Dec 08
by Francesco Santini in Preparation, Uncategorized 0 comments

the Massive Cypress

I adore cypresses! Besides being the typical tree of my beloved Tuscany, I see in this essence the perfect combination of strength and grace. Its unmistakable scent, its dark green colour and its grey, wrinkled bark are the elements able to make it my favourite tree. I bought this cypress in 2007 from a very dear friend. It was definitely not the container in which it had been placed that draw my attention, but rather the large, old trunk with its beautiful dry wood. The vegetation, allowed to grow freely, testified the excellent health of the tree.     From the large, compact trunk, there were two generously sized branches which, however, created an unsightly fork. The upper right branch was particularly long and cylindrical and the vegetation was very distant. The lower left branch was a different matter, with rich vegetation even close to the trunk. I began by shortening this last branch with a hacksaw. Then I move on to the upper branch, shortening it with a splitter, to highlight the wood fibres and create a natural effect; I leave only a little Jin.   This is a fairly drastic pruning as most of the vegetation is removed. […]
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Dec 08
by Francesco Santini in Preparation 0 comments

BUXUS – SOOKAN STYLE

I get back here with an update of the boxwood project already described in a previous article, (you can find it here: https://francescosantini.it/bosso-in-stile-doppio-tronco/ )  In 2017 the work had been up to this point:   In 2019 I decide to rearrange the foliage of this bonsai.  In the last two years the vegetation has grown and thickened. The two canopies are sparsely spaced and so we decide to lower the canopy of the smaller tree in order to create a more defined spacing between the two trees. For this task we use a metal bar that acts as an anchor for a guy wire. Boxwood does not have elastic branches, so moving large branches is usually laborious and time-consuming. I always recommend working in stages, making small periodic moves, tightening the guy wire several times a year. An interestingly remarkable aspect I recently realized is the pleasure of having my students (but above all my friends) work on my trees. I have always been jealous of my bonsai, but I must say that over time I have become more and more enthusiastic in sharing my work with friends and sometimes even entrusting it to them. This is the case of […]
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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 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 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 DEMO, Preparation 0 comments

Juniperus chinensis “Sotto il cielo d’inverno” 2012

This juniper owned by “Franchi Bonsai”, was the subject of the demo held by master Minoru Akiyama in February 2012 at the exhibition “Sotto il cielo d’inverno” (“Under the Winter Sky”) in Pescia (Italy) at Franchi’s Bonsai Center. On this occasion I had the honour and the pleasure to assist the Maestro throughout the work. Let’s start with the choice of this tree: it was a quite big juniper chinensis. The vegetation was vigorous, abundant and so dense that you could not even see the trunk. It was impossible to have any idea of the styling development unless we thinned out the vegetation. Unfortunately, there was little time and a lot of work. Better to get started quickly! The master began by cutting the big redundant branches in search of movement and valuable branches. I followed the master in all phases: from pruning to cleaning the trunk, from creating the shari and jin to applying the wire. After a few hours of work here is the final result: In order to help the tree recover soon, and to leave different styling option for the future, the Master preferred to keep more branches than strictly necessary.  After the work was completed, […]
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Nov 18
by Francesco Santini in Preparation 0 comments

Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii)

Styling of a Thunbergii pine; property of my friend Alfio Andreuccetti. Here are some before/after pictures related to the styling.   FRONT     BACK     RIGHT SIDE   LEFT SIDE     CLOSE UP OF THE LEFT BRANCHES     CLOSE UP OF THE RIGHT BRANCHES     VARIOUS DETAILS             We could have obtained a more defined work cutting of needles. On this occasion we preferred to leave the needles intact in order to leave more energy on the gems.
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Nov 18
by Francesco Santini in Preparation 0 comments

Juniperus Chinensis “TWIST”

I usually create my bonsai starting from the very beginning of a tree, so that I can feel free to reed it and interpret it. I like the idea of conceiving and making a bonsai from scratch. In this case instead I thought to make an exception and make myself a gift! In 2012 the company Franchi, where I work, imported this juniper. It is not a “noble” or more famous variety like itoigawa or kishu. Unlike these, the vegetation of this juniper, of which I do not know the variety, is lighter in colour while the needle is much larger and messy. .   I can be sure of something: it will be more difficult to create a dense and fluffy foliage like that of more valuable varieties. Despite this, the movements of the trunk and the twist between dead wood and the other veins attracted my attention right away. It was for this reason I decided to buy this tree. In April 2012 the juniper had a super thick foliage. In a rectangular vase suitable for a cascading style, the juniper was positioned with the trunk horizontally and with an inclination that did not emphasize the beautiful movement. […]
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