Shohin Seminar Goodies Thread

bonsaial1

This thread will be for those that went to the Shohin Seminar and wish to post discriptions and pictures of the goodies they bought. I bought a few things. I made the mistake of adding it up when I got home and found that I had spent $910.00 at the seminar, not counting gas, the gas back to Los Banos for forgotten credit card in the ATM, gas back and fourth home each night , and the extra gas to avoid the largest traffic jam due to an overturned tanker in Cal. history.

I did focus quite a bit this time on pottery. I found the choice on pots to be extra special this year. The plant material was very good and I was able to buy some accent plant material as well as some tools.

In the tool dept I was able to buy a die grinder before I went to Shohin. I have posted it here since I spent my shohin money on the tool. What I did buy was some grinding bits for it as well as some flex-cut knives for jin carving.

A basalt Suiseki in a twin mountain peak form. Not perfect, but with the right dai it might just be worthy.

I found this great deal on a Yizing pot from China. The price was right and the color is good. The size is perfect for a juniper that I collected on this last trip. The formal small upright. I think this will be perfect.

I found two redwood slabs that will make great shohin display boardsfter they have been planed down to the correct thickness. I am going to try to saw them in half and get two slabs from each piece. Bob Hilvers bought the other two that were there. I will be planning his down also.

The small juniper was my workshop tree. It will begin its lonely existance in a grow box for the next 4 years, to help remove what I did to it.

This small elm was not really anything to shout home about. My reason for buying it will become clear soon though.

Attached Images

	DSCF0043.JPG (20.4 KB, 85 views)
	DSCF0026.JPG (28.2 KB, 65 views)
	DSCF0034.JPG (15.0 KB, 44 views)
	DSCF0035.JPG (16.2 KB, 46 views)
	DSCF0046.JPG (34.1 KB, 120 views)
	DSCF0037.JPG (21.4 KB, 108 views)

__________________
Real men don't wear coats with "happi" in the title.

Advertisement

bonsaial1

I bought alot of accent type pots. There were many styles and colors to choose from. I could have spent another 500.00 on pots.


The accent pot potters are:

Jim Barett
Marriane Thomason
Dick Ryerson
Gary Wood

The final pot shown is a small Begei. I bought the larger one 4 years ago. It now houses my procumbens. I compared the signatures and they match. 4 years ago the larger one cost $200.00 and was made in the Tokonome kilns. The smaller one has been made in China and signed by Begei. New cost: $45.00. You be the judge.

Attached Images

	DSCF0031.JPG (17.3 KB, 41 views)
	DSCF0033.JPG (17.6 KB, 30 views)
	DSCF0029.JPG (16.6 KB, 38 views)
	DSCF0030.JPG (20.5 KB, 35 views)
	DSCF0032.JPG (18.0 KB, 26 views)
	DSCF0028.JPG (28.7 KB, 94 views)

__________________
Real men don't wear coats with "happi" in the title.

bonsaial1

This small tourquoise pot was bought from Jim Barett. We confered back and fourth on color and size for awhile. I had the plant with me while we looked back and fourth deciding if it was the right pot. Jim said that it may not be the perfect pot while the tree is in leaf, but it will be splendid when it comes into fall color. My limitations on the root package and trunk diameter kept me from having a cream/yellow colored pot for spring, and this pot for fall. Jim has a list of pot sizes that I have given him and will be making me three pots for trees that I did not find pots for. (sorry Joanie, I have the brother stand to the one you bought, yours is 2/2 mine is 1/2)

A small juniper from Shohin King of L.A., Larry Ragle. Work on this juniper to be demo for Hanford Bonsai society later this spring or early summer.

This small plant is a Viburnum. Gets lovely whitish flowers. One picture is of the tree the way I bought it, and the other is after I hacked it for future development. Go figure! Me, leave anything intact. You must be kidding.

That about sums it up, theres more but it will come later this week. Thanks for all those that sought me out, I loved the interaction and too bad this only happens every other year.

