Let the games begin - Season 2012 start

TORA - Studio for art and philosophy of bonsai opened its doors earlier than usual this year. Due to a new indoor space we could start to work already a few weeks ago, which is great. This season we also started to work collaboratively in a group and I personally like this approach very much. There are several reasons why, from the exchange of different point of views, different opinions and consultation on possible design possibilities, too exchange of knowledge and experience. Of course it’s more fun as well.

The first three workshops I've been working on a simple juniper from a nursery, which I bought for the practicing, the accumulation of experience and training wiring. The Juniper was a simple starter material which already in the start indicated the basic design direction – cascade style.

Juniperus chinensis - starting material

The trunk line indicated a pretty good chance to shape the desired style, but it was really straight and uninteresting, with no movement or rhythm. So the first step was important and the goal was to make the trunk line more dynamic, add some movement to the trunk and create a more interesting shape, which will be in compliance and will lead the observer true the tree from the top down with a nice rhythm.

Trunk line before the styling

Changed trunk line

After the base was created it was time for branch selection, wiring and styling the basic form of the crown.

After the first styling

When the initial styling was done, the whole team reviewed the design and through discussion we came to the conclusion that at this stage it is necessary to make some smaller corrections and one bigger correction, which at least in my opinion, makes a significant difference. Precisely these things are the added value of teamwork, different opinions, different views and ideas which brings us to better results.

After the additional corections

At this stage with this type of juniper it’s hard to create a very convincing crown, but the basis for the development is set. Now after some rest the juniper will gain new strength and then I will start to work on ramification and detailed crown definition, dead wood,...