Dan Butler pots

Hi,
Dragon bonsai have recently dscovered one of it's members, Dan Butler is a very modest and we feel creative and skilled ceramist / potter.
This is his first attempt at making bonsai related ware.
I asked Dan if I could present some of his work for your thoughts.
Here are just a very few examples of his work. I asked Dan a few weeks ago to make me some small accent slabs.
Here are the ones I have bought recently.


At the 2008 Capel manor show I saw Chie Hattori's Kusamono display, it sparked my interest and I decided to create my own.
Hence my request to Dan.
Chie Hattori's Kusamono


I also got a few primitive accent pots from Dan.





Dan with Chris Thomas with a selection of his work.




Your thoughts are very welcome.

We suggested more and bigger drainage holes.
Here is a subtle white pot I asked Dan to experiment with for me as a winter accent pot.
I love it.

I'm loving these and sincerely hope Dan and/or his pots are there next Wednesday and that he accepts Scottish bank notes.

Have you planted up any of your own purchases yet, Jerry? If so, why not post them?

Hi,
Dan might be there?
With my wife's birthday Saturday and my kids wanting a secret party for her, the planting will have to wait until Sunday's workshop at Dragon.

As promised Fiona gave Dragon a visit today.
As promised Dan was present with a new batch of pots.
We hope you enjoyed your little stop over with us and we didn't disappoint you.

Fiona selects a few of Dan pots.


I never did get round to planting Dan's accents pots I bought. Next time.

fionnghal wrote: ... sincerely hope Dan ... accepts Scottish bank notes.

He did (quite a few of them as it happened) and I even made sure the ink was completely dry on them.

Seriously good accent pots and his bonsai pots proper are starting to look splendid as well.

After my north end trip to Kev's in July and now the southern half at Dragon today, I really quite like Wales. Pity about the neighbours

OI. I 'eard that!

I really like the second left slab of Dan's. It reminds me of an old dry-stone wall.

Excellent work Dan Brian

Hi Brian its Chris, great to hear your still about, I,ve seen Roy and he said you hav'ent been to well Hope things are good now
See you soon
Regards Chris

Hi Chris thanks for all the help you have given young Dan.

Brian

Hello Again Dear Young Dan

Here is the lady potter who talked with You at Mr. Pitt's
stand at Best of Britain in Birmingham , who had no pots with her.
You told me You were very close to making some bonsai ceramics.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD

i like Your slabs very much , the ones on the first picture.
The more bigger natural shaped pots are attractive too, but beware ....
bonsai-ists do not like it so much if the upper rim goes to the inside of the pot.

Personally i think if it belongs with the design and feeling of the pot , it should be
Congratulations Dan, keep on playing

Hello Dear Brian
So good to hear from You again.
Hope You are well ?
The blackthorn is very well, after a hesitating start , getting used now
to southern dutch air with no salt.

Kind regards
Morea

I want one!! Me too! Seriously, how do I go about buying one of these pots?

Libby

I spent a typically Scottish summer's wet and windy afternoon in the glasshouse today potting up my Dan Butler accent pots. Here are a few results. (NB photos snatched hurriedly in the few sunny spells between monsoons and typhoons so apologies for their not looking as chipper as Penjing's or Juancalas's)

Antennaria dioica "minima"



Arabis "Old Gold"



Cyclamen with Astilbe crispa "Snow Queen" (Oh God! Mamas and Papas song in my head now!)



Pterocephalus perennis



Jasene



Juncus (acknowledgement to JL for inspiration)



And finally ... especially for Alain K - the Little Shop of Horrors



The last two are in pots measuring about 8 inches. The rest are all small pots of varying size.

Hi Fiona,
Thank you for posting.
I love these.Each sits so well.
Seeing your fine creations, Dan will be greatly encouraged to create more of his developing bonsai ceramics.

Jeremy!? You look just like that guy Jerry that used to be on here.

But you're much better looking of course.

Now where did I put that stuff? Ah yes. Here it is:

This pic has been bugging me since I posted it.



I've just realised why: it's the wrong way round. Here it is from the other side




I think that's a better view. But what do you guys think tho'? Here it is again (see if you can spot the addition from the orignal pic)

Yes I prefer it this way around. Moss with spore cases added on the right?

Right indeed.

What actually is meant by the term "club moss"? Is it as simple as deriving its name from the fact that the spores look like golf clubs as someone told me?

It's not a term I use but have heard it so I looked it up. "The spores are generally borne singly in the axils of specialised leaves (sporophylls), and these are often aggregated into cone-like strobili. It's these sporophylls that resemble clubs and give this group it's name."

So yes, maybe not golf clubs, more likely caveman clubs!

I feel a trip to Amazon coming on in search of a specialist (but easy to understand) book on Mosses. With pictures.


You having a rainy and boring day as well, Kev?

I'm stuck at home as daughter has borrowed (newly repaired) car to visit boyfriend. Hot and dry here but cloud has been building all day. Weathermen are forecasting and inch or two of rain in places today. Sounds like you are already having it?

I've been pottering in the garden and keep nipping back to check what's going on here.

Right, time to start moving some trees around!

Hi Kevin,
Hope you are planning to "move" some of your trees to our bonsai boot sale in September?
Accommodation, etc. can be arranged.

Hi Jerry, or should that now be Jeremy? (I know a couple of people who have changed their name and do prefer it in full, so I'll understand either way)

Thanks for the kind offer. I'll have to see how the new term pans out. I'd love to be there as it really is time I downsized my collection. I've got stuff I can't lift! I'll keep you informed.

And finally ... especially for Alain K - the Little Shop of Horrors

Feed me Seymour!

Whilst I appreciate the efforts you all put into creating these displays, I still fail to see where they fit in. I've had numerous people patiently explaining the philosophy behind it (and I consider myself well-versed in many eastern philosophies, both spiritual and martial), but for me, when I look at a bonsai all I want to see is the tree. In fact, so adept have I become at this that my mind/eyes blank out everything but the tree, and that includes the pot it sits in. (Yes, I understand the importance of the relationship between a tree and its container, but it doesn't mean I have to accept it verbatim.)

*Pauses for shouts of "Philistine" to abate, and deftly dodges several well-aimed pieces of over-ripe fruit*

Bottom line for me is, just because that's how the Japanese traditionally do it doesn't mean that's how we westerners should do it. In fact, inveterate rule breaker that I am, it just drives me to find a completely different way of my own.

Confuscious said "When facing a fork in the road, take the path least travelled."

Harleyrider said "Stuff that! I'll hack my own path through the undergrowth if you don't mind."

I'd just like to add that my comments are not meant as a reflection on the creations of either Fiona, Dan or anyone else for that matter. I admire anyone who can produce such obviously attractive, eye-pleasing images. They're just not for me.
Having said all that, I can see the attraction of presenting them as stand-alone displays. Conversely, Mrs Harleyrider can't see why we waste time with trees when we could be growing more pretty flowers.
VIVE LA DIFFERENCE!