Shimpaku Driftwood

[archie1979]

Hey everybody,
Well i have been sitting at home for a week or so now due to a work injury and I thought I might attempt a Shimpaku Driftwood style, I will add the pics from start to finish just for interests sake and please feel free to comment on my progress any pointers are also welcomed.

Well here is the start.

The pot, the tree and the driftwood

IMG_1446.jpg

The driftwood has been treated with lime sulphur and I had done a little carving on it also.

IMG_1448.jpg

Im not soo sure about the blue pot though but it was the best one i think that i had lying around there are a few others as well i might go and take some pics and take a vote on the best one.

What do you think?

Archie

[NathanM]

Shimpaku + driftwood = good.
Pot, so so much IMO. I'd be going for a medium to drak brown unglazed. Probably rectangle

[archie1979]

hmm might have one of those somewhere but it may be a little small

[archie1979]

Okay here are a few other pots for a maybe.

What do you all think, I know they arn't the greatest of pots but I really cant go and buy any more bonsai stuff my wife would kill me hahah

Or do i stick with the first pot?
I think its a nice piece of wood

IMG_1449.jpg

IMG_1452.jpg

[Gerard]

I expect you will want to highlight the white driftwood, therfore a dark pot is the go.
Unglazed is considered best for pines and junipers.
So my vote is either unglazed or dark blue.

Gerard

[Elias]

Hi Archie,

I have one, I carved a channel on the driftwood and gently squeezed the trunk into it. I used a lot of cable ties to hold it in place, also I left all the foliage on the tree to promote thickening on the trunk and hopefully it will fuse to the wood.

As far as the pot... hmmmm I would use a large styro box to keep developing the tree, in a bonsai pot the progress might slow down too much for my liking. JMO

Elias

[alpineart]

HI Archie , Driftwood style of Pheonix Graft , either way i like them .That driftwood looks like its as "hard as a cats head" possibly yellow box .I would personally carve it too the max before attaching your Juni' , its so much easier than trying to do it later . I have done quite a few Pheonix grafts and "MY" biggest mistake was having an overpowering piece of driftwood in the beginning and waiting for the tree to grow up into it .

I have pulled a few apart for that very reason . When the juniper is full it doesn't leave much room to carve and their not as stable as a big full tree that requires carving .. Pots well i can't talk i use whatever i have as i class most of my trees as trainers , that lets me off the hook . Look forward to seeing how it progresses .Cheers Alpine

[archie1979]

Thanks for all the info guys and gals, yeah i thought about throwing it into a training box for a while but I have all of these damn pots around the place and no real finished trees to use them on.
I think I might go for the dark blue glazed rectangle.

See how it goes anyway

as for the stump it is as hard as hell dont know how I am going to carve it up properly before the juni goes in the dremel is no good.

[Rhiannon]

If you were gonna put it into a pot, I'd vote for the 3rd one, the dark blue rectangle.

[Pup]

Archie you need something with more grunt than a Dremel on that piece of wood something like the arbortech wheel for a 4inch ( 100mm ) it will cut though that without
problems. It will also cut your hand off if you are not careful.

You can get a die grinder with a bigger router bit also. When you fix your whip to the drift wood, please use either pure Brass or Stainless steel ( good quality ) other wise you will do harm to the tree.

Cheers Pup

Ps Terracota for Conifers not a fan of blue with them.

[archie1979]

Thanks for the info I have a few tools but they are at another house we are doin a reno on, I think I have made do.

Yeah I know terracota for conifers I thought I would be able to get away with one of my others might have to go and buy another tomorrow. Will just have to see.

Cheers

Archie

might go for something round perhaps

[alpineart]

Thanks for the info I have a few tools but they are at another house we are doin a reno on, I think I have made do.

Yeah I know terracota for conifers I thought I would be able to get away with one of my others might have to go and buy another tomorrow. Will just have to see.

Cheers

Archie

might go for something round perhaps

Hi Archie , break a rule and use what you have , bigger the better for trainers .Cheers

[Pup]

Thanks for the info I have a few tools but they are at another house we are doin a reno on, I think I have made do.

Yeah I know terracota for conifers I thought I would be able to get away with one of my others might have to go and buy another tomorrow. Will just have to see.

Cheers

Archie

might go for something round perhaps

The large off white would do for growing on in as Alpineart said bigger the better. Maybe you can break with tradition with the blue, for a conifer, Peter Chan did on the front cover of his book Masterclass.

He has since changed it and also sold it.
Cheers Pup

[archie1979]

Yeah i think I might not go and buy a new pot just for a trial piece, maybe if it turn out great in another couple of seasons I might buy one for it but until then I may just go with the white to alloe some space for growth.

Thanks for the input Pup and all the others. Cant wait to get stuck into it again tomorrow.

Archie

[NathanM]

Use that unglazed one It looks good. Just check out the pic in my avatar