The good news is no displaced feet so the extra effort of recent times to make sure the bond is a good one has paid off. Now on to glazing, the real fun.
In one of my idle monments lately, or perhaps the idle moment, I threw a little clay into making another root over rock, rock. This one is going to have to be called a moon rock after all the mini craters over the surface. I guess this makes it look a bit volcanic too. I'm going to glaze this one with a very matte glaze, when I can get some kiln space freed up, with a mix of colouration for better natural simulation.
The same positioning issue arises here as with a bonsai - just which is the front. I think this is and the next shot is from the 'side'.
My bonsai starting and propagation has slowed right down over the last couple of years so I've had no stock to call on. This season a friend gave me some cuttings of a Port Jackson fig and also a South African variety and so I've set them up growing in tubes. With the warmer weather they have got a wriggle on so I might be able to set them up next growing season. No rush to get this rock finished.
On the bonsai front the trees are running well. My focus this season has been to get some vigour and mass into the lower branches of some of my deciduous trees. To do that I've tried to progressively suppress the apical dominance which puts the energy into the top and tends to want to leave everything else behind.
This Chinese Elm is a good example.
At the top of the tree I've fully defoliated and pruned the branches and after 10 days or so I now have two or three fresh shoots on all the secondry branches. This will give fine branches to dome out the top with more and hence smaller leaves.
Further down the tree where I've just wanted it to hold its position I've just pruned. The tree's usual response to this is to shoot at only the single outermost bud. As this happens they are tipped.
And then finally further down the tree some of the spring growth has been allowed to grow, to develop more mass in the lower branches. They have a little further to go before coming off. It's time now to do a little wiring of these new branches, but making sure to keep the terminals pointing upwards.
Next step after a little more growth and the new shoots harden off will be a complete prune and defoliation.
Now I have to go and select some glazes:
lookin good
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