Styling of a mugo pine

As my first posting in the IBC-Forum I want to show you a mugo pine I found 2004 in the Alps. The tree looks quite confusing but interesting.



Planted into a wooden box (Photo1) the tree stayed untouched for two years, except of cutting off a big branch you can see on the left side. By this time the Pine had almost no deadwood areas. This has changed dramatically, now the deadwood parts are dominating as one can see on Photos 2 to 4. They are made without power tools.







In the sommer last year the tree got his first styling.



And now another year later the wire was cut off (it began to bite in), and I wired the hole tree again. This time also the fine branches. After that the pine was set into this selfmade stone pot.
By now I am very pleased about the tree, although it needs a few years of developement and much more refinement of course .



Best regards,
Marco Merschel

PS: sorry for my bad english

Hi Marco

Firstly, your English is absolutely fine Now to the tree. When I saw the first picture I wondered precisely what you were going to do?

Scrolling through the progression you have included - was really delightful, and I really do feel you have created quality Bonsai in the making.

When I saw you final picture with the home made pot it really made me smile; the balance of the pot and the tree go so well together, the rustic appearance enhances what is already a great creation.

I like every aspect of your tree and the pot. As time goes by new growth will undoubtedly be pinched back hard, and this will fill in any spaces that you have very quickly. It would appear to be a Scots type Pine and with this species the movement that can be created with wiring is quite amazing.

yes, a resounding fabulous from me!

take care

Mike

Welcome to the IBC and what a fabulous debut post.
Your tree is a great find and you've done a nice job.

To me though I liked the pot prior to the shell pot. I feel it shows off the tree's intricacies better than the shell pot. The shell hides some of the tree and traps the negative space too tightly.


Let's see more please.

Fantastic. Very well done in such a short time too. This tree will be great. I congratulate you with very good work from a difficult material to overview. As Rob states, I too like the first pot better, for exactly the same reasons.

Best regards
Morten

Congrats for this really amazing job...Fiona sad it all...I agree and feel the same
Looking forward for new progress pictures.

Regards,
Roland

very good work, I like it.

rolandp wrote:Congrats for this really amazing job...Fiona sad it all...I agree and feel the same
Looking forward for new progress pictures.

Regards,
Roland

Crikey, Fiona gets mentioned when she has not yet turned up

I'm sticking with that lovely pot in the final picture. It looks as if the tree was born for it. The previous pot (IMHO) did not do sufficient for the tree. The harmony now is simply stunning.

Mike

What trunk!, I want the same.

Thank you

Sorry Mike...of couse i ment your post...

rolandp wrote:Sorry Mike...of couse i ment your post...

No worries Roland...you can call me Fiona if you like

Mike

Man, that is a well done job! I like it a lot.

Beautiful tree, beautiful work! An amazing result in a short time, congratulations!

Hi Marco,
first of all what a wonderful transformation!!!!
I think this pot is amazing and I find it very clever how you managed to find it? Because it must have been hard to find something this good looking to fit that wide a root base in!
I love the circular eye motion that this pot brings to the whole composition. It's like your eyes are Cascading down the foliage, strait into the depths below this old and battered mountain Pine. This gives the total picture distance and hight, just the story you and the tree are trying to tell to use!!! It almost gives it a dis balance, like it is about to tumble over the edge, that I find very exciting!!
The allmost similar shape and size of the foliage mass and the pot, gives it all a real symbolic Jin and Yang feeling!!! A perfect match between pot and tree!!
I planted some extra virtual foliage on top to make my point!



I know it looks probably better in real live! But I think it would be a even better tree pot combination, if that stunning Jin was not hiding that important empty space under need the right side of the tree. Having that empty space would make the pot tree combo just perfect.



But what can you do, remove that priceless Jin??? That is allmost like swearing in church on a Sunday around Christmas time!!! It would be a brave or even a foolish man indeed ??
I would love to see your tree in real live some time and see for my self how it looks with that amazing Jin!! I bet it is just as stunning as I think it is!!
Well don indeed Marco and I hope to see more of your work on here!!
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.

