Peppercorn (schinus molle) stump

[greg27]

I tried a bit of an experiment on this one today - I want to create the look of something that's gone through a bushfire, so what better way to do that than set it on fire?

I wrapped the branches in some aluminium foil, sprayed the carved areas of the trunk with metho, and then grabbed a match. It ended up working quite well - a few singed leaves but nothing that a couple of weeks of growth won't cure.

Here's a video of me being a pyromaniac and playing with the slow-motion video thing on my phone: https://photos.app.goo.gl/bMYwozeDMXcBsY13A

My wife's getting a bit too used to my craziness - she came running outside going "something's on fire!". Once I explained it was just me working on one of my trees she went "oh okay" and went straight back inside.

[Nate.bonsai]

She probably just thought that you'd finally reached breaking point...

[greg27]

A little more work on this one, getting closer to the gnarly tortured look I'm after. I'll just let it go now to thicken up the branches, particularly the one at the bottom left.

[Keep Calm and Ramify]

Hey Greg27 - I like the cut of your jib young man!

The battered trunk now looking much more aged with the damage done. To preserve the dead wood within the hollow/s, I have been faffing around with a mixture of lime sulphur & black indian ink. The ink deadens the whiteness of the sulphur and can give a burnt out appearance.

02.jpg

01.jpg

[greg27]

The battered trunk now looking much more aged with the damage done. To preserve the dead wood within the hollow/s, I have been faffing around with a mixture of lime sulphur & black indian ink. The ink deadens the whiteness of the sulphur and can give a burnt out appearance.

Thanks KCR, that looks great. Do you mix the lime sulphur and the ink and apply them together, or do you apply the ink after the lime sulphur?

[Keep Calm and Ramify]

I think you can both but I have been doing lime sulphur coat/s first at letting fully absorb & dry out. Ink over top. After the ink is applied and dry you can softly hand scuff the high points of the wood with fine sandpaper, so that the result looks more natural and not uniformly all flat black.

Here is a handy link. Keep experimenting!

http://bonsai4me.com/Basics/Basics%20Bo ... Page2.html

[Matt S]

That peppercorn stump is looking good. I never thought of burning a stump like that.

I bought some india ink last week for a couple of olives. I initially mixed a big dash of it with lime sulphur but the ink just solidified into a lumpy blob, so I then painted on the lime sulphur and followed it up with the ink. I think I may have bought an oil based ink, which would explain why it didn't dissolve.

Back when the late Peter Adams visited the club he suggested using india ink on sharis. He talked about watering it down and using a darker wash for the deeper areas, and not just painting the whole area evenly.

[Jan]

Never thought of metho, I've used a butane burner (the small type used by chefs to brown merangues) to burn bare wood for the asthetics of the look and the hardening/preserving effect. Very controlable flame.

The stump is looking good, very much in character with how you see older pepercorns looking.

Jan

[greg27]

Never thought of metho, I've used a butane burner (the small type used by chefs to brown merangues) to burn bare wood for the asthetics of the look and the hardening/preserving effect. Very controlable flame.

To be honest the metho experiment wasn't a complete success - the metho burns off but the wood underneath doesn't get much scorching / colouring except on the edges. Fun to do though, but that's the pyromaniac in me talking. The butane burner is probably a better route. I grabbed some India ink today so will have a play with that on the peppercorn and on an olive stump that I'm also going for a burnt out look.

I applied some lime sulphur today - in hindsight the "sulphur" part should've tipped me off but that stuff really stinks. Not a fan!

[greg27]

Still a work in progress, but I like where this is heading. The black India ink is great - I applied it in a few different shades (just by mixing it with water) and then once it was touch-dry I did my pyro metho thing again which I gave it a bit more of a natural look. I didn't take any progress photos - next time.

[KIRKY]

That looks great! Definitely a bit of pyromania coming out.
Cheers
Kirky

[greg27]

This has been growing and looks healthy, but hasn't powered on as much as I'd expected. This afternoon I noticed something just below the soil level after splashing on some water which could be the reason why: the dreaded curl grub. I hadn't planned to repot this season but there goes that idea.

[terryb]

While it would be nice to just use potting mix for growing stock, I find that I need to add inorganics otherwise I end up with the same situation as you.

[greg27]

RIP stump. I don't think it appreciated the timing of my repot.

[juan73870]