AusBonsai

I have not been on here much for a long time. I find after reading much that is said in here I take a long break from discussions .
you call us hobbiests !!!! Strange, I thought what you do in bonsai is a hobby. I doubt that many of you have been trained as experts in the field of bonsai.
But yet, because we don't mass produce what you assume we should be making , we are only doing a hobby. Sheeeesh, you have no idea what we have to learn to become potters.
The costs we have , kilns, clay,tools, mold making, and the knowledge along with our artistic ability.We are not beginners we have studied to do what we do.
Unlike the Japanese , we are not paid by our government to keep the art alive.
Some of you seem to think that we don't use the right clays, well, we don't have acres of rice fields that have created high levels of iron into the clay giving it that rich red clay.
Oh, by the way a lot of clay in Tokoname and the rest of Japan is imported from other areas .
Some of the old great masters only used imported clay from China.
It doesn't take 5 minutes to make a bonsai pot. All of my pots are hand painted . To get the effects I want I need to repaint the same areas 3 or even up to 6 times, some I have done are 9 layers of glaze.

I have been doing bonsai for more than 20 years. As well as doing potter for much much longer.
I get people sending me pictures of trees asking me to make a pot to suit it . perhaps I should be as rude as some on here and tell them " your tree is more worthy of a $10 pot from bunnings.

Show me your qualifications that say you are right and you know everything..............

Okay I think I have said my piece . Lets just get on with enjoying our bonsai and "PLAY NICE CHILDREN"



' bonsai pots by joann'

Hi Joan...

Good to see you on here again

As usual, I just love looking at what our Australian contingent come up with. The 1st and 3rd picture are my favourites. Lovely.

Did I miss something?
PM me with details please if we need to know if something is going on! .

From Dictionary online...
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hobby?s=t

hobby
[hob-ee]
noun, plural hobbies.
1. an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation:

Ken

I recently bought one of your pots and I absolutely love it!

The glaze colour, the clay colour, are simply amazing.

I am looking forward to my next purchase from you so please keep at it, you are certainly up there with the best

kcpoole wrote:Did I miss something?
PM me with details please if we need to know if something is going on! .

From Dictionary online...
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hobby?s=t

hobby
[hob-ee]
noun, plural hobbies.
1. an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation:

Ken

+1.

Nothing to do with mass production? Just that it's not a main occupation.

In any case, I've been called a rodent before but I ain't got no whiskers.

Hey Joann....I like your pots....and, I particularly like your glazes....

Cheers,
Pat ......a happy, hobby potter.

Pat K wrote:Hey Joann....I like your pots....and, I particularly like your glazes....

Cheers,
Pat ......a happy, hobby potter.

And a very good one.

Regards Ray

I had a horse that didn't like the term hobby either. What's up with that?

Hey Joan, if people don't like ya stuff getting all in their face ain't gonna change that. Just keep making them for people who do like like em, and appreciate good pots. As for the others, well . . . . . may their ens be infested with cheap Chinese pots.

Over the years, I have bought many a pot from Joan. She has a flare for making 'against the norm' (in a beautiful way) pots, and also very petite, formal and amazingly colourful pots.

I look forward to the day when I pot them up and post pics.

Rory wrote:Over the years, I have bought many a pot from Joan. She has a flare for making 'against the norm' (in a beautiful way) pots, and also very petite, formal and amazingly colourful pots.

I look forward to the day when I pot them up and post pics.

Just post the pics of the pots Please

My wife told me the other day to Just collect pots and do not worry about the trees

Ken

I think somebody needs a hug

I wish I knew how to do quotes as I'd love to know what an 'ens' is?

Is it, perhaps, a South African term for under-daks? I hope so!!

Pat

I like the hobby horse, but also not sure what en's is
It's not about my pots . It's ,about the fact that some people just don't stop going on about what we Ozzie potters don't make and should make according to them.
I personally find it sad that so many talented artists want make bonsai pots, some have said they were told they needed to make them more Classic Japanese. This is not who we are, so they give in.
As for myself, I don't care if someone doesn't like my type of work .I don't like all my work either.
That' why we are all different.
I just hope that the few who constantly bitch about things will find something else to do.

TKU for the comments Joann

Ps, all those pots are sold.

Well said and I have enough 'pop corn' to sit back and see where this goes.
Indeed it's very hard to 'break into the stream' of just what some members ideas of 'what is what' regarding the so called Bonsai.
Hard to get a comment or view regarding what you have in regards to our trees.
Non the less I read as much as I can here. I try to at least 'try and make my trees appealing' to me in the short and possibly some one else in the long term.
Pots are pots and if I had the $$$$ to spend I certainly would buy pots which I have done on occasions from so called 'Hobbyists'.
Actually I looked into this 'Hobbyists Potters gig'
Tools..Basic $300 to $600.
Used Kiln 240 VAC $1500
Replacement Heating coils/elements $100 as a regular consumable.
Gas fired $1200 with 9kg bottles at $25 change over..Min (2) per firing.
Timber/fiberglass molds...Priceless in terms of time/design/fabrication.

Clays....Kaolin type....$30 a 5ltr bag if you can source it.
Brick Clay's virtually name the price.
Metal/mineral laden clay's expensive..Some might say a little heavy for 'pots' but indeed more robust.
Glaze's well if you know a Chemist in the Toilet bowl or pipe industry then you have a shot at reasonable pricing.

I do think and my opinion is my own that Joannm is correct in assuming the 'snobbery' (My actual words) in the Bonsai world is rife with more so called experts that have cashed in or are so cashed up to start with that have taken all us 'little piggies' for a ride.

Be honest... thousands upon thousands of acres of Black Pines cultivated year in year out don't make it special....'UN affordable weeds on mass'.

So called 'Hobbyist Potters'.. now they are a special breed.

My rant.

Regards Steve.

Number 7 is my fav glad their all sold. Dont know that I will ever good at matching pots with trees. I struggle making a "Bonsai" but I enjoy what I am doing and have bought a few local artist pots been given used Chinese pots. My trees by most standards wouldn't be worth the plastic pot let alone a hand made one. I have no trees in pots that are permanent yet but when I think a tree of mine is ready to be shown it will be in an Aussie Pot. Though they probably wont suit each other they will both be things I love ❤.