Hi honey I'm home! and a juniper too!

Smoke

Greetings forum! My name is Smoke. AKA; Bonsai-al, AKA; Al Keppler. I have spent about a week reading messages to this board. What I have found out is that I am certainly not needed here to allow the forum to behave with animosity. I am not needed here for others to insult one another. For the most part, my opinions here carry no more hatred or disrespect then a dozen or so other posters here. I have spoken to a few people here and around my home whom opinions I respect. While the consensus is that whenever a group of people get together and discuss anything that can have multiple points of view, there will be criticism. Add to that the passion required achieving beautiful bonsai and the fever pitch is increased ten fold.



What I have decided to do is to semi-retire Bonsai-al. Bonsai-al was a great guy. For some reason he changed his attitude for what might have been personal reasons about the direction of his bonsai work, and expected all to follow. What Smoke has found out, is that there are those that wish to do bonsai as a small hobby, work on trees when it fits their time schedule, and keep their work very personal. This is fine for some and I have decided that it is far easier to respect that, and move on.



In my endeavors with bonsai I have taken another approach. I have had a modicum of success, and I very much enjoy sharing my take on my bonsai approach. That is what Smoke will convey to this board. Smoke will take us back to the day of quality bonsai instruction, mixed with small doses of humor from time to time, and cutting edge satire. I will still talk the artistic approach in bonsai, and will no doubt start many threads about that approach. Those that have tired of the “art thing” would do well to dismiss those threads. I feel that my contention will be to respect your way, and all I ask is for those that disagree to do the same.



Smoke will probe and ask questions from time to time, and I would think that with this different attitude, quality discussion can take place. If you feel that discussion is unnecessary, I would think that maybe those forum members might rethink their reason for being here. I strive to be better, I think about bonsai during the day at work, and I have bonsai on my mind when driving down the road. Of course it is not all consuming, but I have devoted the better part of my free time to the pursuit of bonsai excellence. Whether I have achieved that end is for others to convey, but I hope I have shown progress during my tenure at bonsaiTALK. I take delight in the opinions of those that see bonsai this way, and really have no use for opinions of those that don’t see bonsai as a medium to better reflect their place on this earth. I wish to contribute as much as possible to this forum, and will hope it is taken in the same joy in witch I will give it.



It was my sincere wish that all members of bonsaiTALK had come here to improve their work. It would seem the natural course of action. In retrospect, I now see that there are those that wish to come here to post a few threads about bonsai and enjoy the board for what it is, a friendly place. It has not been friendly lately, and that is do in part for my actions. I have decided to move in a new direction on the forum, and hope to make it better then ever before.


Now on to the juniper!

I strted this project in the summer of 2002. Not that many years ago, in fact so short that I am little amazed at the progress in this plant. I have posted this plant beffore, and it will be no surprise again. The stock was bare bones, basicly a stump with a few green sprigs on it. For the most part it was left to grow unchecked for the remainder of the summer. The right hand limb had been pruned of the plant, and all stubs were left for future jins.

During those early posts, a few virtuals had been worked up, and some had been tweaked by Matt and Carl. The virtual of course is in pic. 3.

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	juni2.JPG (62.9 KB, 345 views)
	juniper and virt by al.gif (31.8 KB, 564 views)

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Smoke

In the next year, the tree was wired and started its training. While the tree was to be built on a single branch, fertlizing would be of prime importance to achieve the ramification necessary to make branches. I fertilized with fish emulsion and heavy doses of Bio-gold, a Japanese fertilizer. Very good fertilizer but mild enough so as to not cause burning.

During the summer the jins were carved and the bark stripped. Jin fluid was applied to help preserve the deadwood. The tree continuedcto push very heavily all year long, and the tree was wired three times during that year. Wire was left to bite in just a little, and I feel that junipers require this method due to the elasticity of the sap wood. No wonder they used to make bows out of yew and juniper wood. With the wire cutting in just a little, I am assured that the branch will take to the shape I have given it. If the branch is unwired too soon, the branch will resort to its former shape and the look will ruined.

Pic. 1 shows the jins stripped while pic. 2 shows the growth over the past year. pic 3 is of the back.

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	1c.JPG (43.4 KB, 197 views)

Smoke

Late 2003 and early 2004 was spent in wiring and pinching. The basic shape had been decided and most of my time was spent on branch definition and refinement. Pinching alone is almost enough on shimpaku's to achieve this, but the wire helps to further define the shape. Fertilizer this year is same as the previous year, but with the increased foliage, I am able to folier feed. This is done with dyna-gro and seaweed extract.

My first shape during the end of 2003 had the crown much too peaked and looking too much like a young pine tree. Early in 2004, I decided that the apex sholud be more rounded and flatter, adding more to the illusion of an older tree.

