'POTOLOGY' thoughts & guidelines for pot selection

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'POTOLOGY' thoughts & guidelines for pot selection

Post by MelaQuin »

POTOLOGY #1
Thoughts and guidelines for pot selection


A poor or inappropriate container does not condemn a bonsai to mediocrity the way bad styling does but it will surely take the edge off all your hard work and make the tree look second rate.

Princess Beatrice’s Hat
Even if you didn’t see the Royal Wedding you saw and heard about Princess Beatrice’s Hat. The media was full of it, wide publicity for that Dr Who costume discard. It was inappropriate for the occasion in that all you heard or saw was The Hat. Little about PB herself or her dress.. just That Hat. So what does that have to do with bonsai you ask. Too many bonsai are potted in the equivalent of PBs hat, the pot is the eye catcher, not the tree.
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What tree could hope to seen if it was in this bright blue pot? Like PBs hat, a pot of this bright hue sweeps all before it and not even the best tree would be strong enough to be seen for its own qualities. The pot’s intense colour would take all the interest. Yet people use pots like this because ‘the colour is so pretty’.

At the 2003 Melbourne AABC Convention there was one tree on display that sticks in my mind long after the others have faded. It was a substantial, well styled, fig. It was in a large pot with t yellow band across the front with Chinese pictographs. The tree was on a large, rich honey coloured stand of substantial visual weight. Each item – tree/pot/stand was good but together they fought for individual attention, each being very dominant. And what won? The stand.

We work for months, years, decades to develop a tree that we call a bonsai. In ANY setting it is The Bonsai that should get top billing. It is The Bonsai that should get the eye first. When you look at a bonsai your eye/brain should register the three components – tree/pot/stand - as one unified unit and then see the tree. From there the pot and stand come into consideration but they must present a unified look with the tree always the dominant member. The tree is the star attraction, the pot and stand the supporting cast. All must work together to make the unified look but the tree always must have the subtle dominance. Otherwise what’s the point of all your styling work?

Some people play safe and put everything in a brown unglazed pot. How many of us have gone into a shop and tried on something to find it does nothing to enhance us. It is the same with bonsai. Some bonsai are very well served by the matt brown pots, others need something more to enliven them, to bring out their best points. After all, trees may grow in brown earth but they are accentuated by grass, moss, flowers, sky, river, rocks. So it is that the choice of pots can add additional interest to a tree without calling undue attention to the container itself.

DOMINATE ASPECTS in BONSAI are horticulture and aesthetics.
Horticulturally a bonsai needs a pot that is large enough to hold the tree stable; adequate drainage to promote good roots; enough soil to hold sufficient moisture between waterings. In this context shape and colour are immaterial.

Aesthetically a pot must be sympatico with the tree, must be in a style that suits the tree and the tree must be potted in the correct position for the tree’s style and characteristics and the pot’s shape. Any book on bonsai will give guidelines for planting most styles. I highly recommend BONSAI STYLES of the WORLD by Charles Ceronio. This book has the advantage of succinct text, great index, a chapter per style with illustrations of a variety of trees in that style and shapes of pots that suit the style. You can’t go wrong if one of your major reference books is ‘Bonsai Styles of the World’
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An appreciation of pots comes as your trees improve. Standard low cost commercial containers are fine for beginners but the better the tree the better the pot should be.

The beautiful lines of brown matt Japanese pots are wonderful but the sad truth is that quality pots are hard to find on commercial shelves these days. The sharp, clear, highly defined detail of older pots has deteriorate to a slapdash making where features are indistinct, uneven, rough, not level or with an irregular surface. The variety of glazes that used to be available seems to be usurped by the single hue high gloss variety coming out of China. The avid bonsai enthusiast should always haunt private or club sales in the hopes of acquiring well made older pots. A pot enthusiast told me that a mark of a good pot is good feet and I have found this to be very true. Well defined, well shaped feet are normally only found on a quality pot. Feet on poorly made pots have little detail or definition.

