lol, That's just water Desert Roses look like. Mine looks like a fat sweet potato too, but I keep it for the flowers.
A bunch of questions from a beginner
- Thread starter Katie0317
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AcerAddict
Shohin
I love Heron's Bonsai. I can watch Peter Chan's videos for HOURS at a time. His big thing is maples, so that's most likely why I've latched onto his channel more than any of the other popular people. I'd love to visit the London area in the next few years and see his maples in person, as well as hopefully get to talk to a true master before he's gone. One of the biggest things I've learned from him is that you can be much rougher with a lot of trees than you think you can. He regularly uses power tools and pick axes in his videos and I love it.
_space_bard_
Mame
"Bonsai for free" I want a shirt that says that lol.
ShadyStump
Imperial Masterpiece
I'd buy one!
Cajunrider
Imperial Masterpiece
My friends from Thailand create these monster desert roses that are really cool. Some of them have bases that are 3 ft in diameter.
leatherback
The Treedeemer
Yes. I use a regular tool roll, which has little eyes in the 2 top corner. In my workshop I have 2 nails in the wall, so I hang my tool roll against the wall at home. And when I go somewhere I just grab it, fold the top and roll her up. Ready to go.
I use cutpaste on non-coniferous trees, for all cuts larger than say 1/8th of an inch in size
Pay 20 for a roll of wire and grab a bunch of branches from trimmings. Watch videos, practice wiring. Then next year, do a full workshop on your own trees and ask the person doing the workshop to correct your wiring, if needed. In the end the aim is to hold a branch in place without damaging the branch more than needed. If it looks pretty, that helps (Pretty often also means gently applied) but that also comes over time if you keep focussed on how you apply the wire. It is not dificult. It just requires practice. Not 160 USD workshop worth of learning, imho.
Bonsai is an artform. Character and originality therefor are important components. The s-shaped trunks are a mass-produced something, replicated thousands of times over. They are to bonsai, what macdonalds is to culinairy experiences.
Wires_Guy_wires
Imperial Masterpiece
Yet, most chefs, even the ones with Michellin stars, love fast food. I've discussed this with some of the culinary geniuses in this country.. They can whip up a 500 euro meal, with Madagaskar hand-picked vanilla, flower buds from Brazil, veggies fermented by a Korean grandma from the mountains, hand-raised duck from egg to pan, and berries raised and picked by a 6 year old Turkish kid in a wheelchair. But 75% of the population wouldn't order that same plate a second time. Yet some 80% of the population will go to McD's at least four times in a lifetime, and probably enjoy it too.
Now, art is able to evoke emotions in a wide range of people, and McD's does just that. Million times a week.
While high grade chefs do this to hundreds, maybe a thousand people a year. And still leave some people unimpressed or unsatisfied.
I wonder sometimes, who's the real artist. The one that caters millions with just a hand full of dishes making most customers happy or at least satisfied, or the one that caters just hundreds with hundreds of different dishes, half of which customers will never return.
I have an aversion for the S-shape too. But I think McDonalds is a culinary pinnacle. Not because it's so unique or special, but because it's so broadly and universally well-received (even though the experience itself sucks) that it must be art. Not even movies or books have that much fans. It doesn't require refined tastes, knowledge of the subject, a good name or anything else. And god, the emotions! How many people feel guilt after eating at a high grade restaurant? How many feel guilt after eating at McDonalds?
We might think we've surpassed this greasy place because we also like other things.. But deep down, I can crave for McD's, ribs, chicken wings and cheap beers or easy-to-drink wines. I never crave for high class complex dishes or expensive wines.
leatherback
The Treedeemer
Guess we are different.
Katie0317
Chumono
Wow, what an amazing analogy...Your description of the Michellin meal and peoples reaction to it is so true. It brought to mind Anthony Bourdain and his obsession with cheap food..Mac and cheese from KFC and other junk. (I'm still mad at him for leaving the world the way he did.) Anyway, what you wrote is so true.
About a year after Covid started I'd been sequestered in a big way and my husband and I took a road trip. We went through a Micky D's drive through and got fries and a coke. I ate a few fries and said, "Omg, these are the best fries I've ever had" It felt true. A few weeks ago we were on another road trip and pulled in to get the same thing. This time I went inside and the whole scene...I couldn't eat a single fry after the indoor visuals. It was like watching the sausage being made.
