SUISEKI COLLECTING TRIP AT WORLD BONSAI CONVENTION

On Tuesday the World Bonsai Convention had an all day suiseki collecting trip lead by Sean Smith from Pennsylvania. There were 32 people from around the world on the bus which took us from San Juan to southern Puerto Rico to collect stones in the Caribbean Sea. There were stones of many different colors, shapes and textures, all mostly hard. During the bus trip to the sea Sean offered suggestions for collecting and information too. On the beach he was available to offer his opinions on freshly collected stones.

Afterwards we went to the City of Salinas where we were welcomed my the Mayor. After Sean explained what suiseki are the Mayor invited all of us to a delicious seaside lunch, compliments of the City of Salinas. Next we went to Pedro Morale's Futago Bonsai Garden where we cleaned the stones and were to have them cut. But beforehand Sean looked at each stone and make a mark where they should be cut to improve the suiseki. Unfortunately, the diamond stone saw blade was not sharp enough, so we had leave the stones for Sean to cut early the next morning. So at 8am yesterday 12 students traveled to the garden to make daiza. All the stones were cut when the students arrived and 12 more students were ready for the afternoon workshop.

I got several interesting stones but only had one cut, photos attached. Now all I have to do is to get Sean to create one of his fine qualit daiza for it.

It was a wonderful day and everyone was pleased and tired, but rested up before the BBQ later on in the evening.

Bill

Hi Bill... Thanks (& please thank Sean) for the photo essay on collecting & cutting stones-- an event unfolding at the World Bonsai Convention in Puerto Rico.

The last photo of a bottom-cut plateau stone is a controversial one. Collectors ponder whether to make such a cut &, if so, where to make it.

Jim Greaves shared in the latest CA Aiseki Kai newsletter his thoughts on mounting landscape stones of a shallow height relative to length. He was discussing small stones, but the similar consideration must be given to larger stones. How much height/mass must the stone have to craft a daiza underneath it which will not telegraph that the stone is cut nor distract from the stone because of the daiza's visual mass?

For rarely encountered suiseki contours evocative of a particular landscape, more allowance is given. Since the plateau stone doesn't require feet that run-out at the stone's base, it is a particularly good candidate for a daiza which appears to hold the natural contour of the stone when either natural or bottom-cut.

Sean is masterful with carving daiza and challenges himself in mounting the high cut (above the waist) on the left side of this stone. I imagine a fitting that will allow the stones walls to approach vertical on each end-- achieved by lowering the stones light left-end relative to the daiza height on the stones heavier, right-end. That could be elegant with less daiza height (& mass) under the less massive end of the stone!

Sean often creates a subtle, almost imperceptible meandering in height along the front side of his daiza as opposed to a straight line. The slight curves can be created not so much by conscious design as by selectively lowering daiza wall-height in the process of close-fitting the stone. Sean generously teaches such subtle techniques.

A daiza with a perfectly straight top can distractingly emphasize the line of a stone's cut covered by the daiza. On the other hand, the straight-line of a daiza’s top-edge can emphasize a flat plateau or flat step with the ground, daiza’s edge & plateau [or step(s)] being parallel.

Will we see any completed stone mountings from Sean's students? When faced with very little time for very subtle stone fitting, Sean's extraordinary skill in fitting & mounting is simply astounding.

It was a wonderful day, thanks Bill for sharing the trip's photos, I am learning...^^