Nordic Bonsai Summercamp 2012

Ole Claefer very kindly invited me to help out at the Nordic bonsai Summercamp this year. I was asked to create a bonsai during a demo on the first day, workshop the second and to work on some of Ole's private collection on the third. As part of the weekend there was also an exhibition which I was asked to judge and a Gala dinner after the demo to present the awards. The first set of pictures will be on the demo.

                                                     Ole's nursery as we approached

The material for the demo was a Scot's Pine from Sweden and had been in the pot for about 4 years. There were 3 live trunks and some old dead horizontal trunks. Being quite a feminine tree with some excellent movement in places, it was decided that the styling should look like the Pines we see in the North of Europe. Rather than cover the tree in Raffia to bend the tree into an unconvicing short image, I went for a more graceful bunjin.

I have to thank Peter Landerloos for the photographs and he also helped with the wiring and deadwood work. My appreciation of his sneaky camera work.

Straight areas of trunk were removed or made into deadwood. There was a very intersting twist at this section but it went across the front of the tree and didn't fit in with the design.

Peter prepping the tree before wiring.

Some of the old bark was quite stubborn to remove so I used the Makita.

Yvonne having a closer look.

The pair of us busy wiring.

The central trunk was removed to a lower branch as the movement wasn't great and it helped to simplify the design of the bunjin.

Work on the reduced trunk........

.......With the Makita again.

Sawdust was the order of the weekend.

The first design of this lovely Pine

The first steps to becoming bonsai