Monday, 17 September 2012

Post 37 Juniper Dreaming



Like most people I’ve got a couple of Junipers. One of them is a good 20+ years old and the trunk is not something you’d blog about, despite the fact it is a very attractive little tree.
In short it doesn’t look like this one.

 


The approach available to most of us then is the sometimes controversial technique of attaching young live plants to a weathered piece of wood. It might be frowned on by the Japanese purists but in other places it’s a recognised way for the average enthusiast to approach an impression of age in a Juniper. Unfortunately in some places the collection of such timber specimens may be regarded as a little less than sustainable. Here in Australia we have two problems with this. One is that the deadwood needs to be dense and ‘grainy’, and such specimens are not readily available. Then survivability in our environment is the second challenge with hundreds of species of fungus just waiting to destroy any piece of unprotected dead timber before your eyes. 

Can we take the artificiality of a Phoenix Graft one step further and ‘create’ the required deadwood out of another medium entirely, or would that be going too far? How about a nice white piece of ceramic, that will never absorb water or grime, never rot and last FOREVER.

Ok so I’ve been thinking about it for a while and time comes to have a go.
These shots are with the clay still wet, so it looks greyish. It will fire white. It’s about 220mm high. Note the groove for the tree location. Clearly it's designed for the 'roots' to be under the potting medium. It still has one clay prop holdingit up while it dries.


This is the front.


 And the LHS.


 And the Back


 And RHS


And a detail shot.

 It’s a few months away but I will follow up after firing when it is joined with a small Juniper I have ready.
I have made another trunk too, a little larger and more complex than this one and it needs more work yet. Here it is still wet and propped.




 Cheers,
Happy Potter




9 comments:

  1. Hi Happy Potter.
    I came across your blog at Ceramic Arts Daily. I am also new to pottery. I also started growing Bonsai last year. I would like to make some pots for my trees. Can you tell me where you got the moulder for pots?
    Chantay; Virginia USA

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  2. Hi Chantay,
    I've made them myself. It's really no too difficult. Have a look at my posts numbers 21,22 and 26.
    Cheers,
    HP

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  3. This is a great idea and I will be interested to see how it progresses. I suppose in a loose kind of way its a variation of root over rock or trunk into rock. Will you be able to add texture to the surface of the moulding to give the impression of weathered wood grain or splitting. By the way I personally have no problems with Tanuki but then "who am I"

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  4. Interesting idea. I have root over rock bonsai that have broken very solid rocks as they grew. I wonder if the clay will stand up to the presures of the trunk that will be wrapped around it? It will be an interesting experiment either way!

    Joe.

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  5. I'll do a little more work on the texture as it dries and then again after a bisque firing. Joe, once it's fired to maturity it will be like a piece of rock without any flaws to fracture along so should withstand whatever pressure a bonsai could apply. We'll see.

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  6. I saw two of these at the Redland Bonsai show today. Were they yours? I like the idea of a phoenix graft that won't rot.

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  7. Hello Mel, yes they were mine, as were the trees. Glad you liked them. Yes they won't rot and more likely will outlive the tree!

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  8. You can see the one from the show that won the size prize on Post 126:
    https://bonsaipotterycoy.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/post-126-tanuki-no4-setup.html

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Happy to hear your advice, feedback or questions