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mkonig

Hi Smoke

Glad to see you (back?) here!

Mike

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Treebeard

Hello Smoke,

welcome back.

I had a sneaky feeling about who you were right from your first post...

Best regards,

Chris.

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JTriptow

Hmmm, I suspect that many of us had that same sneaky feeling.

Welcome doppelganger-Al!

Jennifer

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Smoke

Now we fast forward to last week. I spent most of the week carving the deadwood and deciding on the best position for the trees front. Carving was done after it was discovered that all the bark on the tree under the jins ofn the right side of the trunk had become very loose. I picked at the bark witha dental pick, and the entire piece of bark came off and gave me the entire right side of the tree a cool shari.

This part of the trunk was rather large due to all the branches protruding from the same place. In the first photos you can see that the tree would look better if rotated 10 degrees to the right. This would give the trunk a sort of slimming effect, and not make it look like it flares so large above the jins, which it does.

I did all the carving work with three different dremel bits, all of which were in the ball shape. Grooves and furrows were carved in and small holes and knots were enhanced. The fuzz was burnt off with a torch and the tree was checked for prorportion. I was happy with the carving at this point and decided that the tree would recieve its exhibit pot. I took the pot and scrubbed it out, since it had been planted in before. New screen was installed and the first layer of akadama was prepared. I plant in mostly oure akadama now, as the result of experiments over that last two years. I have made lots of soil, many recipeis have been tried, and I can say without a doubt that trees grow in akadama like no other soil.

The tree was tied in, and the soil placed around and worked into the roots. As a precaution, all of my shohin trees are turned upside down and soil worked into the roots before they are placed into the pot. I want absolutly no air holes in the pot to cause premature death of the plant. Moss was placed on top of the soil, and will be the subject of a future article.

This tree is now complete for the moment. There is still much work to do on the canopy, and I wish to make it a little larger and a little taller. The pot now is perfect in shape and color. and The very thin walls of this pot allow for very nice details in the band around the bottom. The pot does not look bulky, one of the things evident in cheap shohin pots. This pot is yixing ware from China. The only negative in the pot at present is that it is a little large for the plant. With a fuller canopy, this will disappear and the plant should be just right.

This project has been very rewarding considering what I started with. The goal was to have a plant near this goal in five years , and I was able to achieve it in 2 1/2.

Species: Juniperus Chinensis "shimpaku"
Height: Six inches
Trunk at soil: 1.25 inches
Pot: Yixing ware from China

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grampz

Mr. Smoke [Al]

What a beautiful job you have done with this tree, and in such short time...Thanks again for the step-by-step...

I must admit though, unlike some of the others you had me fooled...I really thought 'Smoke' was Andy Rutledge visiting the forum once again...[for whatever that is worth]...

Welcome back...This forum just would not be the same without your sharing of knowledge and various techniques of bonsai and display...Glad we still will have the oportunity to learn from you...

Regards
Behr

Carl_Bergstrom

Alright, "Smoke."

First of all, welcome back.

Second of all, let's talk about this tree of yours.

It's great to see it coming along, and I've got one in a big growing pot that was inspired by this specific tree way back when. I like the general direction, and I'm pleased to see the improvement. But a few comments, straight to the point, no BS.

I like the tree, but I don't like the apex yet. Maybe it isn't finished, and just needs to fill out. I also see a green happy foliage mass atop a white tortured trunk.

I personally don't mind the "life in the tea garden" imagery of lush green foliage contrasting with tortured trunk. But I do expect the two to interact. I want to see deadwood interlaced among the foliage, and visa versa. A white jin or two emerging from the canopy would work wonders.

Even at this stage, a little bit of extra shaping would have gone a long way with the canopy. Compare my virtual. I haven't even created foliage layers - just improved the profile. Maybe this is beside the point because you are trying to grow the foliage out. But you did display it in a (semi-)formal setting, so I thought it was fair game for critique.

And the accent plant...yikes. To be (to be frank) it just doesn't work. First, it doesn't really related well with the tree. There's no line of flow between the two, no sympathetic movement. The upward jin on the trunk prevent that side from flowing to the right. I'd rather see the placement reversed. Second, the accent itself. The two foliage balls that have spilled out look flacid, not cascading. They're like the eyes of some cartoon character, having popped out on springs at the site of danger or money or a pretty girl, but then having failed to return to their rightful spots, they just dangle on their springs. They don't direct the movement to the right any more than an a garden hose that has been turned off can spray across the yard; instead you just get a feeble trickle.

So those are my thoughts. I do look forward to seeing this tree as you move it toward the target and as you find it a better supporting actor in the formal display.

With my best regards,
Carl

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smoke2.jpg (33.0 KB, 246 views)

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