beginner's bonsai

[Gail]

Wow.I am so out of this league.lol........what fabulous plants.

[KoiCCAPW]

LOL, yeah me too! But facinating, I always learn something new here. So much for the title of the thread, heh heh!

[kingkong]

They (we) all started with something like this. The journey starts with the first step.

[kingkong]

Now, if you are interested in...well..here is one for you.

[Dwight]

Steven ,

Since this thread has not only been hijacked it has been flown to another planet I wanted to enquire when your class was ?

Dwight

[bekko]

Dwight, I don't consider the thread hijacked as long you guys are teaching me something about bonsai. I have learned a lot. Bonsai class is every Tuesday evening. Next Tuesday we meet earlier at Mr. Liew's gardens instead of at the community college. He seemed anxious to show it off.

This poor tree. My wife calls bonsai "tree torture", but this little sapling is getting more than it's fair share. First I wired it for informal upright as Gary and Joe suggested, but just could not get interested in it. They I wired it for cascade as Dick suggested but became bogged down in issues relating to the lower branches. Then I wired it for permanent windswept but it was too ho-hum. Then I wired it for temporary windswept. Here, I get conflicted between what is plausible in nature and what is pleasing to my eye. That's where it was left, but I still have 3-4 days to torture it some more before class.

A photo is posted below - just to prove once and for all that I am not a proud person. Sort of silly given the trees displayed above. We were told not to cut off any material, just apply the wire. You probably cannot see the wired branches in the photo as they are obscured by the stuff to be cut off later. But, I can see it in my mind.

-steveho p

[kingkong]

The path of design has become muddy. Too many voices are intimidating your true expression. Take the bonsai with you to on top of a mountain when it's kinda misty out. Say a prayer of your choice and then put that bonsai on a stump or a rock and let your design capabilities loose. Using the instruments of torture (wire), twist that little whip into a dragon tree. Remember, keep the form fantastic, distort that little whip just like nature would on top of that mountain.

[mitten]

I have learned much from these trees and all the posts in this thread. As a firm believer in stream of consciousness I can flow with this river of input. Kong, your post just brought home to me an understanding of how much my youth lacked dragons. Now to figure out how to add them to the way I see the world.

[bekko]

What is this connection between bonsai and dragons? Does understanding dragons help to understand bonsai? I was married to a dragon from 1977 to 1984 and still have a few scorch marks.

-ste

[Dwight]

Quote: Originally Posted by bekko I was married to a dragon from 1977 to 1984 and still have a few scorch marks. -ste

Ah , but do you understand the dragon ? Can you see with it's eyes and feel it's fire ?