ACBS's Own Ken Huth Leads Pine Project

By Michael Rusnak

Ken does it again!

Like so many other times in the past, ACBS's own Ken Huth put on a fun and

Ken shows one s

successful workshop at the February club meeting. This time it was with small scots pines. Ken demonstrated how he starts these small projects by wiring triple strands around the trunks of some potted seedlings and around some of the smaller side branches, he then giving them some movement.

He included such wiring tips as positioning branch bends within an “elbow” of the wire. That elbow helps to support the branch at stress points and lessens the chance of it breaking or snapping off as you apply pressure.

 

He turned the group loose and it was on. Many did three or four starter trees, and it will be fun to see how they progress this coming season. Ken also gave several of our newer members a neat hands-on lesson in wiring. 

 Ken also talked about some of his experiments with steel wire –only 5 bucks a role a the hardware stores. Plus it's quite strong.

Creating a Bonsai from a Trunk with One Branch

Juniper at 2007 ACBS show

At 2014 ACBS show

 Michael Rusnak

 If you didn't quite understand the idea of creating a tree skeleton and tilting the trunk, here is another example by one of our own.  Bonsai Ace Dan Tullius shows how it is done on this big discarded, and collected juniper.

 Dan shows us the way: Check out what you can do when you only have one branch—Dan has angled the dead trunk and let the single branch become the new trunk. A simple but beautiful design, he has then worked with the branch's shoots to grow the foliage, done some carving on the dead wood, and made a first rate tree.

Dan shows us the way

Another one branch example from Graham Potter's Blog