QUALITIES of a BONSAI CONTAINER
Durability You can feel the difference between a commercial flower pot and a well made bonsai pot, the ceramic of a bonsai pot has a solidity that shows it will be far more resistant to chips and cracks.
Appropriate size/shape/colour for the particular bonsai
Adequate drainage one of more large holes to promote good drainage
Heat/cold protection a pot should offer some insulation for the roots tho few pots can successfully protect roots in temperatures above 30c - that’s our job.
Ability to make a good tree special without calling undue attention to itself.
Mela alt 2007-10.jpg
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Melaleuca alternifolia 2007 classic matt pot 2011 Mudlark Studio Pottery pot with the pot colourations simulating water with the shadow of the tree across the surface. Perfect for this tree!!

There is an important guideline for the selection of pots where the depth of the pot should be equal to the width of the trunk. Note how effective this guideline is in the Melaleuca in the Mudlark pot.

Too often this is overlooked as enthusiasts over pot their trees. Whether it is the fact that the tree fits in the pot or they are afraid the tree will dry out or the tree is in training, the pot is often too large. Over potting is fine but if a tree is in an over large pot DON’T display it. On your bench at home it’s fine. But when an enthusiast puts a tree on display at a club or a show that tree should be displayed in a pot that is the correct size and shape. Anyone who exhibits is showing the public that this is the way bonsai is done and if the pot is not correct the public and especially newcomers are learning the wrong thing.

The bonsai pot influences the total look of the tree. It should emphasize and strengthen the tree’s character, not contradict it. The pot should help the tree’s presentation but never overshadow it. It is very important that the tree and the pot convey the same feeling.

I don’t like figs in angular pots. A fig is all soft curves and roundness. To my mind a fig embraces round or oval pots. Figs don’t grow in rugged areas. A stout pine with a jut here and an angle there is perfect for an angular pot as the pot will emphasise that tree’s preference for growing in harsh areas.
R0013984.jpg
A Port Jackson in a very nicely made commercial pot with the pot colour picking up the yellows in the trunk and leaves of the fig and the very soft sheen keeping the pot’s visual strength in balance with the tree.

When you start in bonsai a pot is a pot and getting the right size and style is hard enough. The better your trees become the more important the right pot is and the more justifiable the cost of handmade pots.

With commercial pots becoming more haphazardly made and with far more high gloss finishes, collecting handmade pots is a good step to improve your trees. It is a personal thing, granted, but to pot a bonsai in a pot that is highly glazed is detrimental to the majority of trees. If you love high glazed pots then start growing hyacinths or tulips where a flamboyant flower can dominate the glaze. If you have a profusely flowering azalea and like a highly glazed pot, go for a subdued colour so the tree and the flowers get the attention – not the pot.

Having said that, let me contradict it with ‘The Bunyip’. Along with long established rules towards correct pot selection there also comes Artistic Waywardness. As it is no longer a hard and fast rule that red wine is for red meat and white wine for light fleshed foods, so you can flaunt the guidelines if the tree and pot go together.
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The Bunyip is still two years away from public display but it didn’t like being a full cascade and I only had one semi cascade pot so I put the two together and the rich bluey-red high gloss MUDLARK pot has had good feedback. The fig is round, the pot is round. The rich green of the leaves compliments the richness of the pot. In due course the foliage will be compacted and thickened and will dominate the pot with the rich red contrasting with the duller fig trunk to create a pleasing togetherness. I have defied my own preferences and it works. The Port Jackson fig is unconventional and it works because enough components match to negate those that might not and the pot is a rich but not ‘in your face’ colour which modifies the impact of the high gloss.

