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PROJECT: Land/Water Penjing
Remembering back just a few weeks ago almost brings back bad memories, but one thing stands out. I was inspired by the Ron Martin thread about Zhao and his works with land and water.
I made lots of statements about how they could be "improved" and what "I would do". So.. now it's put up or shut up. I went out and found myself a marble tray. I bought it and have begun to stockpile the items necessary to put this thing all together. I built a penjing in a thin Japanese Tokonome tray last year. I had tied some of the trees together in pairs to get them accustom to growing in close proximity to one another. While on a trip to the coast last week, I drove to a place that is rich with jasper stone. I was able to find the types I wanted with worn features yet enough texture to use in this type of arrangement. I picked up three distinct types of stone. I will go over these in more detail. First some pictures of the tray. It is marble, size is 24" x12" x 1/2" thick. The one photo shows the black stand that I use for other trees. It is the exact same size as the tray that the trees are planted in now. This should give me just a little more room to make much more dramatic effect of negative space. The other pictures are of the trees now, photographed at the Bonfante Gardens show, and of course what I am shooting for, by Zhao.
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#2
by
bonsaial1
on
20-Oct-2004
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The first type of rock I picked up was a type that looked as much like the Turtle Stone that Zhao uses in his masterpieces. The Turtle Stone is forbidden for export and there is not much luck in me obtaining the real thing, so this might have to do.
In the place where I collected, the stone was plentiful but finding the pieces with the right texture were more rare. I managed ti half fill a five gallon bucket with the stuff. I think if this is the way I go it will be enough getting two or more slices from each stone to glue to the marble. The rest of the pics are some close ups that washed out in the flash. 
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#3
by
bonsaial1
on
20-Oct-2004
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The second stone I collected was the jasper. This is beautiful stone, and made into fine jewlery from time to time. Some of the pieces I collected were agate quality, and I wish I had lapidary equipment to polish some.
Most of these stones are very close in color, being in the reds and greens. Some of them are jadite and serpintine. The orange color that shows up in the photo's is the clay mud that they were buried in. I pryed these from an eroded cliff 35' above the crashing waves. The waves had eroded the land exposing the buried stones. At high tide the area is not accessable. I will be cleaning these stones with wire brush and solvent later this week. The last stone, the red one with the fantastic shape, could be cut and make a magnificent focal point island in the tray. We will see.. The last type of stone I collected was a type of layered sandstone. It was real nice while in the large formations at the beach, but crumbled while taking smaller samples. I did manage to get some larger pieces, but have not unpacked them from the newspaper yet. Stay tuned this February when I get started on this project. I will post all the particulars here first. /|\ III Bonsai-al
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#6
by
Forest Reef
on
22-Oct-2004
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Quote:
Why is that? Never heard of overcollected rock before....Just curious.
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#7
by
bonsaial1
on
26-Oct-2004
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Reef, Turtle rock is much like petrified wood here in the states. There is just so much of it to go around,and they feel that it may be plundered if exported. Much like the chrysanthemum and plum blossom stones.
No shortage of rock for me though. I started to cut some pieces to see what I had in the way of cut stones. I tried the whiteish stone, which I liked most, but it was too soft and crumbled when cut. I went with cutting all the jasper. Very hard and made the blade glow red when it was getting dark outside. Here are some of the cuts in no particular order on the marble tray.
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#8
by
Happy Gilmore
on
26-Oct-2004
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Very cool Al! What are you using to cut the rocks?
thanks!
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#9
by
Forest Reef
on
26-Oct-2004
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Very nice (cut) rocks! I inherited lapidary stuff from my Dad - various saws, uncut rocks, etc. Also, I live just off a rocky lakeshore and can't put a shovel in the ground without hitting more rocks.... After watching Brook Zhao's land & water penjing demo at the Carolina Bonsai Expo.... Going to have to learn how to use those saws! Eventually.
 Thanks for the inspiration & keep us posted....
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#10
by
bonsaial1
on
12-Dec-2004
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Time for some bonsai. I can hardly stand it. Its too early to repot, but with protection I feel confident I can get a jump on the season. I started today by glueing on the stones that I would use on the marble tray. I used 5 minute epoxy. When that was done, I bent wires into loops that I would also affix with epoxy to secure the trees to the slab. After about 20 minutes, I had all the stones and wire taken care of.
I had to take apart the penjing planting that I made last year. Removing the wires and removing the tangles mass of roots. Elms are very robust growers and they send roots throughout the pot and had encircled it twice. I kept the trees in a bucket of water to stay wet while placing the trees for compositional effect. When happy with the trees I would start to wire them loosely. Step back and really study the composition. When I was happy with my work, I tightened all the wires and clipped them back close.
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