But you're right. I've never thought about it. I hang with foodies. My husband is a genuine foody. I love to cook but I'm a fake foody. I don't live to eat like most of our friends. I don't like fast food either but your analogy is spot on. The dish you described would delight me but more for the experience than the food. Honestly, I prefer my own cooking. That may be terrible to admit also because I'm obviously not a chef but I like simple foods. Fresh and simple. A piece of fish right off the boat etc...
But you're so right about American tastes and even the tastes of the finest chefs. I once asked my husband why that is. The junk food thing and chefs. He loved Bourdain. "Because they all smoke" was his thought but I wonder. And is there something to that? Chefs smoking more than the average profession? It would have to dull the taste buds.
But your point about emotions is very interesting. I think there's an aspect that McD is feeding masses of people cheaply. Anyone, (Including Trump, their biggest fan) can afford to eat there. There's no judgement from others if you have a McD straw or napkins in your car...Everybody goes there at some point so we don't think more or less of someone for having gone there.
Is it art? I don't think so but they definitely tapped into something that works all over the world. There are few countries they're not in. They're all over China now and we're starting to see fat Chinese people. They love fast food as much as Americans.
I don't get it but you made a brilliant point. I'd like to know the answer to it. Thanks for that, Katie
Kadebe
Chumono
As @leatherback mentioned, the recurring shape in different trees is boring... and doesn't seem natural.
Like you, I am also a beginner, started last year during the summer. I watched a lot of videos, bought books, managed to attend one workshop this year already.
But I learn the most by practicing. In the videos it all seems so easy... indeed, wiring is not that difficult... but doing it the right way, and repeating it, is not obvious.
The best way is to practice on cheap nursery trees, or, as I did, on some branches I trimmed from my thuya hedge. And yes... practice the "S" shape until you can do it well. See below my first wiring of this simple "S" shape. Do this, and you'll notice the mistakes... foliage suddenly hanging upside down, branches tearing, crossed wiring, wire too thick or too thin, wire loosing when bending the "S"-shape....
Watch the videos again... practice again.
Do this on different types of branches...conifers, deciduous trees....
This is my first wiring on a thuya branch
Trying the "S"-shape and wiring the primary branches
Afterwards, spin the wire off and rub it along a round bar or brush handle. Then you can reuse the aluminum wire..
Do a few branches every week.... and after e few weeks, try other shapes
...Not to mention the hardest part... the shaping. But just practice learning to wire first. the more you do it, the less mistakes you will make.
While you practice, you can already buy cheap nursery trees to practice, and keep them alive after your manipulation.
You can even plant one in a grow bed for later. It's not a sprint... but a never-ending marathon.
Good starting videos:
BSOP Bonsai beginner series:
Structurel Wiring: => part of the BSOP series
Detail wiring:
Katie0317
Chumono
Thank you for posting those videos. I've found them to be helpful. Each person has a different way of teaching and it's natural to gravitate to some more than others. I found him helpful. It looks like you did a good job with the wiring. Thanks again, Katie
Kadebe
Chumono
Katie?
Paradox
Marine Bonsologist
I have a tool roll very much like the one Enfield Snapper posted. Very happy with it
Katie0317
Chumono
I wanted to thank everyone who responded to my questions. Most have been answered and I've received some amazing information and videos! My favorite item was the video added by @RoadManDenDron...The one about wiring was outstanding and a huge help. I appreciated the people who pointed out the tool roll they bought and I liked them both a lot. I happened to see one (also on Amazon) that had a zipper running along one edge and I have a feeling they'll come a time when I'll want that so got that one.
Now I don't like the S curve either! I get it. The Chinese think it's what we want and they're wiring them like that to sell to us. I'm now stuck with a S curve Chinese elm I bought that's plenty big. I wonder if I can chop the top off and root it?...Wait a while and cut it again and root that? Seriously. I noticed a long 'stick' in our succulent garden and I pulled it out and said to my husband, 'What's this?' 'It's bougainvillea. You put it there.' I don't recall doing it but it had buds on it and had started to root. The humidity and heat is so high things grow like crazy here. We have massive bougainvillea trees now, but never planted them. One is higher than the house. We never planted any of it. There were two large pots of it by the pool and now decades later the there are two trees with trunks bigger than my upper arm. They're beautiful and they tend to just grow!
I did cut several long branches off the water elm I bought and put those in to root but I added root hormone to those. I put them in a nursery pot in potting soil so I have hopes they'll take.
Am glad I asked the questions I did, I've watched the videos and considered every opinion and suggestion. I'm grateful to all the people who responded.
