My tree is accepted for the Noelanders Trophy 2013

I heard this week that a tree I'd offered for the Noelanders Trophy 2013 had been accepted for the show.
I was extremely proud to be able to display trees last year and I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend of the show, so I'm really looking forward to meeting old and new bonsai friends again in January 2013.

Ilex Serrata (Japanese Holly)
This picture was taken at the Swindon Winter Image show in 2011 (picture supplied by Mark Cooper)

Lots more berries this year













I look forward to seeing you all there.

New items for sale

It's been a while but I have added a few stands to the "Items for Sale" page.

E mail me on bespokebonsaistands@hotmail.com if you have any questions

Regards
John

Premature elation

The stand pictured here is not finished yet but I was so happy with the grain on the surface of the stand I thought I show some pictures regardless.

American Black Walnut ne taku (root stand).

270mm x 245mm x 23mm

I've tidied this Chinese Elm up today before putting it away for the winter. As I was photographing the Walnut root stand I thought I'd take a picture of the Elm and root stand together.

Picture showing the grain on the surface of the root stand

Recently finished stand

Here are a couple of pictures of the large Mahogany root stand shown in the recent post from 14th October.

Scored some awesome wood man

I'm always on the look out for nicely figured or grained wood to make my stands.

I've just had to sell my left testicle to an eastern European to secure the piece of wood shown below.

Mr greedy will be making 1 stand for himself from this piece of wood, there will be enough left for 2 more root stands, please get in touch if you're interested.

 Silver Birch

Root stand in use at Capel Manor Show 2012

Mark Cooper kindly sent me a copy of this picture he took at the Capel Manor autumn show last weekend.
This shohin Juniper was used as an accent to a larger Yew.
The root stand used is one I made recently from Sapele.

Awesome photography from Mark

More of Marks pictures from the show are available to view on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4780160468460.193095.1429123802&type=1

Busy, busy, busy !

Here are a few stands I've been working on lately.

I need to finish sanding and then stain them but thought I'd put them on the blog anyway as I'm pleased with how they've turned out,

The largest root stand (ne taku) is made from Mahogany and is 490mm x 345mm x 21mm

The smallest root stand (ne taku) is made from Cherry and is 112mm x 32mm





I'll post more pictures when I've finished staining the stands.

Recently finished stands

I've been busy lately making more stands.

Here are some pictures of the finished articles.

These first 3 were posted to Spain

From left to right:
English Oak, Sapele & American Black Walnut

                                                     

This stand is currently on its way to Arnauld in the Netherlands

It was made from a lovely piece of Cherry wood








I'm hoping for some pictures of the stands in use so I can add them to my gallery.

British Shohin Association display at the BTA event, Sheffield

Today was the Bonsai Traders Association event at Don Valley stadium in Sheffield.

Duncan Hield and Graham Walker set up a fantastic display on the BSA stand.
Here are a few pictures of some of the trees & displays...it was nice to see some of my stands in use:

Berberis on Mahogany root stand (ne taku)

Virginia creeper

Fern acent

Crab apple on Mahogany root stand (ne taku)

Fern accent

Cotoneaster on rock

Chinese elm

Wild strawberry accent

Accent

Euonymous on Oak root stand (ne taku)

New items for sale

I've just added a few pieces to the "Items for Sale" page

A few accent plants

I've just finished carving some new stands, so whilst I wait for the buzzing in my fingers to stop I thought I'd take the opportunity to photograph some of my accent plants that are looking half decent.

I'm not great on plant names so I'll give a name where I know it and otherwise you can fill in the gaps yourselves.

Fern in Erin pot

This is a fern I picked up in Japan, it's used a lot in accents over there, the foliage colours up nicely over the winter.
The pot is by Walsall ceramics.

 You just can't kill this stuff !

On a larger ji ita

Another Walsall pot with a thing with yellow flowers !

 The succulent has self set in just about every bonsai pot in my garden

Love this one, fern, moss and ?
Another Walsall pot

Violet.......you plant one bloody violet and it takes over the whole garden.
Nice little Dansai pot

 Rhodo....spazzymaquodi in a John Pitt pot

 Different ji ita

Blood grass in Erin pot












I had a mental block on how to put the flash on automatic until the last few pictures, hence some with and some without flash, no arty farty ambience intended !

Good old Royal Mail......never doubted them for a second

Oh yee of little faith I hear you cry.....
I posted the latest root stand off to Spain last Thursday afternoon and here are some pictures on Tuesday, (courtesy of Ramon), showing the stand basking in the Spanish sun.....ok, in a trial run for an exhibition on Friday.

Royal Mail have done me proud, never let it be said I am not a patriot....Royal Mail is still English isn't it ?

Anyhoo here the pictures kindly sent by Ramon:

Semi cascade Japanese Quince and informal upright Korean Hornbeam








Korean Hornbeam displayed on the English Oak ne taku shown in my last post










Many thanks to Ramon for taking the time to take and send the pictures to me. I hope the exhibition goes well on Friday and look forward to seeing more pictures.

Off to sunny Spain

Here are a few pictures of a root stand I posted to a client in Spain this week.......I wish I'd taken it by hand

The stand is made from English Oak, I love the grain and knots on the surface of this stand.

Size is approximately 250mm x 220mm x 25mm

This was a bit of a rush job as the stand is required for use in a show next Friday, let's hope Royal Mail don't let me down

Azalea Kozan 8 year progression

Here are a few pictures of the progression of one of my favourite bonsai.

I picked this Azalea Kozan up at Dai Ichi bonsai in 2004 it had been imported from Japan that year.

This is the tree as imported

In our club display at the BTA Don Valley show in September 2007.
Re-potted into a beige chinese unglazed pot...what was I thinking

On the water butt early 2008

On display at the Newstead 3 bonsai exhibition in 2008

And here we are in June 2012, these are the 2nd flush of blooms.

Peter Warren is here this week so I'll be asking him to tidy the ramification and check if a re-pot is required.
It may even be due for a Warren bashing, Peter recommends a heavy prune back into the branching every few years to re-generate internal budding.
The current goal is to increase the height of the crown and maintain the rest of the silhouette as much as is possible, whilst maintaining the health of the tree.
The current pot is a nicely ageing Yama aki oval...which needs a good clean...

Still raining

It's still raining in Derbyshire, so I pulled a few trees into the conservatory today to do some tidying up.

Here are a few pictures of what I consider to be a couple of reasonably priced trees which I feel are coming on nicely....never be award winning trees but nice to look at all the same

Satsuki Azalea, not sure of the cultivar.
This was £45 ish from Ken Leaver at Windybank around 3 years ago.

I've done a little wiring to open out the branches and general pruning.
This pic is my chosen front, I thought the roots looked stronger.

The pot is a Japanese production line number, I thought the two looked good together when I first re-planted, not 100% sure now.
This is the back of the tree.

Overhead view, I'd cleared quite a few of the spent blooms away before deciding to take any pictures, this tree flowers abundantly every year.

Taxus Baccata (English Yew)
Picked this one up for £5 around 4 years ago.

Chopped the top off... (as you do)... and used the movement at the bottom of the trunk along with the bottom branch to start it off towards a slanting tree that will add drama and movement within a shohin display.
Left a little ten jin.....you've got to have a few ten jins about your collection.
It's really started to fill out this year.....may be something to do with all that food on the top of the soil !
The pot is an Oz pot, a bonsai buddy (Paul Patten) who took to the kiln and is turning out some little beauties.