AusBonsai

Jamie wrote:heres take 2 pup

more what you were thinking. I havent angled the branches as severe as your virt

virt for pup 2.jpg

if that aint what your after i will do another

Jamie

Thanks Jamie please try another for it it is interesting what you and others suggest no one has offered to take of my hands yet

Sorry, Pup, wouldn't buy it, I have better Cas starters from my airlayer experiments, another 40 from seed now, and a few in the paddock which would also do well if I could bring myself to dig them!

Greth wrote:Sorry, Pup, wouldn't buy it, I have better Cas starters from my airlayer experiments, another 40 from seed now, and a few in the paddock which would also do well if I could bring myself to dig them!

You're a brave girl!!!

If I was brave or bold I would dig the paddock ones, but there are so few on our property, I know they are really valuable as revegetation, so I hesitate and probably will never dig them up. I could bring myself to airlayer bits for bonsai, not kill the main tree, so in the end that is probably the way I will go.
My first job was with the CSIRO, working with casuarina, learning about their nitrogen fixing ability, I actually learnt a lot about their place in ecosystems, and have enormous respect for them now.

pup, how do you get around the soft nature of the timber, how do u stop it from rotting, lime sulphur, wood hardener?

i have endless opportunities to dig she oaks, and want to know how to turn a stump into something worth the name Bonsai/

Soft? Maybe young branches. I have been cutting it for firewood lately with a hand saw and its harder than our mallee..

Gareth when I have carved my trees I seal them by fire, from a blow torch ( very carefully with a wet towel or similar over live foliage ) then put some Lime sulphur with a minute drop of Sumi or India ink to make it more of a silver grey colour unless it is a hollow then I put enough ink to make it black.

I usually let the wood dry some before I finish the carving as it ages the wood better for detailed work. As I am not into self portrait sculptures. Because the wood would then need a lot longer to cure.

Here is an update on this project. Some different angles. Some refine needed but I will let the tree rest and recuperate for a while.

Cheers Pup

G,day after two months of growth the tree is really popping so today I decided it needed to be put in a pot to see how it will look. So here we are. As you can see in two months it has put out some nice growth for me to choose from. It is also very close to my design so that is a bonus.

Here are today's pics. The tree is now sitting in a solution of Superthrive, you could use seasol, in the shade as the temp is 32 so it will need some watching. This is Allocasuarina fraseriana, indigenous to the south west of WA

Cheers Pup

Good job Pup. Good vision to look beyond the stump that you had and create what you have in front of you now. I wish cas's would grow that well for me in Central Vic but, alas, they dont.

Hi Pup, very nice progress mate. I remember seeing this tree when it was a stump and just after you had finished the carving (which you did an awesome job on) and just the other day i was lucky enough to see the new growth aswell,,, what a transformation! I think its going to turn out to be another masterpeice when your finished with it, Great work Pup, thanks for sharing your skills and knowledge,, Craig

G, day peeps this is an update on this tree. It still has a way to go, but I had to do some shoot selection. As leaving all the shoots would not allow the ones I want to thicken.
So I have done that with a small amount of carving as well. I am looking at a possible change of viewing angle also. The next re pot will see the tree lowered a bit more into the pot, so the root spread is better. At the moment it is just looking like claws and not spreading enough. What ya reckon. I will now wait and let it push more growth and let the wood dry out, so it creates natural cracks and splits to follow with the chisels.

Cheers Pup

Great work Pup. Any chance of an update on this one?

Your wish is my command , today is the first meeting for the year, of the Bonsai workshop inc. So I will be taking it along for some thinning out and more branch refining.

I think for less than 1 year we are not doing too bad. attachment=0]P1110164.JPG[/attachment]

It is looking great Pup. Those branches have thickend well. I might have to get hold of a stump and see if I can do as well

I liked the look of it in the second last of the previous set of photos. How does it look from that angle these days? Good taper and good roots