Arbor Arts Collective end of summer BBQ

Milwaukee chapter of the AAC had a working party this past sunday with the usual crew
and a couplafew prospective new members that we were secretly vetting
(most have now been invited into the fold, with blood rituals to follow)

the set-up



some of the working part of the day
(and some of you from the midwest of the u.s. might recognize the fellow on the left - ron f.
of Ancient Arts Bonsai who is one of our newest members)















some deadwood work i have been working on



trying to establish a sight-line or eye-path from the ground, up the tree and then to the right along the flattened crown



and the non working part





everyone agreed that it was an incredible day, with perfect weather, great company, good food and drink...
and as is becoming the usual, not packing up to call it a night until it truly was night !

Looks like fun. The best kind of party actually.

So which one are you?

Poink88 wrote:So which one are you?

turn around and look on the other side of the pictures and you'll see me...

i'm the one holding the camera.

if ya wanna play "where's waldo" there's a picture of me elsewhere on this forum
(on the front side of the camera)

beer city snake wrote:...if ya wanna play "where's waldo" there's a picture of me elsewhere on this forum
(on the front side of the camera)

Nah, was just curious. Definitely not going to look for it.

Poink88 wrote: Definitely not going to look for it.

aw, c'mon man !!!
it'll be fun and...

... well, for lack of a better word: engaging !!!



just pulling your chain a bit...

btw - forgot to mention - that young cat with the blond hair and beard, john, is one helluva potter !!!
we are all snapping up his pots while we can still afford him !

beer city snake wrote:- that young cat with the blond hair and beard, john, is one helluva potter !!!
we are all snapping up his pots while we can still afford him !

You have sample pics of his pots? Does he make special order? I am interested.

It was an absolutely perfect day. Weather was delightful, sunny, not too hot. The group was fun, lots of joking around. Good humor and bonsai go together quite well. Kevin and Lynn are great hosts, the sausage was from a small "we make them ourselves" butcher shop - 2 types of Italian style sausage and a great Hungarian style sausage. Can you tell I'm the fat gray hair guy on the right in the photo where Ron is on the left? I love food. Nothing like a cook out, Mike was the grill master.

Kevin had a great music playlist going in the background. Nothing beats creating jins on a Juniper than the dulcet tones of Willie Nelson, or Johnny Cash. There were sets more up-tempo and techno - it was a great and varied playlist.

I chopped up a Malphigia pretty good, and did a couple grafts, had some JWP 'Bergman's" scions, and we grafted them on to 3 pots of Pinus nigra root stock. We did very low into the root zone grafts so if they take, there will be almost nothing of the P. nigra trunk or bark that will show. P. nigra was chosen because it was available and is more reliably winter hardy in this area. Once these grafts have had 5 or so years to heal, they should be hardy both root and top through zone 4. Since we are in zone 5, that's hardiness to spare. JBP is only marginally hardy here. Winters ok only if you are careful about winter protection.

Good beverages, Steve brought an excellent wine from his son's winery in California. Now that is something every study group needs, someone with a winery connection.
There was some 10 year old bourbon on hand too. Nobody over-indulged - it was Sunday, many had to work the next day so we broke up early, well before midnight. But it was a great time.

Oh and a few wives, and significant others showed up too. It was great.

Sounds awesome!

You guys do realize your avatar is confusing us (me at least) right? LOL

Leo Schordje wrote:Now that is something every study group needs

hey leo... watch your mouth with that "study group" thing...

we have a reputation to uphold after all

and sorry darius, but i will let john himself do any promotions of his pots that he feels right about
(he will be informed of this thread and he can take it from there)

Kevin is right, John is a great potter. All the pots I have from him have "not ready for prime time" trees in them. But I do have one with an orchid in it. The pot is about 4 inches in diameter, the glaze is nice and heavy. fired to cone 7 or so, able to take freeze thaw cycles. I like the way the color comes down in a wave.

The orchid is Phragmipedium besseae for those who want to know. The photo is a flash photo, so the purple is exaggerated, but the flower really is a very, very bright, fluorescent scarlet red orange. It is potted in long fiber New Zealand sphagnum moss, and seems to like living in a bonsai pot. It winter's under lights, summers outdoors with morning sun. It must never get completely dry, so stay on top of watering it. Other than that - an easy orchid, well there are other tricks, but this is a bonsai forum, not an orchid forum.