One of the highlights of attending regional bonsai events is the opportunity to meet and get to know artists from around the world. Back in September, I was looking forward to meeting Roy Minarai of Kawauso Pottery at the US National Bonsai Exhibition. I’d seen photos of his work online and was curious to see his […]
Pots
Identifying slipcast bonsai pots
Whether you’ve realized it or not, you’ve likely seen slipcast bonsai pots. Slipcasting is a technique for creating ceramics that involves pouring liquid clay into plaster molds. Once the clay body has been formed, it can be glazed or left unglazed. Here’s a glazed example. Blue glazed pot What’s the giveaway? Although it is sometimes hard to […]
Pot selection for a dwarf wisteria
What’s all the fuss about selecting the right pot for bonsai? A pot that’s too big can make a powerful tree look small. A pot that’s too bright can be distracting. Pots can accentuate foliage or flowers, and they can clash with or complement other pots with which they are displayed. Maybe we’ve searched for […]
An old pot
The pots holding the bonsai at Shinji Suzuki’s garden were often as interesting as the trees. We learned the story of a few of these containers – others we appreciated on our own. One glazed pot looked like it had been around awhile. There were chips, cracks, mineral deposits and other signs of wear. There […]
Pot selection follow-up
Thanks to all who attended this past weekend’s Bay Island Bonsai exhibit. It was a fun event and I’ll have plenty to share about starting this Friday. Today I wanted to revisit last week’s pot selection exercise. I really appreciate all of the suggestions and wanted to respond before getting to the rest of the […]