Now that’s a bit of a block of a rock or one thing. Really, it’s concrete, a artifical rock. However it’s “finished broke” as they are saying…
It seems like a reptiles beak, under.
The story begins with a textual content, together with some pics and movies, from Cincinnati.
The textual content was from Brendan. Say “Hello!” Brendan:
That’s him, my spouse and me.
He received this “stone” from Poland, imagine it or not. From a man named Jacek Motyl. He makes rocks. Wonderful rocks. Click on on his title.
Anyway, Brendan ordered this stone and Jacek shipped it to him. In transit, it received “finished broke”.
I’m not blaming the packing job. Jacek packed the rock nicely. I’m not blaming the Polish submit workplace. Nor the USA postal service.
Let’s blame windfall. The rock breaking gave me a possibility to strive one thing I’ve by no means finished earlier than. Sorry Brendan. Sure, that is my first try. I shall strive my finest sir.
The kind of rock is technically referred to as “tateishi”, or standing stone, utilized in a root over rock type referred to as, in lots of fashionable spellings, “ishisuki”. Once I was rising up in bonsai, we spelled it “ishitsuki”. Yeah, ishitsuki, I shit you not….however the fashionable spelling helps us to pronounce it accurately. The “T” and the “S” make a singular sound in Japanese. Kinda like an “tssss” sound.
Anyway, that’s my joke about root over rock type. It’s higher in individual, with the hand gestures and all.
Watch the video under to see how dangerous the break is.
To not give away secrets and techniques, however the form was created by taking display or {hardware} material and making the fundamental form.
Then the display is constructed up with cement. And coloured, formed, sculpted, aged, and so forth.
Fairly cool proper?
My job is to repair the break and match the colours and texture. So I first had Brendan attempt to discover Ciment Fondue. I had remembered studying concerning the stuff studying within the previous books and magazines after I first began in bonsai (books and magazines are these superb studying instruments that one held in a single’s fingers, printed on paper. You’d flip pages and browse and the information was superb. I may let you know about encyclopedias however you’d zone out rapidly).
Brendan couldn’t discover Ciment fondue. Looking on google, I discovered it. What’s it?
CIMENT FONDU® is a hydraulic binder with an alumina content material of roughly 40%. Composed primarily of calcium aluminate.
It’s a model title, solely accessible in Europe, so I advised him to seek out one thing comparable. And he did.
Refractory mortar.
Why one thing comparable? So it expands and contracts in comparable methods to warmth and chilly cycles as the unique sculpture. And refractory cement is waterproof. An necessary factor up north, as water freezes within the chilly, and may explode our rock. That may sound spectacular. However that’s not conducive to secure bonsai plantings.
There’s one thing soothing taking part in with cement.
Measure out a portion….
Add colour (we had pink, tan, referred to as buff, and black. I eyeballed it).
And a trick, don’t combine it absolutely. You need variations.
Add water.
And transfer quick.
Brendan was watching me carefully.
I smeared it, chopsticked it, blotted it. It’s a sense factor.
I made positive to push the fabric into the cracks to make sure the restore of the rock, and never simply make an aesthetic facade.
And with the leftover cement, I performed round somewhat.
Yeah, I do know what it seems like.
After the restore dried, I believe it seems good.
I matched the feel and colour. However most significantly, it’s strong.
I wouldn’t drop it, however it’s one piece once more.
Under, is the place I cemented that chunk again into place:
The “beak” is gone.
Now it’s as much as Brendan what to do with it.
