© Bonsaï Club de la Ste-Baume, A. Angeneau, P. Fournier (http://perso.orange.fr/bonsaiclubstebaume/)

WORK of KEVIN WILLSON on a SCOTS PINE MAZAUGUES (Var, Provence, France) on April 8th, 2006.

This document is made for the « Bonsai Club de la Sainte-Baume » members, and in particular for those who cannot join the Kevin Willson’s workshop though would like to share what we learnt and enjoyed. 1 – Tree study:

This Scots pine (pinus sylvestris) was collected 3 years ago. According to Kevin, this is the minimum reasonable time between collecting and styling the tree. Working with Yamadori before its first repotting is a way of gaining time. If we repot the tree first, we will have to wait for 1 or 2 seasons before it can be styled. We remind beginners that in our climate the repotting and the styling of the tree are never done at the same time. In our case, the pine is in good heath (needles have a kind of cold touch), except the lower branch, due probably to a lack of sunlight. We could leave the pine with its current shape though there is a far more appealing style to explore. Kevin temporarily ignores the foliage to look at the bark quality. The dynamic image of the trunk and its movement could be hidden by the jin he intends to create. Then he comments on the bad taper of the trunk base (nebari)...

All of these observations determine that Kevin will create a semi-cascade, inclining the tree to bring to the front the only live branch. He selects roughly the front view of this bonsai and finds the best position for working.

© Bonsaï Club de la Ste-Baume, Angeneau, Fournier, Hacker (http://perso.orange.fr/bonsaiclubstebaume/)

2 – Tree preparation: It is not easy to wire branches with so many needles. We remove insignificant or dead branches and pinch out last year needles. Some needles had already been cut at the end of September to avoid the lower small branches becoming weak. This is to let in the sunlight to aid the back-budding of the branches. The strongest terminal bud on a branch can be pinched out to again encourage back-budding. The biggest branch was to be significantly moved and therefore wrapped with wet raffia to protect it.

For wiring, Kevin uses aluminium wires that are more malleable. The much stronger fine copper wire is used for terminal branches. 3 – First jin preparation: This consists of creating a jin with the branch that is crossing the nebari and going backwards. At the end of the work, this jin will be almost vertical and at the top of the tree. It must create the most natural image possible. Kevin carved away half the wood in the jin. He established that this branch was wet enough to work manually without power tools. He tears apart large quantities of the fibres from the jin end to its base. He paid particular attention not to damage the bark at the base of the jin.

© Bonsaï Club de la Ste-Baume, Angeneau, Fournier, Hacker (http://perso.orange.fr/bonsaiclubstebaume/)

4 –Second jin preparation: The primary branch has two sections: the green living area and the deadwood. The deadwood is too long. So it was cut back within 5cm of the fork. This leaves undisturbed the live veins that continue to feed the living part. A fuller shari can be carved later. When cutting back the deadwood it was realised that it had been dead for some time and ready to be carved. Carving of this wood is done by machine due to its hardness. Kevin used three tools, two for bulk wood removal and one smaller tool to refine the detail.

The 3 used tools.

© Bonsaï Club de la Ste-Baume, Angeneau, Fournier, Hacker (http://perso.orange.fr/bonsaiclubstebaume/)

Kevin explains to us that on a new jin he waits for around a year before applying the jin liquid. This gives time for the wood to age and gain patina before being whitened. 5 – Main branch positioning:

It is important to bend a big branch such as this using two hands. This allows a better sense of feeling the fibres tension. The branch is held and accurately placed thanks to the help of tension wires. Kevin’s wish was to lift this branch higher though it was deemed prudent to stop here and await further works in a year or two.

© Bonsaï Club de la Ste-Baume, Angeneau, Fournier, Hacker (http://perso.orange.fr/bonsaiclubstebaume/)

6 – Third jin: This jin is natural. Kevin intended to bring the jin into a line that followed the same direction as the cascade. It was heated with a burner. This wasn’t working that well and Philippe Ardany, the tree owner, proposed to wrap the branch with a wet cloth for a few hours to soften the wood in order to bend it more successfully. Finally, due to time constraints, the work only consisted of basic polishing.

7 – Choosing the final inclination of the semi-cascade:

8 – Positioning of each branch:

Lower branches must be descending whilst those of the upper part of the tree must ascend.

© Bonsaï Club de la Ste-Baume, Angeneau, Fournier, Hacker (http://perso.orange.fr/bonsaiclubstebaume/)

Each tertiary branch must end in a plateau shape like of a cupped hand. The central small branches must be almost vertical, the branches on the right are inclined to the right and the left ones are inclined to the left. Why did Kevin turn the small terminal branches into a fan shape rather that leaving them strictly vertical? Kevin answers this is more correct and his personal choice. 9 – Final tree aspect at the end of the day:

The raffia colour shows the symmetry of the movement between the first jin (at the center going up) and the third jin (at the left going down). It was noticed the two jins were still a little long. They will be reduced later. A tiny additional dead branch has been glued back onto the trunk with super glue. It had been broken on purpose to allow the main branch to pass under the trunk during shaping.

Final front view of the pine without the tiny jin

© Bonsaï Club de la Ste-Baume, Angeneau, Fournier, Hacker (http://perso.orange.fr/bonsaiclubstebaume/)

Top view tree