Just want to say thank you for the tremendous amount of help! I hope I can repay the favor one day.
I welcome any other videos, websites, books or information you feel have helped you but please know the information I received has been an education in itself.
Stay well,
Katie
Now I don't like the S curve either! I get it. The Chinese think it's what we want and they're wiring them like that to sell to us. I'm now stuck with a S curve Chinese elm I bought that's plenty big. I wonder if I can chop the top off and root it?...Wait a while and cut it again and root that? Seriously. I noticed a long 'stick' in our succulent garden and I pulled it out and said to my husband, 'What's this?' 'It's bougainvillea. You put it there.' I don't recall doing it but it had buds on it and had started to root. The humidity and heat is so high things grow like crazy here. We have massive bougainvillea trees now, but never planted them. One is higher than the house. We never planted any of it. There were two large pots of it by the pool and now decades later the there are two trees with trunks bigger than my upper arm. They're beautiful and they tend to just grow!
I did cut several long branches off the water elm I bought and put those in to root but I added root hormone to those. I put them in a nursery pot in potting soil so I have hopes they'll take.
Am glad I asked the questions I did, I've watched the videos and considered every opinion and suggestion. I'm grateful to all the people who responded.
Just want to say thank you for the tremendous amount of help! I hope I can repay the favor one day.
I welcome any other videos, websites, books or information you feel have helped you but please know the information I received has been an education in itself.
Stay well,
Katie
RoadManDenDron
Chumono
Happy to have been able to help, next id suggest you look into air layering to bonsaify 'chopping off the top and getting roots' this is a common solution to the 's' trunk and will likely get you an extra tree to practice on as well as a new technique to put in your new tool belt! Though seasonally you may have missed the boat for this year which gives you time to learn ready for next year.
Best of luck, keep asking questions
Best of luck, keep asking questions
Katie0317
Chumono
Thank you. I hate to admit it but air layering isn't yet one of those things I've read up on yet. As far as missing a window seasonally, we're still very deep in summer here and it will continue like this for a while. I'll read up on air layering and if anyone has any tips before I chop off the top third off this Chinese Elm please share. I'd welcome it. I figured I could chop a third of it without killing it...maybe even more but I'm comfortable with a third.
I actually like the Chinese Elm tree and it's a tree that I've looked at quite a few of now and I'd be happy with it if it had a straight trunk and enjoy working with it. I'd planned to buy one for the cheap as chips contest but maybe I'll use this one now.
Thanks again all, Katie
Wires_Guy_wires
Imperial Masterpiece
I've been exposed to the high cuisine of Europe for a number of years, I have a couple friends that cook at high level and offer wines of equal grade and I've spent days in their restaurants and food-importing businesses. But at the end of the day, we're human after all.
It's about the combination and proportion of sweet, sour, umami, bitter and salty. Fast foods usually have a combination of those basic tastes that hit our most primal brain regions that correspond with 'what a human needs to survive'. Since salt and sweet have been rare throughout human evolution and highly needed to keep a body functioning, we're evolutionary primed to enjoy those tastes more than others; they release more dopamine than other tastes and our brain sends out more rewarding chemicals. And fast food usually hits exactly those spots. A burger without a pickle or ketchup just isn't a complete burger - it has the sweet bun and onion, the umami and salty meat, some bitter lettuce, but not that soury thing to finish it. Fries without salt are pretty bland too.
Almost every meal, even the high cuisine ones, lean on the principle: it only tastes good if it releases dopamine, and to do so, we need at least three of the five basic tastes in proportion to each other. In high cuisine these tend to be subtle, somewhat hard to distinguish sometimes. They require refined taste and generally flavors that aren't too strong compared to each other. Usually there's one basic taste per dish, that's mixed with two or more of the other basic tastes to make a refined plate. Fast food and street food do the exact opposite; they take the extremes, mix them together and overload your brain with happy chemicals.
People love cocaine more than caffeine, because cocaine does exactly the same thing but in a way more extreme sense. It overloads our brain way more than caffeine does, sends off way more happy chemicals and generally does a better job at keeping people awake.
A meal, any meal, can be good if it hits the right spots in the human brain. Street and fast food hit those spots perfectly and hit them hard.
If something tastes 'off' for whatever reason, it's because there's too much of one taste and/or too little of the others. If it's hard to figure out what it misses, it's usually sour.
Now you know this, now you're a chef too!
