Again, it's been a long time since my last update but I have a good excuse. I've been busy in the shop building stands for my bonsai teacher to display his trees on at the Midwest Bonsai Show this weekend. Last year he showed 5 trees, this year he narrowed it down to 3. All 3 trees are Kaedes or Trident Maples however only one has been shown before. The full display is below.

Last year the tree below (far right in the picture above) won 1st place in the professional division which was a huge honor for him. This year it is displayed on a different stand from last year. This is a stand I designed for a different tree of his but knowing how things can change I brought up 5 stands and a slab just in case he decided to change things out. The stand below is just a little too big for this tree but a much better fit than the stand he had in mind. It is made entirely of walnut.

This next tree is a very large Trident Maple. The stand measures 24 inches wide by 18 inches deep and 9 inches tall and made of cherry.

This is just a beautiful tree with one of the best bases I have ever seen. To me the surface roots look just like fingers grabbing on to the soil.

The last tree is one of my favorite trees in his collection. He had never shown it before even though I kept telling him it needed to be shown. It is a root over rock Trident. The tree is potted up in a very old antique Chinese pot that is very heavy and very well suited for the tree. One of the major reasons he has never shown this tree before is because he never had a suitable stand to display it on. Well, I'm a little bias but I think we nailed it with this stand. This stand is a very delicate shohin sized stand that is made entirely of walnut. I haven't been able to find a company that makes walnut dowels this small so I have been turning them myself and they come in at 9/64 of an inch thick. These dowels support a raised top (as on the first stand) and really add to the delicate feel.

Below is the companion or accent plant to the root over rock Kaede. The accent is sitting on a slab of mine that is made from a Manzanita burl cap. It was re-sawn to just under a 1/4 inch thick, sanded smooth and finished in a satin polyurethane.

I am still waiting to hear if he defended his title from last year as the judging is still going on but I think we've got a few contenders out there.

Cheers,

~ Jay

Well I'm a few days late getting the update in but last years winner ended up with 2nd place in the Professional Division.

Not a bad showing considering the competition. The winning tree was a Yamadori (collected) Eastern White Pine belonging to Jim Doyle. I know Matt was really hoping to repeat his 1st place finish but there were really some stunning trees in the show so a 2nd place finish wasn't too bad. Watch out next year though, we are already planning on a few new trees to show and of course they will all need new stands. I'll make sure to keep this page updated as the work begins.

Cheers,

~Jay