Now that the show is over....

...it's time to get back into the mud. Made a 14" diameter bonsai on Sunday that I'll trim up today. Got invited to a bonsai sale Dec 4th so I'll be making some shohin and mame pots this afternoon. Then I'll need to stock up for another bonsai sale in April. Stay tuned for photos of my latest creations.

Trimmed foot and texture detail

Unexpected results

Experimenting with various materials to advance my cracking textures. Most the time sand leaves a course surface


but this black reptile sand melted giving the it a smooth lava like texture. Will be doing more tested with, maybe some square or rectangles. Got lots of ideas...

My next commision, test pots

Got a request for a 14" diameter bonsai pot, he wants the fissures to golden yellow and the dark brown with a rim. After some thought I made these to see how easy/difficult it would be to create.

1st attempt the rim came out too heavy and the walls too vertical


2nd came out much better, nice round shape with a finer rim.

One more test before starting the large pot, stay tuned....

Saggar test

I've been reading about saggar firing and found a guy in England that does it in an electric kiln. After seeing his work I thought it was time I tried. Using an old stoneware nursery pot, kiln batting and a kiln shelf (for the lid). Now I just needed a shino recipes, selected Malcolm Davis just because of the least ingredients. Not sure how to apply the glaze and how many coats to get the best results I simply brushed it on.


Not bad, just need to play with glaze application some. Most exciting thing is I can now do some reduction work!

Conophytum springbokensis

Purchased this for a $1, not really into Aizoaceae but I was told this one quite old.

Looks pretty good in one of my 3in round pots

Pachypodium brevicaule

Purchased this beauty in 2006, the winter of 2007 it rotted. I cleaned out all dead tissue and was left with half the plant. I was told the only way to save it was to graft it onto lamerei. I'm not a fan of graft so I attempted to root it. After 16mo it started to push new foliage, I knew it had finally rooted and flowered soon after



Made a simple shallow bowl to be able to show it off


While it looks kinda cool I wasn't happy with the presentation. It needed a wider container, I started playing with ovals until I created something worth of this baby.



2 months later I entered it in the 25th Inter City C&S Show and won a blue ribbon and outstanding specimen!