There was a tree at the Canberra Bonsai Collection, a large, venerable olive of immense character. It was in the most beautiful high gloss embossed round Chinese pot. Both tree and pot were significant but the two didn’t go together. The pot would have been perfect for a large deciduous or flowering tree while the olive needed something rougher, harsher, better reflecting the domain it would best grow in. It doesn’t matter how beautiful each element is, if the two don’t go together they shouldn’t go together.
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I won this white crazed pot on ausbonsai and I wasn’t rapt in the white but I don’t give MIRKWOOD pots away. I buried the pot in the garden for 3 months and in due course the ground exposure darkened one side and I put the Serissa in it. The crazed glaze gives a rocky nuance and highlights the rock the tree is growing on. When the tree is in full flower with a mass of double white flowers it is strong enough to hold its own against the pot and the two compliment each other.

If the bonsai pot must reflect the personality of the tree than one must watch out for the following mismatches: feminine tree in a masculine pot; curvy tree in a linear pot, busy tree in a busy pot, a tree overwhelmed by the colour or gloss of its pot. Overall, the two must tell the same story and share a compatibility with the tree always being the dominant character.
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The same olive in a MUDLARK pot that gives an Outback feeling and a pot from Erin Bonsai, Bristol UK.
Both pots suit the olive, The Mudlark has a soft sheen and broken colouration and while the Erin has a higher glaze with sparkles the duller colours serve to give the olive a sense of rugged country while the oval shape in both pots emphasizes the curves of the tree’s trunk.
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Re: 'POTOLOGY' thoughts & guidelines for pot selection

Post by MelaQuin »

POTOLOGY #2
Handmade pots – Working Art


There is a joy in selecting, buying and using handmade pots. When you buy from the potter it is nice getting to know the person who made the pot and that makes the pot more special. You are not just buying a pot, you are now buying working art.

Even if the potter is selling several ‘identical’ pots each pot is individual and will have differences so you are buying a ‘one off’. You get pots that better suit our trees, especially our natives that to my mind look much better in matt or semi gloss than high gloss. You can get a pot tailored to suit a specific tree, you can often get this pot in that finish and you can find idiosyncratic pots that you will seldom find in mass produced pots. Even more exciting, the glazes are wonderful. They are varied, difference, often exciting – but not so exciting as to overwhelm the tree.

The only downside of handmade pots is their addictive quality. It is soooo easy to get more than you need because handmade pots are so beautiful you simply can’t have too many. As if that was a bad thing!
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This olive does not suit a conventional pot. I tried many and none worked with the tree. This MIRKWOOD pot successfully grounded the olive and gave it a context of harsh terrain compatible with the hard grown look of it.

COMMISSIONING a POT
Commissioning a pot has considerations. When someone is quicker than you are and buys the pot you wanted you can ask the potter to make another. In this instance any differences in the pot will be not be a problem because you will not have the original to compare and he is reproducing one of his own.

If you give the potter a photo of someone else’s pot you can expect differences. Potters have their own glazes so the glaze could be similar but not exact. Good potters are artists and not copyists so you won’t get a pot exactly like the photo and that’s a good thing. It allows the potter originality to produce a similar pot with his own personality in it and you have an original, not a copy.

I understand little about glazes except it can be difficult to reproduce a happy accident and if you order a pot with an idiosyncratic glaze you cannot expect the commission to be exactly as the original.

An overseas potter did not answer my two emails about pots of his so I sent the photo of two pots with the same wonderful ‘champagne yellow’ glaze to Pat Kennedy and Penny Davis with the measurements I wanted and their choice as to which pot they reproduced. I knew I would not get a copy or identical pots and I didn’t.

From Pat of MIRKWOOD I got an elegant pot with a beautiful two part glaze, rich and warm. I can take advantage of a soft golden speckled colouration or position the tree so that I get the golden speckle alongside the stippled deeper colouration. What joy is that!!!
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From Penny of MUDLARK I got the other style in a warm golden semi gloss with a wonderful pitted area. When someone asked to buy the pot I declined because I am learning that it would be hard to replicate that pitting and it adds so much character to the pot.
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Two different pots from two potters and had they both chosen the same style the pots still would have been individual. I had no problems commissioning two because I knew each pot would be special in its own way.

