After a report on the 2017 Convention and discussion on the upcoming Hamilton Club show Peter S gave a brief talk on potting mixes before the Formal Upright trees we started earlier in the year were repotted.
Once again we got down and dirty with clay. This year Sandra brought in a white clay for us to try out different techniques from previous years. Although some members made freeform pots as we had done before, the object this time was to create a pot using the inside or outside of a [...]
Peter was in charge of the August club meeting, and topic was Bonsai design basics. There was a brief talk about the different Bonsai styles, and what influences your choice of design. i.e. the species of tree and how certain techniques effects them, which in turn determines how the style. A practical session then [...]
The July meeting started with the club AGM. Many topics were discussed, and the major club positions were voted on with Les remaining as club president. The meeting then moved onto a discussion about Shohin from Lindsay. Lindsay explained the 'guidelines' around the Shohin category: Bonsai that are less than 25cm in height, and [...]
The Hamilton Bonsai Club Vice President Pete S kindly invited all HBC members to his house for a demonstration of how to use worm farms, and how they can be used with Bonsai. Pete explained that worm farms produced a powerful 'tea' that can used to fertilise your Bonsai at half strength. A number of [...]
Melody lead a discussion on Rock and how they're used with Bonsai. After discussing the finer points of rocks and why we use them, Melody then arranged a rock display and explained what the fundamentals were, so we could all try when we got home.Everyone was also asked to bring their own rocks and give [...]
The May club meeting was all about the beginning of the Formal Upright Project. The purpose of this project was for everyone to start with the same species of tree and work towards a formal upright style bonsai to be shown at the 2018 Hamilton Annual Bonsai Show. The selected material are Golden Totara, nursery [...]
This years club road trip was to Rotorua visiting some of the Rotorua Bonsai Club members' gardens. Thanks to Jocelyn, the Rotorua Club President, provided a clear itinerary of locations to visit throughout the day. A handful of Rotorua members also joined us, and give us directions! Starting with Ivan, we were greeted with a [...]
The club had a fabulous afternoon with Kathy Steyn from South Africa. She gave a Powerpoint presentation on her trees, then did some carving on a couple of trees belonging to club members. Kathy explained how to use the power tools to achieve the different carving techniques, and then how to finish using a [...]
Tony finished a three year stint of working on the same trees - from basic design, through to styling and then refinement as the trees developed. It was very clear that of the trees that returned each year significant progress had been made from start to finish. This proved that working on the same tree [...]
