Worthwhile Suiseki?

Carl_Bergstrom

Hello everyone,

When it comes to suiseki,I know darn close to nothing. What I do know is that I'd like a couple of nice stones to accent certain trees, or possibly even as main pieces to display with shohin trees as accents.

Last week, walking along my in-laws' property on the shores on Lake Michigan, I found the stone pictured below. It's about 16" wide, and to the best of my knowledge, it's actually a huge chunk of petrified wood.

So here are my questions. In the photo below, I've placed it at the angle I like, with about half of the stone buried in the sand, to indicate how it might look if it were cut flat.

1) Should I bother to pay to have someone cut it for me, pay to ship it across the country (even cut, it will weigh 25-30 pounds), and/or commission a stand for it? Or is it garbage better left upon the shore?

2) If I do cut it, should I cut it so that it sits roughly as shown? Or is the height and/or angle wrong? (I can't cut below the sand line, because it cuts back inward at that point. I could cut well above the sandline, though, as indicated in the subsequent post.)

Thanks in advance,
Carl

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suiseki_small.jpg (69.6 KB, 90 views)

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Carl_Bergstrom

A higher cut might look something like this virtual:

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suiseki_small_virt.jpg (35.5 KB, 85 views)

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bonsaial1

I like the first pic best. I like the shape a little taller. It's seems more pleasing to the eye in this configuration. The second one is OK, but does not do the stone justice. It's definately not petrified wood. I would say some kind of gneiss or other metamorphic stone. Could be igneous, but would have to see it up close. The striations lead me to believe it was made while molten, hence the igneous. While millions of tons of pressure can metamorphasize most anything...read diamonds.

I like the stone and would not hesitate bringing this beauty home. The stone and the dai I placed it in are totally wrong. It was the only pic I had that had the almost right shape for a virtual. I would go maybe mahogany on this one due to the color. Maybe a full 1" thick would be better to offset the height of the stone. Also the legs would be under the visually heavy parts of the stone, which I was unable to do in the virt.

Whats the length and height?

Al

PS... how much is under the sand, and can you scratch it with a nail? I would cut it!

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susekivirt.jpg (25.2 KB, 79 views)

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Carl_Bergstrom

Al,

Thanks so much for your reply.

Various answers:


The length is roughly 16" (I didn't measure, so I'm guessing) and the height is about 10". It's not as deep as I'd like to see - maybe 6" or so.

The rock is heavy as all get-out, and dog-gone hard. This is a some seriously dense rock.

Roughly a half of the rock is showing about the sand in the first picture.

I'm glad you like the tall shape. I like it too, but I was afraid that the lower one was somehow more appropriate. Glad to hear otherwise!

The petrified wood guess came from my father-in-law, who owns and lives on that stretch of beach. I don't know the first thing about these things myself. There's lots of this stuff on his property; I've attached a picture of another one (not as nice, and an object stone rather than a mountain stone, but oh well...) That one is nearly 2 feet tall.

With my best regards,
Carl

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suiseki2.jpg (64.4 KB, 75 views)

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Carl_Bergstrom

Did I mention that your virtual looks amazing? That alone has convinced me to go to the trouble and expense of having this fellow cut!

Thank you!
Carl

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bonsaial1

The second one is nice too. I would throw that on the plane also! Just put it in your carryon's.

I will cut this up and post it. I see two stone in it.

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bonsaial1

The first one is obviously the top half of the stone rotated slightly and cropped off. This would be an erosian stone, or plateau stone; dan-seki or dan-ishi. Probably best displayed in a suiban (very thin bonsai tray with no holes)

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butte stone.jpg (37.9 KB, 64 views)

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bonsaial1

The second one is the right side of the photo, rotated 90 degrees to the left. The crop is taken from the edge and includes the long slope. This is my favorite stone of the whole thing. I love slope stones. Maybe why I like those oil slick maples too! Gives the impression of great age due to erosion. This is almost the shape of Mount Fuji, maybe a little flatter. The right side of the stone may be better, but it's hard to tell since it is obscured somewhat in the sand.

This would be a fun stone to make a dai for. Very thin slab of black walnut, feminine legs, 5 or 6 coats of mink oil on the stone with a wipe over of mineral oil. the patina on the stones looks pretty good now. The process would just make them pop.

Slope stone: doha-seki

Attached Images

distant mountain.jpg (24.5 KB, 63 views)

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Carl_Bergstrom

Hey there, Al - wonderful virtuals one and all. Knowing as little as I do about this art, I never saw that Fuji form in the second stone. I like it!

You'd better be careful, though, or one of these days you're going to come home from work and find a couple of hundred pounds of rock sitting on your doorstep!

With fond regards,
Carl

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