NSW is lucky to have these two major potters dedicated to producing unique bonsai pots and the stronger our enthusiasm becomes and the better our trees become the more we should support them. The wares they make greatly enhance Australian bonsai and only by supporting our potters can we be assured of their continual services bettering our trees.
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Two MUDLARK pots. The glaze on the left is ideal for olives, natives and flowering trees. The one on the right picks up the bark colours of lighter barked natives very well. In each case the other side of the pots presents a different pattern so you have a selection of two pots in one. Penny does a lot of experimentation in glazes and it would be hard to get two pots similar.

Pat Kennedy Mirkwood Forest Bonsai Pottery 02 6946 2956 0400 216 563
patspots@bigpond.com Adelong NSW, Snowy Mts area

Penny Davis Mudlark Studio Pottery 02 4959 4482
mudlarkpottery@bigpond.com http://www.bonsaipotsau.blogspot.com [Blackalls Park – Newcastle NSW area]


OVERSEAS POTTERS
With the exchange rate so favourable now is the time to shop overseas. I have purchased from Erin in Bristol England and Iker Bonsai Pots in Ohio, USA. With both these potters the communication has been excellent, service has been exemplary and all pots arrived extremely well and economically packed and in perfect condition.

A bit of advice. If you see a pot or pots you want to buy, ask the potter to take a photo of the pot outside and be sure you have a photo of the top of the pot. I have found, despite a simply superb website, some colours were substantially different from the actual pot. A rich golden glaze was really a beige; a turquoise was navy and a pot that was the colour in the photo had a very thick rim that hadn’t been shown. Since the measurements were external this made a big difference. It is also a good idea to ask for internal measurements if only external measurements are listed.

It isn’t a big ask to take a pot from the shelf, put it outside and take a quick shot to show the true colour and the rim, download and post it. Minutes only as opposed to the disappointment to find the colour is not what you wanted when the pots arrive.

These are some of the websites I have sourced and I have bought from Erin and Iker. Erin pots tend to be roughly made but their emphasis is on the glaze. Just take a second thought to balance the pot measurements against the strength of the glaze. Some of their glazes are far too strong and would totally overwhelm the tree. Some of their pots are far too chunky for the size tree that would fit into them. Iker pots are exquisitely made, simply superb. His glazes and colours are excellent but ask for an outside photo as actual colours can differ from what is posted. I will say, when I complained to Chuck Iker about the colour differences in two pots his immediate response was to issue me a refund. This I refused because I knew I could sell the pots for the landed cost. So he is an honourable seller and that means a lot. And he didn’t mind taking another snap of a pot. Erin is the same.

http://www.ikerbonsaipots.com
Mini and shohin enthusiasts check out Iker
http://www.erinbonsai.com
Interesting glazes but pots can be overwhelming for tree size
http://www.stonemonkeyceramics.uk.co
Magnificent but you need to be well heeled
http://www.langbonsai.com
Beautiful pots but my two emails remain unanswered
http://www.gobbs.org/potters
Leads to a lot of North American potters, some historical, some active
http://www.ibonsaiclub.forumation.com/forum
go to POTS and look up Dale Cochoy – some amazingly beautiful pots worth checking out. He doesn’t have his own website but there is enough to drool over in ibonsaiclub and you can contact him via PMs and he responds.

Internet bonsai pot shopping is more favourable for the smaller sizes. Prices seem more comparable to local prices and shipping is more reasonable. One must always consider shipping costs. As a rough guide, if a pot costs $15 mentally double the cost to cover the freight component and order several pots to spread costs. The potter will give you a freight rate but give the potter the courtesy of his time and effort and email ‘thank you but no thank you’ if the cost is too high. But if you think $30 when you look at a $15 dollar price or $60 if the pot is $30, you will get a fair idea. This is why I stay away from larger pots that sell for $60 or more. From Iker, a $15 pot landed for $24 and a $24 pot landed for $35 so I was laughing.

