Jasper Stones

Hi Morea... Your tray design for Norma's stone is very engaging. I think of an engawa (verandah) mitigating space between the inside of a shoin-style home and its garden space while additionally extending in each direction beyond entry to the scene.

Marc Peter Keane uses similar construction (though more masculine) for his bontei ("pot + garden"): http://www.mpkeane.com/bontei/bonteihome.html

In the 1960s, Japanese stone enthusiasts mounted garden-size stones in indoor places calling the arrangements sekitei "stone gardens." These were arranged on a series of islands (using a variety of matting, rug or crushed stone bases for each island) & stones (which appeared bottom-cut) as mountains. Recently, I hear such a composition with naturally contoured Chinese stones was mounted in a store window in Fredericksburg, Virginia. (I am hoping to get a photo from the stones' or the store's owner!) Think of "sekitei" an oversized bonseki-style arrangement not limited to the size of its tray. The kanji characters of sekitei are the same characters in reverse for niwa-ishi ("garden stones"), which are related to suiseki in some classification systems (notably the "Ornamental Stone chart" of Saburo Ei frequently referenced by California Aiseki Kai's Larry Ragle).

Perhaps the penultimate garden stone in an indoor setting which I have seen was in the home of I.C. and Helen Su in the mountains just north of Taipei. The stone must have weighed a couple of tons, and it had been placed in the house with a crane during the construction of the house. Unfortunately, I cannot find a photo of the stone.

Hi Morea,

Your creative tray suggestion is something I will seriously consider. With its flair and modern approach it fits nicely in the niche of suiban acceptance. I have recently seen wood suiban offered from Japan and wonder if usage of wood rules out the water settling of sand ? I imagine it could be treated with a sealer ?

Chris, I enjoyed the Marc Peter Keane web site! Oh, if only our art could be shown in galleries for big $$$$


Thanks ,

Norma

Dear Chris
The link You gave is very inspiring and i enjoyed very much
to see the work of this artist .
He has also some very special ceramics !!!
On the web i looked for "sekitei" , this one caught my attention.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harima-ankokuji-sekitei01.jpg
In a BIG TRAY with water around !!

Dear Norma
Seeing the above picture from the link , Your question for water or sand use
gave me an extra dimension and thoughts.
It is not so difficult to be able to use water or sand with a wooden tray.
Underneath one has to cover all with epoxy.
Even the middle part can be made thinner , , because the epoxy will give a
lot of strength to the complete tray.
Yesterday evening i visited the friend who made the table , shown in the picture.
Drew him Your stone and my tray design .
We both had shining eyes and 2 "daydreams" melted to one .

The 3th of June i have to go to hospital because my reumathism
is very nasty and getting worse , after this i "sail with Your boat again"
Kind regards
Morea

Dear Morea... Facing hospitalization for rheumatoid arthritus, you are exceptionally generous to think of us. We think of you, too. Thanks for keeping us among your friends. Thanks for exploring alternatives to common suiban & miniature landscape traditions. Please, keep us in the loop on your recovery!

Liners to hold water, ash et al. are frequently crafted for artistically-crafted containers that would otherwise be porous. I love naturally contoured or woven (e.g. basketry) materials supplemented by a functional liner which make their use a delight.