Alpineart's Blog

This is a love of mine , creating old aged looking unique works that anybody can do , but  who cant collect or is in an area that doesn’t have old Yamadori or simply cant afford great works . This took about 16 hours to create from scratch . The junipers were about 16 years old growing in my garden for 10 years  in very poor soil then collected and potted into bonsai dishes then left to their own device . Very little care or training was involved as the rest of my vast collection  appealed to my  senses rather than rubbish like this . Young  nursery stock would probably be easier to work with as these were set rigid due to their age .The wood is actually an old pine tap root or part there of , collected from a forest .It had been laying above the ground and the borers and grubs etc have removed and cellulose material and left the resinous part of the root ,It was probable a bit chewy for the insects .

After selecting several pieces i returned home to clean them up . I carve the area’s that are too thick or try to add a bit more movement and character to the wood then with  a wire wheel  brush in a power drill to remove any soft material and to clean them up .After planning the design i place the required trunk onto the wood and draw a line  to be carved . I always carve at least 60-70 percent of the trunk thickness into the wood . I have used Lime Sulfur on this occasion to protect the wood from fungus  and to high-light the wood as the jin and shari .Personally i don’t like bleached material so i will tone it down with a bitumen based steri-prune  sealer at a later date .

Recessing the trunks into the wood  gives an instant aged look and securely holds the tree in place . Solid brass of Stainless steel screws only are used to anchor the trunk and branches in place .Pre drill the juniper is advised . I place the rear tree into position and attach with the screws , then secure the front tree . Next it is potted with the anticipation of the correct placement , but it rarely works out . It can always be rotated next season as this is only a trainer in a training pot .

Now the work begins to trim the foliage prior to wiring , i start with the front as time goes by i get a little rough and take short cuts so the front demands my attention . With the tree wired and shaped some-what i move to the rear and begin to trim and wire .Then with this task complete i style it to suit my original plan .Note the bar branches at the rear , i’m not concerned as i said its a trainer and some of these branches will be jinned .With a rough style complete its onto the bench and contemplating the next  challenge . Cheers Alpineart

These Bougainvillea’s  were purchased from a nursery throw out section , originally priced at $24.95 i picked up all 5 Bougs  for $15.00 . The 4 represented here are the Bambino’s .These were on my shopping list for some time but i couldn’t justify $25 for 1 plant .The only thing wrong with the plants is they are going into hibernation after flowering . On  returning home i whipped them out of their pots and checked out the root balls and made the decision to plant 1 on a rock to represent “root over rock” and the other became informal uprights . A quick trim of the foliage and into their respective pots .I then wired and shaped them into nice trainers . Each trainers cost a mere $3.00 and 1/2 an hours to pot up and style , all up less than the original purchase price of 1 plant .Cheers Alpineart

These are the growing beds which accommodate around 1500 mixed Maples . All of which are various combination’s of growing styles . Some of the combinations are root over rock ,   plaited trunks ,  fused trunks using 50 plus whips  ,  thread grafting roots to a Japanese Maples ,  twin trunk style trainers and of coarse the Trident clump styles are in the middle of the crop .Their progressing slow due to the fact that so many maples have been planted and have been sheltered a little from the sun .They were covered with 30% shade cloth for the majority of their growing time due to the fact hail storms hit quite hard in this area . All of these have been kept in check with hedge trimmers to prevent long leggy sticks with unwanted top growth . Come winter we will have a good look at all the naked trunks and to the progression from stick to stock .Cheers Alpineart