For many enthusiasts a standard commercial pot will do well enough but there is an additional joy working with trees that are in handmade pots. It is the difference between Best and Less and Designer clothes for us. Surely our styling efforts and achievements deserve the very best and the very best is handmade pots.
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A beautiful and unusual Iker mini pot that will host a mini olive stump in due course.
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An Erin pot – the soft oval and muted tones set off the mini Port Jackson very nicely.
Check their websites for more.
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Re: 'POTOLOGY' thoughts & guidelines for pot selection

Post by nealweb »

Wow Melaquin! What a great article :clap: there is alot of time and effort has gone into this one. Thankyou very much, a great read and excellent examples. Most informative and entertaining!
Cheers!
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Re: 'POTOLOGY' thoughts & guidelines for pot selection

Post by Roger »

Hi MelaQ
Lovely exposition on matching pots and trees, and with many images to illustrate. Well done.

I must say that I was a little disquieted until I got to the 'Bunyip'. I 'agreed' with what you were saying only to the point that it has been part of conventional wisdom. Newcomers would do well to understand what you have so clearly laid out.

Us craggy ones, or even younger ones with strong artistic drives, might start reading at the bunyip :) . The modern pots that you then show are streets ahead of many of the older pots, of whatever quality, at least as I see it.

Looking at photos of Chinese pots with trees from present to year ago, it is interesting how different their aesthetic is from the current Japanese model. Bright colour, activity in images, and much cultural resonances with deep meanings in the images portrayed. If you don't know what is going on, they look terribly unbalanced in the relationship between - the trees do sometimes and don't other times 'dominate' the whole. In landscape penjing, it is the rocks that may dominate rather than the trees. It is a matter of the artists intention that counts most. Take a look at 'Pop Bonsai'. Not my aesthetic, but gee it works well for what it is. I've seen some fascinating and stimulating 'bonsai' where the potter and the artist have worked together to create something new and special and it worked well in many cases of being 'attractive' as well.

It is hard when the artist is only producing one part of the whole - the tree and not the pot or stand. They are then left with trying to find something that shows off their work to best advantage, and may not be able to find something that creates a whole image that could be different if they had more control over all the parts. A conundrum for sure.

Looking forward to other's responses.
Cheers
Roger
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Re: 'POTOLOGY' thoughts & guidelines for pot selection

Post by cuwire »

Hi Mel

Have read your post several times - really appreciate.

But I really like this pot - is there nothing I can put in it. (except my life's savings)

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Tokoname-Bon ... 5ad96514d6

Cheers David
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Re: 'POTOLOGY' thoughts & guidelines for pot selection

Post by Tony Bebb »

MelaQuin

What a great post. Read, enjoy, learn and appreciate the joy of a quality pot Ausbonsaiers. Start where you need to, but always finish with quality. Your trees deserve it.

Absolutely brilliant. :clap: :clap: :clap:

Tony
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Re: 'POTOLOGY' thoughts & guidelines for pot selection

Post by boom64 »

Hi MelaQuin,
Thanks for a fantastic post. As a newbie it is so hard to pin down pot selection. Your article certainly put the pieces of the puzzle a little closer.
Thanks John. :clap: :clap: :clap:
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Re: 'POTOLOGY' thoughts & guidelines for pot selection

Post by Craig »

:hooray: Brilliant post Melaquin, very detailed writeup, thankyou for putting in so much effort, :hooray: :tu:
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Re: 'POTOLOGY' thoughts & guidelines for pot selection

Post by kcpoole »

Excellent Article Melaquin
I will be saving the link to this thread for Posterity. Awesome expose Thank you

Ken
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Re: 'POTOLOGY' thoughts & guidelines for pot selection

Post by nealweb »