Al Keppler

Attached Images

	DSCF0044.JPG (49.5 KB, 91 views)
	DSCF0036.JPG (22.6 KB, 108 views)
	DSCF0039.JPG (24.3 KB, 75 views)
	DSCF0041.JPG (21.4 KB, 71 views)

__________________
Real men don't wear coats with "happi" in the title.

ozzerbon

Fantastic trees, pots and stands mate, many thanks for posting your pics and I look forwards to your follow up.

Regards,
Nigel

__________________
http://pictures.bonsaitalk.com/user/ozzerbon
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ozzerbon/

zen

That does it ,...I am gunna HAVE to start going to these things!!! Great stuff Al,...really cleaned up on pots I see! Congrats man.

__________________
"Although profoundly "inconsequential," the Zen experience has consequences in the sense that it may be applied in any direction, to any conceivable human activity, and that wherever it is so applied it lends an unmistakable quality to the work."

~ Alan Watts (1915-1973)

http://www.bonsaiswap.com/

Joanie

Here are the photos of my goodies.... the background is an old blue sheet, so I couldn't get some of the color in the pictures adjusted right. Just be aware that the pots are MUCH more intense, deep, and beautiful than in these pictures!!

First, and most importantly, the shohin stand that was handmade by bonsaial. It is walnut, signed and numbered, and the finish is glorious. It has an almost moire pattern on top, which everyone wants to run their fingertips over. Lovely satin finish. Thank you, Al, for this opportunity to have one of your stands! It's living in the china cabinet now.

Attached Images

	stand1.jpg (10.6 KB, 12 views)
	stand2.jpg (13.7 KB, 20 views)

__________________

Joanie

Pots were hard to resist. Each potter has a special feel, either their glazes or their clay, or the treatment of their glazes, or their shapes and contours. The prices were also excellent!

From smaller to larger....

First group is of very tiny pots, by Jim Barrett. The little rectangular ones are almost exactly the size of the first joint of my pointer finger, from side to side and from knuckle to tip. (Remember, I'm a female type person) The oval is very shallow and adorable. And the last two pots are fulgurites, which are lightening strikes. They have fantastic shapes. The round one could be a little natural water pot (imagine it with a tiny wooden dipper) and the second could hold a little thimbleful of moss or a very tiny accent plant. They are heavy in iron content, so they have a metallic feel. Some fulgurites are much more sandy. These come from the desert. Each has a hollow, filled with dirt, if you look for it.

Attached Images

pots3.jpg (7.3 KB, 27 views)

__________________

Joanie

Next are pots by Jim Barrett. Two shallow ovals, one of which is a green and one is more of a brown. The green one has the special shohin stamp, of a little bonsai nestled in a hand. The bottom of the pot, with the markings, is shown in the second picture.

Third photo, the pot on the left is by Dick Ryerson, and the one on the right is by Sara Raynor. Dick's pot has a green/blue undertone, and a flash of brown/rose, over a ribbed surface to really show off the breaking colors in the glaze. Sara's pot has multiple tones of green, with rose/brown and black/brown breaking through. All are shohin sized.
Edit: the first photo is of the Dick and Sara pots, the photos are out of order.

Attached Images

	pots2.jpg (10.2 KB, 20 views)
	pots4.jpg (16.5 KB, 21 views)
	pots5.jpg (6.7 KB, 17 views)

__________________

Joanie

Next, two more pots by Jim Barrett. The one on the left is a creamy-coffee crackle glaze, with the Shohin stamp. The one on the right is a metallic glaze, with interesting runs and changes in tone.

Now, the tools. I had this adorable little tool bag, but it kept falling over because it was too short and the bonsai tools are too heavy. So, I bought a leather tool roll. Very nice. Smells like leather, and is easy to use.

Slipped into the tie string of the tool roll is a tool that Cindy recommended... it's a small pair of spherical concave cutters. Joshua Roth brand. I bought them from Bassin's. Slowly, the tool stash expands...... Good quality is now the key word.

Attached Images

	pots1.jpg (10.5 KB, 12 views)
	toolroll.jpg (13.4 KB, 18 views)

__________________