Newbe

gregb

Leica--thank you for showing us the bottom of your pots. I think you have too many holes; this is good better to have too many than not enough!

But, think about having to get the pot ready with screens...I like to wire the screen in and it takes a while for me to do it correctly. 3 drain holes can be a lot of work but one of your pots has twice that many. Maybe you could have fewer drain holes and make them slightly larger

I don't see this as a huge problem. I'm sure you'll catch on as you see more and more actual bonsai pots. It's also good you will have a wheel but what I like about your pots is the handbuilding gives them a personal quality that wheel-thrown pots just don't have. Most wheel-thrown pots look so perfect as though they were made by a machine and not a person.

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RedPine

I get the impression the small holes are for running wires to tie the tree into the pot. I personaly like this way better when they are properly placed.

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gregb

I was only talking about the drain holes; I think there are too many. The tie-down holes are fine on these pots, although I don't know how large they are. The number of tie-down holes is O.K. but they may be too large in diameter.

Colin Lewis

Leica,
Great work! The Nordic influence is very apparent in some of your designs. This is good thing - a very good thing! It suits the way I personally like to grow deciduous species: fat, gnarled, ugly old trolls. I particularly like 702, with that leathery look, and 709, which looks like beaten iron in the picture. The first pot is very good too. How big are these?

A word of constructive criticism: If you are forming these by hand, without a mould or templates, try to avoid difficult formal designs like ovals and soft cornered rectangles. They really need to be well engineered to work.

As for the drainage holes, there's no such thing as too many.

Dale Cochoy

Leica,
I very much like #44702, A very nice drum pot w/ good shape and proportions.



Greg,
I'm suprised you don't appreciate a perfect and flawless pot considering the work you do??

regards,
Dale

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Dale Cochoy
Wild Things Bonsai Studio
Yakimono no Kokoro Bonsai Pottery
Hartville, Ohio

rlist

Dale-

I have a question for you (and other potters out there) since the question of drainage holes came up. You recently posted the Anderson flats, which I have been using for about two years now so we are both familiar with the exceptional drainage and aeration properties of these flats.

My question concerns the ability to create a similar base to a clay pot and the structural integrity of said bottom. Is there a ratio or standard for the number and size of holes you can get away with in a "standard" pot? Say for each square inch of bottom, you can get away with 1/4" of holes (or whatever)?

I know it would be more time consuming, but in my mind I would think you would be better off with twenty (20) 1/8" to 3/16" holes than three (3) 1" holes that would then need screening put over them. The small holes can also serve as wire tie-in points, which obviously adds to the structual issues.

I ask, as the question came to my mind as I have begun to drill multitudes of small holes in my mica pots, following a conversation regarding aeration with Mike Hagedorn (whom I did not ask the above question). Any comments or info would be appreciated.

Rich

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gregb

Whoa there, Dale Sounds like you're identifying with the perfect, wheel-thrown crowd I have a nice little bunjin pot I purchased from you in Dallas in '02. Sure, it is a wheel-thrown pot, but you purposely put a gash in the rim that really appealed to me. I guess I am drawn to qualities that are opposite or not present in my botanical models. But if you saw one up close you'd see that I include bug damage, fungus spots, yellow leaves toward the base. It's that Wabi/Sabi thing we're all looking for, I guess

nsmar4211

Something to consider about the "many but small" vs "few but large" issue... If the drainholes are too small, they will tend to get blocked with pieces of soil particles, espically iwhen bark is used in the bonsai mix. 1/8 th is kinda small for a drainhole unless its a colandar (course, there is that possibility). I for one don't mind using screen....

Colin Lewis

Right! In fact even with a perfectly draining soil with no bark 1/8" holes wouldn't work: the meniscus effect would hold the water in the pot.

By the way: I have come to the conclusion that the bark used here in the US is not a good ingredient for bonsai soil, and i stopped using it a few years ago. But that's probably another thread in another forum.