bended branches (circled in red) later did not survive.
 
Prva naloga je bila zelenje približati deblu in skompaktirati celo drevo. To smo naredili že na prvi seansi; močno krivljenje je bil tudi edini poseg pred novo rastno sezono. Ena od obeh močno krivljenih vej (obkrožena z rdečo) kasneje ni preživela.

 
Miha returned to the studio with Elephnant three weeks ago. In summer he fed it strongly and with a lot of sun the remaining branch reacted with a lot of new buds. Branch already stood in a new position, the tree is strong and healthy. Time to continue the story. Detailed analysis showed that the tree must be even more compact, we must create only a minimal crown to emphasizes the interesting curve. Miha was set to work - he choose the most suitable side branch, cut last year's needles and wrapped it with raffia.
 
Miha se je v atelje s Slonom vrnil pred tremi tedni. Čez poletje ga je gnojil in izpostavil soncu, tako da je preostala veja reagirala z veliko novimi brsti, obstala v novi poziciji, drevo je močno in zdravo. Čas za nadaljevanje zgodbe. Podrobna analiza je pokazala, da bo treba drevo še bolj skompaktirati, ustvariti zgolj minimalno krošnjo in poudariti izjemno zanimivo krivino. Miha se je lotil dela - izbral je najprimernejšo stransko vejo, porezal lanske iglice in jo ovil z rafijo.

 
At the next session he wired the branch and prepared it for shaping.
 
Na naslednji seansi je vejo podrobno ožičil in pripravil na oblikovanje.

 
So, last night there was enough time for the shaping. To concentrate on the design. Here Miha is dealing with the last detail, he is painting the dead wood.
 
Sinoči je bilo tako dovolj časa za samo oblikovanje. Posvečanje dizajnu. Miha tu še ureja zadnje podrobnosti, barva mrtev les.

 
And here is the current result. From the huge tree that had crown almost two meters away from the trunk, we created a very dynamic, strong bonsai. Reserve crown is wrapped in the black bag, this green mass will be removed next summer (if all goes according to plan). Elephant now needs rest and careful hand. In the following years it will be re-potted in to appropriate pot. According to a planting angle the re-potting will probably need two additional steps.
 
In tu je trenutni rezultat. Iz ogromnega drevesa, ki je imelo krošnjo skoraj dva metra stran od debla, je nastal izjemno dinamičen, močan bonsaj. V črni vrečki je še zavita rezervna krošnja, ki pa bo naslednje poletje (če bo vse potekalo po načrtu) odstranjena. Slon zdaj rabi počitek in skrbno roko. V naslednjih letih pa še presajanje v primerno bonsajsko posodo. Glede na kot posaditve bo presaditev verjetno potrebovala dva dodatna koraka.

 
Something like that the tree will look in the pot. Two years more and Miha will live the result of his work. Than will be already 5 years from collecting!
 
Tako nekako bo drevo zgledalo v bonsajski posodi. Še dve leti in Miha bo dočakal rezultat svojega dela. Od izkopa pa bo takrat minilo že 5 let!




ponedeljek, 3. december 2012

GREGA

Grega is one of my students, who did not yet taken bonsai as the way of life, at least for now. He doesn't work on trees every day, his collection is not large, but he really enjoys to work on bonsai. We meet several times a year to shape a tree or two. This time it was the Cmamaecypris, which already got it's first pot:
 
Grega je eden od mojih učencev, ki vsaj za zdaj, bonsajizma še ni vzel za način življenja. Na drevesih ne dela vsak dan, njegova zbirka ni velika, vendar pa ob delu neizmerno uživa. Nekajkrat na leto se srečava, da urediva drevo ali dve. Tokrat je bila na vrsti pacipresa, ki je spomladi že dobila prvo posodo:
 
 
Given that it is already the first snow fell outside, and that the tree will be overwintered outdoors, we didn't tightened the Chamaecyparis till the end, but we just wired the main branches that have not yet stood in the desired position and left the crown slightly more uncombed ... The tree that spent the summer more freely is  shaped again and ready for winter. Difference between bonsai Grega brought to the studio, and bonsai, which he take home after three hours of work, is obvious!
 
Glede na to, da je zunaj že padel prvi sneg, in bo drevo prezimovalo na prostem, paciprese nisva "zategovala" do konca, ampak sva ožičila le glavne veje, ki še niso obstale v željeni poziciji in krošnjo pustila nekoliko bolj frfravo ... Drevo je potem, ko je preživelo bolj svobodno poletje spet urejeno in pripravljeno na zimo. Razlika med bonsajem, ki ga je Grega prinesel v atelje, in bonsajem, ki ga je po dobrih treh urah dela odnesel domov, je kar velika!
 

 
Meanwhile outside: almost real winter ...
 
Zunaj pa, kot rečeno, skoraj prava zima ...
 
 


nedelja, 2. december 2012

DUŠAN

On his third visit to my studio Dušan finished his first tree - Chamaecyparis on which is always a lot to do. Next season Dušan will concentrate on pinching and general maintenance and of course the finding of a suitable pot will also be one of the tasks.

Dušan je na svojem tretjem obisku mojega ateljeja dokončal svoje prvo drevo - hvaležno pacipreso, s katero je vedno veliko dela. Naslednjo sezono bo v ospredju vršičkanje in splošno vzdrževanje ter seveda iskanje primerne posode.


TORA School announces dates of workshops for beginners and intermediate courses. In December we recognize 10% discount on all courses, so do not miss out! Workshops for beginners are scheduled for 8th and 22nd December (Saturdays), the intermediate courses will be at 9th and 23d December (Sundays). Applications and additional information on: tora.bonsai@gmail.com
or call +38641 241224. WELCOME!

Šola TORA razpisuje termine za začetne in nadaljevalne tečaje. V decembru priznavamo 10% popust na redne cene tečajev, zato ne zamudite! Termina začetnih tečajev sta 8. in 22. december (sobota), termina nadaljevalnih pa 9. in 23. december (nedelja). Prijave in vse dodatne informacije na: tora.bonsai@gmail.com ali pokličite 041 241224. VABLJENI!!!