Japh, I have a couple of Bonsai pots from stone. The first is a rock from the Central Highlands found at the foot of Mt Franklin (an extinct volcano) and is a dream to carve with and angle grinder and a masonry disc. It is a wonderful medium as it retains moisture. The Mugo loves it in there. Hmm, looking at the photo it is time to do a little remodelling and tidy up on this guy. The second one (will get piccy later) is carved from granite and is ludicrously heavy and totally impractical but looks cool
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"Advice is rarely welcome, and the one's who need it the most welcome it the least"
That looks fantastic, Bodhi! I guess one of the brilliant things about using stone pots would be the added potential for moss accenting too.
Looking forward to the pics of your granite monster pot
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Watching and guiding
The bonsaist plans a path
His tree disregards ~ Haiku by Japh ~
Hi Japh
Carving rocks for bonsai pots has a bit of a history in Oz. There was a man in Melbourne in the 1960x-70s(?) who carved a few largish pots out of blue stone. Heavy, interesting in a rugged kind of way. I saw one at Ted Poynton's nursery a few years ago. I think his name was Jack Tripovitch (might have miss-spelled his name). Lindsay Farr will have details I'm sure.
It is hard work, to be sure, and choosing your material is important (your stamina, your tools, the lasting qualitites of the stone).
Sandstone is attractive, but remember all sandstones ain't sandstones (of the same qualities). I've planted bonsai ontop of beautiful Sydney sandstone (colour/texture). After 5-10 years, the stone, staying damp most of the time, slowly disintegrated. The stronger the standstone, the longer it will last, but the harder it will be to 'carve'. Same goes for limestone. Some is soft and easily carved, while other kinds are very hard and difficult.
Good luck, and looking forward to seeing how you go.
Thanks, Roger! I believe it's Jack Tripovich, and I have seen some of his stuff... amazing!
I think choosing my particular stone will be the toughest part really, because you really need a tree in mind, I think. So finding a good stone for carving that also suits the tree will be a challenge. But one I'm excited about
Posting on my journey into bonsai - http://www.potensai.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; *New*: Software for managing your Bonsai collection - http://bonsaidb.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (Currently in development, sign-up for updates)
Watching and guiding
The bonsaist plans a path
His tree disregards ~ Haiku by Japh ~
Japh, I have a couple of Bonsai pots from stone. The first is a rock from the Central Highlands found at the foot of Mt Franklin (an extinct volcano) and is a dream to carve with and angle grinder and a masonry disc. It is a wonderful medium as it retains moisture. The Mugo loves it in there. Hmm, looking at the photo it is time to do a little remodelling and tidy up on this guy. The second one (will get piccy later) is carved from granite and is ludicrously heavy and totally impractical 
but looks cool 