Really great Mugo pine , i like the whole composition of it!


And i would think about Hans his option about the jin or make it thinner or smaller, however a picture cant distract.


Best regards,
Yannick

I am in awe of your artistry! The deadwood you created is stunning. Where did you learn such masterful technique? What kind of tools did you use? Your photo chronical is great. Did you make the stone pot?
Salut, Todd

A wonderful find and a beautiful tree, I agree with everything Hans has said. Such a lovely composition.

Paul

Fantastic work you have done, Marco!
Congratulation!
Just like Hans I would desperately dream about seeing this tree live!

Todd Ellis wrote: .. ... ... What kind of tools did you use? Your photo chronical is great. Did you make the stone pot?
Salut, Todd

See here, Todd

MerschelMarco wrote: ... ... ...
By this time the Pine had almost no deadwood areas. This has changed dramatically, now the deadwood parts are dominating as one can see on Photos 2 to 4. They are made without power tools.
... ... ... ... ... ...
After that the pine was set into this selfmade stone pot.
... .... ...

I like what you have done with this tree
A real masterpiece,a great tree and pot combination also
I hope to see more from this tree in the future
Greetings Ed

Great material and work on deadwood! Congratulations!

Marco and Andrija will both be at my Late Sumemr Meeting this coming Saturday, Augst 28. There they can disuss this tree of Marco. Marco, how about bringing it to the tree critique?

Great transformation!! Congratulations on your inspiring work.
Stavros

Walter Pall wrote:Marco and Andrija will both be at my Late Sumemr Meeting this coming Saturday, Augst 28. There they can disuss this tree of Marco. Marco, how about bringing it to the tree critique?

I will be silent listener

I read your post and I wanted to know what kind of "hand tools" you used to carve the deadwood? Did you use knives, gouges, pliers? I also wondered if You made the stone pot. Thanks!

First of all I want to give thanks for the feedback, that`s very pleasant for me of course.
This tree was posted in several german bonsai forums, and every time so as here too, the choice of the pot seems to polarize. Some prefer the former rectangular pot, some the new one, no agreement in anyway, but that`s OK.
One reason why I set this tree into the stone were the horizontal trunk parts, who take away some of the trunks dynamic. So I wanted to tilt the Pine a little bit to the right side. But then a big essential root on the left side hangs up in the air. The recent pot allowes an inclined soil surface, so the problem with the root can be solved.



By the way the pot is made of concrete. To get a better more nature like surface, the whole thing was dabed with ironpowder in waterresistant glue. Some salt in the glue supports the oxidation process.

For the future I like to have the top of the tree a bit more to the left side just as Hans van Meer showed in his virtual (thanks for the just perfect virtual).

The deadwood part on the lower right side is a kind of representative of my own “bonsai-philosophy”. I like Bonsai who are not too “obvious” too “ascertainable” at the first moment but those who want to be explored, if you know what I mean.
At the virtual with the cut off deadwood by Hans van Meer the tree looks better, more harmonic. And even more as this deadwood Part goes straight to the viewer and it hides a part of the Nebari. But because of this you have to go a little bit to the left side a little bit to the right side, it`s necessary to observe the tree from different points of view. That`s what I find interesting, but of course cannot be shown by a photograph.

@Todd Ellis:Yes I use knifes,brushes, pliers and sometimes a rotating wire brush you can clamp into a drilling maschine
@Walter: I thought about bringing the tree to the late Sommer meeting, but I think it`s not a good idea to transport a fresh repotted tree.

Regards,
Marco

Thanks for sharing these thoughts about the tree and its pot i.e.
And I admit Hans got a good point of view regarding the choice of pot, as you also explains in the last post. So I fully go with that. It is really very narrow to judge a tree from just a photo. You miss what big differences viewing from just small changes of directions can do, as you also points out. This one is really an interesting and beautiful tree, and your work at the deadwood impresses me.

Regards
Morten