Simon's Year of the Shohin

Hi Guys,

Here's a couple of trees that I've been playing with ouver the weekend

English Elm


Larch

Some background on the above trees:

English Elm
This was purchased as part of a “job lot” of trees and raw material. Its original composition was three tiers of foliage with not much going for it. At one of our “What the hell am I gunna do with this?” Club workshops a friendly potter (no names here) suggested that I decapitate it and make it into a nice Shohin. With not much further thought my Elm was reduced from 16” in height to approx 7”.

The tree was left all year last year to recover and I’ve now changed the potting angle to “hide” the major fault with the nebari at the back (there ain’t one!!) and when it has had time to enjoy its new surroundings I will then start the wiring.

Overall, this should end up as a nice little tree and if I hadn’t told you about it the fault at the back probably wouldn’t be noticed.

Larch
This little tree started life as starter stock for a group that never happen. I left it at the back of the stand for a couple of years before I took interest again and re-potted it last year. The growth can on really well over the last growing season so I thought that it was about time it had some definite shape.

The trunk was arrow straight so I’ve tried to put some movement into it and positioned the branches it give it some sort of structure. It seems to work but only time will tell!!

From one Monkey to another...

The Elm is looking good Simon, from the adjusted veiwing angle the tree shows better taper and as you says hides the bad part of the nebari. Where you have cut the major part off, if it was me and you know I can be a little bit radical, I would carve a nice deep Uro to give the tree some "age" or start with a jin and then go onto a Uro if it does not look right. With time the tree will be a great little Shohin

Looking forward to seeing the progress

All the best and see you on Wednesday

Andy

The elm is okay, the larch though is to thin and young for my taste.
Andy is wright in his comments about the uro and so on.

Peter

Thanx for your comments guys. I'll defo take on board the carving but that's for a later date.

I agree with your comments on my Larch to a lesser degree. Its abot 5/8" at the base of the trunk (not the uncovered root mass) and about 6" tall. Its almost a cross between Shohin & Mame but I was just looking to give it some sort of shape/outline before it maybe has a couple of years in open ground. I'm not looking to increase the height, just the girth.

See ya Wednesday Monkey

I think the elm has a lot of promise. I assume that stump will be cut away Real Soon Now?

The larch, on the other hand, needs room to grow, but you can't allow that while it's all wired up. It'll never thicken in a bonsai pot, though. But if you only wired it to set some movement in the trunk, you'll need to give it a larger bend if you want it to last as the tree matures. this slight of a bend will vanish in a few years.

I, of course, wouldn't keep the pointed top, but that's my foible.