This Hemlock is a yard favourite of mine. Collected by the nice Anton Nijhuis, the snaky set of trunks made me so snake-curious I had to purchase it.
We “potted” this Hemlock final week onto a stepped slab thingy. Benefit from the picture essay!
That is the place we started in 2020…with a uncooked, unstyled tree.
In 2023 we had a styled Mountain Hemlock, rewired as soon as, and grown on this field for 3 years. The boards below the suitable facet are for the styling / potting inclination.
As soon as once more we turned to Corian as a slab materials. Corian has grown on me as a rock substitute for slabs. If you wish to get creative, it’s a lot simpler to work with than rock. Doesn’t chip and isn’t brittle. Cuts, polishes, and drills simply.
My collaborator Erich Raudebaugh check driving the development. Erich has but to suppose I’m nuts. So far as I do know.
The underside—clearly printed to be used in bonsai “THIS SIDE DOWN”. Most countertop installers will know this already.
The pondering behind this was a mixture of issues. Firstly, the damaged constructions we see in sedimentary rock impressed the second degree, and secondly, the void beneath the second degree lofts the tree to reinforce the windswept really feel. I hoped each would add air and motion to the composition.
Prepping the basis ball for attachment on the slab thingy.
Remaining tweaks earlier than attaching. For these long-term tasks that stay indefinitely connected I desire plastic-wrapped metal wire. Masaki and Erich help.
Our muck about to be blended: Sphagnum moss (unsifted), akadama fines, and cooked corn starch. Roughly 1/3 of every.
Mucking principally full. The muck fashioned the outside partitions behind which we poured our soil media.
Closeup of slab thingy. The steel brace hidden from this view. Erich minimize the slab edges at a nifty 15 diploma angle after which polished it with successive finer sandpapers till it was shiny. Looking back I don’t suppose we would have liked to shine it to counsel rock. This has a touch of glassy obsidian.
20 levels to the suitable, with a view of the steel brace Erich welded.
And at day’s finish. Numerous these off-the-wall shows can really feel chilly and medical out of the gates. The proper angle is to me too harsh in the mean time however I count on when moss and lichen colonize the muck it can soften and start to meld with the tree. We will see. Different oddball compositions which appeared too harsh and edgy at first did that. I’ll at any charge revisit this one in one other publish down the street.
For notes in regards to the first styling of this tree, attempt: Windy Mountain Hemlock Styling
