Nov 26
by Francesco Santini in Preparation, Working 0 comments

Juniperus Chinensis var. Itoigawa

The juniper in this article is a Juniperus Chinensis var. Itoigawa which I saw for the first time in 2003 in my friend Roberto Raspanti’s garden. After a few years in the collection of another dear friend, Marcelo Michelotti (who did the first shaping), it made its way into my garden in 2007. The vegetation of Itoigawa is distinguished by its bright green colour and small, strong scales. It is a variety that can provide a definition and detail of the pads other varieties cannot.   In 2008, after a year of preparation, the first shaping took place. In particular, a large part of the vegetation on the right side was eliminated, thus obtaining two results: the freeing of some trunk movements that were hidden and the formation of a bonsai with a leftward movement. From a balanced foliage we pass to a foliage that is clearly shifted to the left side, The first branch is pushed further towards the front using a metal rod. Before working After working Back, right and left side respectively The bark of the juniper is normally cleaned with brushes in order to highlight the red/orange colour of the living parts in clear contrast to […]
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Nov 19
by Francesco Santini in Preparation 0 comments

Juniperus Chinensis ‘Muscolino’.

The ‘Muscolino’ juniper. Story of a Juniperus formosana grafted with Juniperus chinensis var.Itoigawa. The story of this formosana juniper, commonly known as “Taiwanese”, begins in 2006 when it became part of my collection.   The plant has excellent vegetation, green and vigorous. However, the feature that caught my attention right from the very beginning was the dead part and in particular the long woody appendage on the right which spirals out. Unfortunately the wood shows clear signs of decay. Many of the wood fibres are spongy and without consistency. Even with the use of resins to consolidate it, it would have remained a wood with a porous appearance that would have given the feeling of a temporary, non-durable wood. The only thing left to do is to be patient and clean it. As always, I prefer to use hand tools, avoiding cutters and power tools. Using gouges and chisels, all the weak wood is removed until the wood fibre is firm and compact. It is important to always work moving the tools in the same direction as the fibres in order to respect and highlight the natural movement of the wood. When working with dry wood we must always aim […]
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Nov 19
by Francesco Santini in Uncategorized 0 comments

CUPRESSUS SEMPERVIRENS “Cypress’s new twist”

This cypress became part of my collection in early 2014. It was the thick black bark, typical of the Tuscan cypress tree, that drew my attention. Needless to say, these elements of ageing are fundamental. If we imagined the same tree without this bark it would be immediately obvious the minor evocative power this tree could transmit. So, with the same style, when we have such obvious elements of ageing we are in front of a tree with a much more potential. Unfortunately the cypress also had two important con elements: the very distant vegetation and a Nebari consisting basically of a cylindrical and large root. A solution to these problems had to be found. All at the right time. One step at a time! Here is the plant as it was in 2014.     A few months later, I decided to immediately face the first problem: the distant vegetation. I don’t like very much trees with artificial and excessively forced bends made to place near the trunk the vegetation. The latter is definitely not my style, so in this case I opt to make a narrow bend downwards to bring the branching closer to the trunk. From here […]
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Nov 19
by Francesco Santini in YouTube 0 comments

ON THE WAY OF LIGHTNESS – PINUS SYLVESTRIS BONSAI BY FRANCESCO SANTINI

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Nov 19
by Francesco Santini in Preparation 0 comments

Cupressus Sempervirens

Salvatore Mameli, a very good friend of mine entrusted me with the styling of this cypress . The tree had already had previous shaping and the necessary branches and pads had already been selected. After an proper preparation of the vegetation, Salvatore asked me for the style giving me complete confidence…or carte blanche! The main feature of this cypress tree is undoubtedly the bark: dark, old and cracked….it looks like an oak! The vegetation is strong and vigorous and, apart from the flowering, the scale has a good colour and texture. The sore points though: the trunk is quite straight and the main branch grows horizontally within a curve. To overcome this problem I decide to change the inclination of the plant and proceed to lower the first branch. Once this is done I rearrange the vegetation trying to use as little wire as possible, using small guy wire but especially the use of pruning. In order to highlight the accuracy of the lines lines and of the black spaces, each pad is finished with a careful cleaning of the silhouette . Finally the softness of the foliage is obtained mainly with scissors, leaving the natural vertical growth of the […]
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Nov 19
by Francesco Santini in YouTube 0 comments

scots pine “EVERLONG”: the VIDEOs

     
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Nov 19
by Francesco Santini in Preparation 0 comments

SCOTS PINE – PINUS SYLVESTRIS

DECEMBER 2018.           AFTER PRUNING     FRONT     DECEMBER 2019          FRONT     RIGHT SIDE   BACK   LEFT SIDE          
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Nov 18
by Francesco Santini in Preparation 0 comments

Styling the Taxus Cuspidata

Here are the pics showing the styling of the Taxus Cuspidata. The tree joined a friend’s collection last year. After careful evaluation we decided to change the front to give more depth to the tree. The first branch was lowered and brought forward while on the left side it was necessary to remove a part of dry wood to lower the branch.  These two technical steps aside, we simply had to wire and set every single branch. I am pretty pleased with the outcome as it corresponds exactly to what was my original project.               LEFT SIDE   BACK   RIGHT SIDE   FRONT
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Nov 18
by Francesco Santini in Exhibitions, PHOTOS 0 comments

TAIKAN TEN 2019 – Kyoto

Some photos of the trees exhibited at the TAIKAN TEN BONSAI EXHIBITION 2019 in Kyoto.
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Nov 18
by Francesco Santini in PHOTOS 0 comments

A red pine bunjin

At last a BUNJIN! My last work on a red pine bonsai (Pinus Densiflora) property of  Franchi Bonsai The pine before styling       The pine after styling.    
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