Carving a Bonsai Pot from a stone

[Japh]

After a visit to Will's Island Bonsai nursery the other day, I saw one of his trees was planted in a dip in the top of a large stone. It looked really quite beautiful, and I felt it was a wonderful reflection of bonsai in nature. Almost like someone had not wanted to disturb the tree at all during a yamadori expedition, and carved the whole rock out instead!

This got me thinking about the logistics of it, and where the water might drain through (is that completely necessary? does it depend on species?) etc.

Then I thought, why not find a stone block, and carve a dish in the top / side, drill drainage holes, and create pots that way! I'm sure people have already thought of this, but after a search on here and a bit of Googling, I can't find much. Is a stone carved pot something people think would be a good addition to a bonsaist's collection?

Does anyone have any examples of this handy? And also, what types of stone would be best / worst for this?

[soda]

Bluestone would work really well I'd reckon.

[Ash]

Hey Japh,

I reckon that it is a good idea and it can look great. Getting the right stone may not be easy. And there are a lot of technical problems with getting power tools that have enough 'grunt' down into a cavity to carve.

The green island fig in the following link is planted in an artificial cavity carved in the top of a great heavy lump of basalt. It has since 'escaped' and is now planted in a tray to accomodate extra roots.

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=7401#p83225

A piece of volcanic 'tuff' might be better choice than basalt because it is lighter and more porous.

cheers
Ash

[Japh]

Oh, brilliant! Thanks, Ash

I was actually thinking of hand-carving rather than using powertools, other than for drilling. I may ask my Dad's advice on any powertools I might need, as he works in a machine shop and on quarry tools, so that could come in handy.

[shibui]

Japh,
Did you check the thread 'My new pot Rocks' viewtopic.php?f=29&t=7202&start=0&hilit=carving+rocksby tinmonkey back in Jan.

Albury/Wodonga bonsai club meeting next Tuesday focusses on carving rocks for bonsai from natural (eg limestone) and commercial materials (hebel - aerated cement, etc). Those 2 are quite light and easily worked with hand tools. Henk assures us they are also durable enough to be used, even for root over rock planting.

[Japh]

Thanks, shibui, that's a great thread! My search didn't turn that up, but perhaps I was thinking too much about "stone" and not enough about "rock"

Limestone sounds good... I might have to find out where I can source some nearby.

[BGM1971]

Hi Japh

I've thought about doing it a few times.
One of my thoughts was to try Hebel.
In case you don't know, it's a light weight aerated concrete. I think it would probably need to be sealed or painted.
I don't know how it would last being fairly brittle. The good thing is that it is cheap and easy to work with.
I have drilled out some cavities into a large rock to plant some Junipers in. It was VERY hard work.
It worked OK, but I ended up pulling them out as I don't think they were doing to well
I will try it again at some stage.
Let us know how you get on.

[Petra]

You know what they say about great minds Japh.
I always wanted to carve sandstone, our local has some beautiful coloured ones.This was something i always was going to do. Sand stone rock pots would be absolutley georgeous with Aus natives. I couldnt emagine any thing else that would suite.
Also hebel is the easiest to carve,i recon with a bit of my artistic magic i could get it looking just like real sandstone. Good that you brought the subject up, may even give it ago over the week end.

[MattA]

Hey Japh,

I cant show you a pot I have carved.. how about a stone water bowl, the outside was roughed out with a short handled sledge hammer, the inside carved with cold chisel, sandstone rip rock weighs about 150kgs.

R0014530rs.jpg

I have several slabs of stone to eventually be used for trees and when the right piece of stone comes along I would love to have a stone pot on my benches. I have plenty of rocks growing lichen & moss so why not a tree.

The only thing i would say regarding your choice of stone, use whats locally available and choose the lightest/most porous of those available. Hebel is really easy to carve and weathers nicely, the only other one I have experience with is sandstone, work on a bed of sand or loose soil to absorb the shock & try not to strike along grain lines. It will also take quite detailed lines if carved slowly to the edge you want.

Its good to see you getting back into it full swing. Look forward to seeing some of your creations.

Matt

[Mitchell]

Hebel is soft as, and great to work.

Here's an ant nest I made from it, it has some great hydration properties and acts as a wick. In this link http://www.instructables.com/id/3-Foot- ... uthentic-/ I gravity feed water thru drip lines plugged into the Hebels back. The Hebel absorbs it and saturates itself, only problem maybe after continuous cycles, the plants roots may penetrate it, though given the white colour as said previously, you would need to do some sealing/painting.

I carved the nest with a tungsten tipped "score and snap" knife for cement sheeting.

Here's the instructions relative to carving Hebel, in the tutorial.

When making pots from rocks, I generally go for harder materials, sandstone being the most porous of them.
I generally use cold chisels and a mallet.

[MattA]

Mitchell thats the coolest ant house. There are various trees in my collecttion that have ants living in them, i would love to be able to see inside the nests. The best shari & hollow makers around.. they are slower than power tools but do such a lovely job I prefer to let them take there time.

This is a hebel sculpture that i was given 5yrs ago when I first arrived in the hunter, it has lived in the garden the entire time with no special attention or treatment. It has aged a bit but given what you are saying about its water drawing capacity I reckon it would be very cool to seed with a moss milkshake & stood in a tray of water...

Matt

[dannynovo]

Hi,
Have you thought of using Soap Stone...my brother in law is a scupture and he uses Soap Stone a lot, as it is easily carved by hand tools ....and i think it comes in various hues as well.

Danny

[Japh]

Fantastic suggestions everyone, thank you so much. I'm glad other people have tried this before and are keen to share tips

I've carved hebel once before, and I have concerns about using that for a pot for reasons Mitchell mentioned. But I love your idea of carving something and giving it a moss milkshake, Matt!

Soapstone has been used for carving for such a long time... that could be a good option! Also, like Petra said, sandstone would go so well with natives.

I guess I'll have to find out what's available locally and then make my decision

[dragon]

:gday:everyone
i have got a few words to say and that is thankyou thankyou thankyou
i have got quite a lot of sandstone in my backyard and was wondering
what to do with it now i know yeehaa i dont have natives but i do
have a few juni's so i will give it a go
dean

[Japh]

Excellent, Dean! Glad we could help

Don't forget to post photos of your progress!