Ishitsuki composed

This is the result of a comp i decided to enter .A native Aussie vertical landscape , i used an older trainer and the cuttings taken from the previous year off the trainer to combine into this finished item .All up it took 9 hours to complete the landscape

Arbutus unedo

This was a good find while out seeking a hawthorn from the clear felled area behind my house . I managed to remove 2 large root layers from either side of a monster 500mm base . I will collect the main tree before the dozers move in to flatten the lot. The small turtle back has a base of around 100mm while the larger 1 has a 150mm base .Should sprout quite well considering the large amount of roots attached to the bases .

Sequoia Sempervirens-Coast Redwood

I purchased these 2 trees from a wholesaler prior to the Beechworth fires , unfortunately his business was burnt out , luckily his family and house were saved . I used 2 method for training the new shoots 1 was to leave the old branches and tie down with fishing line .

The second method was to remove all the branches and when the shoot emerged used the spring pegs the direct the new shoot into the desired position . Much safer , less damage and very simple to adjust .

The trees were monitored over the next 2 seasons and trimmed sparingly . I decided to do the first initial styling using conventional spiral wrap wiring , something i don't particularly enjoy except for the result . With 50% of the foliage removed these have come up a treat I will allow the foliage to grow on to increase the width by about 30% over the next few months and trim to suit . All in all i am happy with the result

Redwood from the Ashes

This is a trunk that i collected after the 98 Beechworth fires . I estimate the tree would have been about 4 metres in height prior to the bush fire. Left unchecked fora couple of seasons i styled it as a twin trunk with the original stump retained for carving .I will allow it to settle then carve and pot it up into a Bonsai pot .

Unorthadox trunk bending

This is a method i have began to use to bend and shape larger trunks that have failed to hold with normal wiring procedures . With 25 years experience with wearing back and body braces for spinal correction i came to the conclusion if it works on the human spine it should brace and hold a tree trunk long enough for the tree to maintain the movement required for good Bonsai. Using hard drawn cooper tubing i loosely spiral wrap the trunk and the tube as one . Then i simply bend the copper tube to the desired shape and with the strength of the hardened copper the shape is maintained without constant adjustment.This means less stress on the trunks and the fibres/cells within .After 2 weeks i have noticed a relaxing of the trunks so an adjustment of the wire is simply done by unraveling the bottom half , tensioning then rewinding .Then repeat for the top half . . This Literati pine is spiral wrapped in the conventional method taking 4 times longer to apply and no where near as effective as the implimentation of the copper tube . It requires constant adjusting so there is always stress on the cells inside.I will remove this wire and replace with the copper brace method .

Ishitsuki - vertical landscapes- landscape trays

This was a result of a plan to construct some trays and landscape mediums .After toying with several possible methods and materials with no real direction i finally got my act together and began to pump a few items out for testing .Made from modern building materials and a method that i will keep under my hat util such time that i'm sure they are stable enough to disclose the full process involved. With all the hard work done time to plant a few trainers and kick back while the materials are tested under Bonsai conditions