Tuesday, August 27, 2013

The "Van Meer Technique"

I'm sure almost all of us had a situation where you shorten a trunk or cut of a branch and you face a huge wound. On conifers this is not such an issue but on deciduous trees scars are often an issue and dont compliment the overall design

Often we make compromise and don't heal the wound, some don't know how to heal them and there are even some who don't even try and leave them like they are. 

OfBonsai magazine published a great description of the "Van Meer Technique" which I think is a great way to heal wounds and huge scars on deciduous tree. The technique was developed by Hans Van Meer over the last 15 years. 

Definitely a must read article :)

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Juniperus - Step by step

This Juniper is with me from 2009 when i collected it as an urban yamadori. 

Juniper - Urban Yamadori after collecting in 2009-09

In 2010 I started to work on the tree as a student of the Progetto Futuro Bonsai School. The main goal in many series of school sessions was to learn how a Juniper needs to be styled with the right step by step approach, how and which techniques to apply through the growing season and what and why to make with the tree in different development stages. 

After three years of learning and working on the tree the first signs of a decent design started to be visible.

Juniper in 2013-08

When I look back I remember that it was hard to be patient and work step by step. I wonted to have a nice "tree" as soon as possible, I was looking for short cats, wonted to improvise to have a faster result. 

Now I'm glad I didn't take short cats, or at least not many short cats:). I started to understand how important "step by step" approach is and that it is crucial to learn and understand what and why you have to make at each step to make the tree ready for the next one and get a good and satisfied result in the end.

Of course the tree is far from finished, the pot is not the right one, the deadwood needs to be improved, the foliage needs additional maturity,...lots of additional steps, but its more and more fun and I'm already looking forward for the next step.