British Shohin Association workshop day

I had a great day yesterday taking part in a workshop organised by the British shohin association.
Peter Warren and John Armitage were press ganged into running the workshop which entailed a discussion on how to grow and maintain junipers in our UK climate.
Peter and John then helped the workshop attendees with advice on styling and maintenance of trees they had bought along to the workshop.
Many thanks to Peter, John and Graham Walker of the BSA who organised the day.
John Armitage bought along several junipers from his collection which he used to set up an impressive display for us to drool over.
Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the workshop but here are some pictures of the junipers John Armitage bought along with him.
Tissues at the ready people........

John Armitage working on an Itoigawa juniper.
John has studied at Taisho-en nursery in Japan several times over the last few years and has a great understanding of how to develop and display shohin bonsai in the UK.
I would highly recommend taking the time to book a private or club workshop with John if you are interested in taking your shohin bonsai to another level.

John's Junipers....if you look closely you'll see some of my stands used for the display.....happy days !

New display stands added to the "Items for sale" page

I'm pleased to be able to offer these bonsai stands for sale in the UK and Europe.
These stands are very popular in the Japanese bonsai fraternity and have been sold in Japan for many years.
The craftsman who makes these stands lives in a small town in Eastern China and has been making the stands to Japanese requested designs since the late 1980's.

I have shown pictures of the stands with bonsai trees on as you can't beat seeing the items in use to get a feel for scale and overall aesthetic

The sizes and price for each item are shown on the "Items for sale" page.

Please e mail me at "bespokebonsaistands&hotmail.com" if you have any questions about these stands or any others you may be interested in.

As with any natural, hand made product, colours and sizes may vary slightly

Very nice, decent quality stands at a reasonable price, as I hope you will agree.......can you feel it ?

My apologies for the Zelkova.......a few more years.....and a lot more twigs required.....

Recently finished stands

I've been a busy bee over the last couple of months.
Here are a few stands I've been working on, and a first for me a daiza.

This is one of the largest stands I've made, it's from a lovely piece of Cherry wood.
Size is 395mm x 330mm x 27mm

Edge detail of the Cherry root stand

Taller root stand, this will be on the "items for sale" page

The stand can be used in either direction

Size is 130mm x 120mm x 137mm height

English burr Elm root stand, this will be on the "items for sale" page

Size is 200mm x 200mm x 24mm

Edge detail retaining the original wany edge where possible

My first daiza.
This is for a German client, the stone was collected in Japan

Overhead view

Bespoke Bonsai Stands in displays at Shohin UK 2013

It was very gratifying to see stands that I have made, in use in various displays at the Shohin UK event over the weekend.
Here are some of  the pictures I took, I'll be adding a few shots to the gallery as well.
My apologies if I duplicate any pictures shown previously.

Andy Jordan's spindle on maple ji ita

Andy Jordan's acer palmatum on mahogany root stand

My moss accent on a walnut ji ita

Ian Stewardson's caragana on burr elm root stand

My white pine on mahogany root stand

Beryl Thorpe's star jasmine on iroka root stand

Duncan Hield's Chinese quince on English oak root stand

My chojubai on maple ji ita

Malcolm & Kath Hugh's itoigawa juniper on mahogany root stand

Malcom & Kath Hugh's accent on maple ji ita









Congratulations to the organisers Mark & Ritta Cooper and Bob Bailey along with their merry band of helpers.
An absolutely fantastic show with a great atmosphere and awesome displays of bonsai.

Shohin UK event, 2013

I travelled to Bristol yesterday to the Shohin UK event and what an excellent show it was.
Here are a few pictures of trees and accents used in the exhibition:

Andy Jordan's Acer

Tracey Morten's Juniper

John Armitage's Juniper

Fern accent

John Pitt's Trident maple

Ian Stewardson's Juniper

Andy Jordan's Spindle ?

Fern accent

Andy Jordan's Zelkova ?

My white pine

Les Storey's Blackthorn

Fern accent

Duncan Hield's Boston Ivy

Simon & Gill's black pine

John Armitage's chojubai on rock

Reg Bolton's scroll displayed with his chuhin root on rock trident maple composition. Reg's r/o/r trident is shown below