I'm sure your sums are right for you but I haven't found that you need to double the price to allow for postage, certainly not if you buy a decent number. Erin posts for free if you get 10 or more but i recently saw one 15 pound pot that I liked, postage was just an extra 3 pounds (5 bucks), it was a fairly small pot, 4" oval. Even from America I got some from PJ Katich and from memory the postage was an extra $10 per pot when I bought 9 of them, again not large sizes :)
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Re: 'POTOLOGY' thoughts & guidelines for pot selection

Post by MelaQuin »

I agree with you about freight costs and in the paragraph I have noted that a $15 pot landed at $24 but I prefer to use my 'double' to eliminate any nasty surprises. I am a superior packer with loads of experience but I was amazed at the total value for money yet safe packing with Erin and Iker. All you need is a potter not so economical with the box size and the freight will go out. It is better to be happily pleased with a lower freight than disappointed with a higher figure. And mate, the last thing I need to do is reduce freight costs even more by buying 10 pots at a time. I have enough trouble controlling my pot addiction as it is.
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Re: 'POTOLOGY' thoughts & guidelines for pot selection

Post by mudlarkpottery »

Finally! Someone pointing out the fact that you need to match the pot to the tree especially in so many subtle ways (matching the tree and pot, I mean). Most of our Aussie trees don't suit the formal shapes and colours of traditional pots so we needed to come up with something more suited to our lovely trees that will show them off to best advantage. It is a good idea, if possible, to bring your tree to the potter when commissioning or choosing a pot so you can compare sizes, shapes and colours. You would be surprised at how much difference even placement of the pot feet can make to the overall appearance.
Well done Melaquin - for something long overdue.
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Re: 'POTOLOGY' thoughts & guidelines for pot selection

Post by nealweb »

MelaQuin wrote:I agree with you about freight costs and in the paragraph I have noted that a $15 pot landed at $24 but I prefer to use my 'double' to eliminate any nasty surprises. I am a superior packer with loads of experience but I was amazed at the total value for money yet safe packing with Erin and Iker. All you need is a potter not so economical with the box size and the freight will go out. It is better to be happily pleased with a lower freight than disappointed with a higher figure. And mate, the last thing I need to do is reduce freight costs even more by buying 10 pots at a time. I have enough trouble controlling my pot addiction as it is.
:lol: haha, you are very right, I am a recovering addict now myself. They are all so unique and beautiful, just as addictive as the trees I think, but shelf space and funds do run out!
Just to add to the info and stories here...

It does sound alot to buy ten at once but atleast with Erin (and also PJ Katich was very helpful and obliging over a long period) you can pick them over time. Vic will put them aside with your name on them and it doesn't matter how long it takes you to reach ten, even if you just pick out one a month until you get there.

Vic's (Erin) packing is amazing but one time I did recieve a box with a broken pot, this was in no way his fault, you should have seen the way the box had been handled by the couriers, it had huge gapping gouges and rips in the side of it. They must have played fork-lift football with it or something. Anyhow Vic offered me either a full refund or a free remake of the pot. I was in no hurry so I chose to get a new one made up and this time I sent him pics of the tree it was intended for and tweeked it a bit aswell - actually i changed my mind about the glaze even after he had started firing and glazing it and with great effort and patients he managed to lighten it considerably and I got a really wonderful pot.

EDIT: I should also add that Penny (Mudlark) is very very patient and helpful in sending pics and making special requests until you get together an order you are happy with as was Janet Selby.
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Re: 'POTOLOGY' thoughts & guidelines for pot selection

Post by Jarrod »

cuwire wrote:Hi Mel

Have read your post several times - really appreciate.

But I really like this pot - is there nothing I can put in it. (except my life's savings)

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Tokoname-Bon ... 5ad96514d6

Cheers David
David, I have been looking at that pot also. Too bad it is not cheaper. it is a very usable size :D

Great post MelaQuin!
Jarrod

Treat 'em mean, keep 'em green.
Ger
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Re: 'POTOLOGY' thoughts & guidelines for pot selection

Post by Ger »

:clap: Awesome coverage, thank you. Ger
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