Musings & Other Things
An odd duck (Japanese Black Pine) gets an elegant line at last!
Let's start off with saying thank you for understanding that the untidy photos showing the transformation of this tree are better than the mental gymnastics that would have been required had there been no photos at all.
Eric picked up this humble Japanese Black Pine at a club meeting for the equally humble price of $10. I wish I had a photo of it from back then, it was an odd duck because it was planted in a prostrate/slanting position, and there wasn't much there for any branches either. He spent the next several years moving it from one pot to another getting it upright and trying to make it interesting. By 2019 it was loaded with branches... and I asked if I could take over it's care. So I started building it's structure in 2019, and put it into a small pot in 2022. I swapped out the pot it was in, and did some wiring and needle thinning today. It's beautiful seeing it come into an elegant and pleasing form.
I'm always grateful for how Eric takes inconsequential material, and he makes them the amazing basis for me to have fun! I'm looking forward to continuing this tree's path and getting it's pad structure developed more.
About the Pot -
I'm in love with the pot... it is also VERY special... made by the late Ms. Fusako Watanabe, she was the mother of Ikkou, and wife of Shouzan. The pot is not wheel thrown, it's entirely hand made. Truly beautiful to hold and touch. A worthy pot for certain, I had no doubt that the pine would be perfect in it, as it would give a little more depth and stability to the pine, because it blew over more than once in the Sara Rayner pot it was in before.
