These two trees have the same basice structure. They are both informal upright styles of bonsai, only one is full size (for a bonsai) and the other is mame style (super mini bonsai). These are probably my two favorite trees out of the 25 bonsai I am now training. This morning I noticed that their similarity was exagerated by the fact that they had both shed the leaves at the apex of their trunks.
I’ve shown the big maple a few times on here, and it is still my favorite piece. The little guy is some kind of micro-leaf birch that I’ve been training for two years now.
I was waiting to show it until it got one more growth season and thickened up a bit, but this comparison was too cool to pass up. I am very proud of the little birch. Training it has been a bit of an experiment. I wish I had pictures of the little cutting that it was when I bought it. I have painstakingly pulled and moved every single branch on this tree to the position I wanted.
Here’s a picture of my primary method. It’s much to small to actually wire the branches so I pull them into position using thin string tied to wire anchors. This is a picture of the third or fourth set of strings employed over almost two years.
I now have about 10 shohin or mame style bonsai. They are becoming my specialty. This one is barely over 3 inches not including the pot. just wait til I grow it for a few more seasons.
Don’t try this at home.
I wanted to make some custom cement blocks for a yard project that I’m working on. (I’ll post pictures of the completed project later; until then it’s a suprise)
I thought It would be as simple as making a mold and pouring in cement. So I made a mold, which was itself a pain in the neck.
I wanted blocks with a hole in the middle, (which will make more sense when you see my final project later) so I cut 16 pieces of 4×4 8 inches each.
Then I spread vegetable oil all over everything to act as a releasing agent.
Then I mixed, dyed, and carefully poured the cement. I favored one side of each block with the 4×4s, but even the smaller wall of the blocks were close to 2 inches; everything was carefully measured. I had Kylie hold each block in place and help me trow the cement.
then I waited a couple of days for it all to set. for some reason I assumed I’d be able to simply take apart the mold and, with a mallet, hammer out the 4×4 centers and I’d have these custom blocks with holes in the middle. Unfortunately, my assumptions were incorrect.
I tried to extract the 4×4 on just three blocks. They all broke. The others are ALL cracked, even though I didn’t even try to take out the 4×4s.
What an enormous waste of time and money. Some quick research on the internet or just a call to my father would have saved me a lot of time and trouble. I called my dad after the fact and he explained the problems. First and most importantly, I used the wrong cement and aggregate. I needed to use Portland cement and probably smaller aggregate. I also should have used some type of synthetic fiber to make it even stronger. I shouldn’t have used wood 4×4s to mold the center hole, since the wood expanded and they were impossible to extract. And finally I should have kept it all wet while it cured.
I spent around 60 bucks on the whole thing, maybe a little more. And that was just for one batch of blocks; I was planning on doing another batch. mason blocks are about $2.00 apiece at Home Depot. I think I’ll just buy those to complete my project.
And an update on the cottoneaster 