VII. International bonsai exhibition, Medvode, Slovenia

This past weekend our bonsai club organised our VII. International bonsai exhibition, which was this time held in Medvode, Slovenia. As the new president of our club, I was in charge of organising this event - or any other for that matter - for the first time.

Since the club had some difficulties in 2014 and 2015 after being without a president, we were unsure if we could even make this event happen till end of spring this year. Nevertheless everything worked out well for us, for which I am very pleased.

Pretekli konec tedna je Slovenski bonsaj klub organiziral že svojo VII. Mednarodno razstavo bonsajev, tokrat v športni dvorani v Medvodah. Kot novi predsednik kluba sem bil prvič zadolžen za organizacijo tega - oz. katerega koli - dogodka.

Zaradi težav v klubu pretekli dve leti - klub je bil brez vodstva - vse do konca pomladi nismo bili prepričani, ali nam bo sploh uspelo izpeljati razstavo. Kljub vsemu se je vse lepo izšlo in razstava je uspela.

Aikido demonstration.
Prikaz aikida.

Our demonstrators at the event were Milan Karpišek, Rene Sukaro, Roland Petek and myself. 

Naši demonstratorji na razstavi smo bili Milan Karpišek, Rene Sukaro, Roland Petek in jaz.

The award-giving ceremony.
Podelitev nagrad.

Spruce by Roland Petek - nomination, EBA award
Smreka Rolanda Petka - nominacija in EBA nagrada.

Spruce by Miha Medvešek - nomination
Smreka Mihe Medveška - nominacija

Prunus mahaleb by Janez Oblak - nomination
Rešeljika Janeza Oblaka - nominacija

Shohin composition by Nik Rozman - nomination
Shohin kompizicija Nika Rozmana - nominacija

Juniperus by Tomaž Kovšca - nomination. We also decided to give Tomaž a special award for his past good work as the president of our club. It looks like he was pretty happy :)

Kitajski brin Tomaža Kovšce - nominacija. Za Tomaža pa smo pripravili še eno prav posebno nagrado za dosedanje delo predsednika kluba. Mislim, da je je bil precej vesel :)

Parthenocissus quinquefolia by Silvio Pianigiani - best decidious at the exhibition
Parthenocissus quinquefolia Silvia Pianigiania - najboljši listavec na razstavi

Pinus nigra by Nik Rozman - best conifer at the exhibition
Črni bor Nika Rozmana - najboljši iglavec na razstavi

Our two judges mafia - Sandor Papp and Milan Karpišek
Naša sodniška mafija - Sandor Papp in Milan Karpišek

My other bonsai exhibited at the event.
Slike ostalih mojh bonsajev na razstavi.

And some of the other many great bonsai from the exhibition.
In še nekaj ostalih čudovitih bonsajev z razstave.

Chamaecyparis by Rajko Podgornik Reš - best tree by visitors vote
Chamaecyparis Rajka Podgornika Reša - najboljše drevo po mnenju obiskovalcev

At the end the event was a big success and again at a higher level as our previous exhibition. And one more time I would like to thank everyone who took part in it and thank you for all your help.

Na koncu je bila razstava velik uspeh in ponovno na višjem nivoju kot prejšna. Še enkrat pa bi se rad zahvalil vsem sodelujočim in hvala za pomoč.

Root stand

For a long time I wished for a nice root stand in my collection. But since these things go for a lot of money it was a long shot. So, I decided to try and make one myself.

At home I found a nice piece of wood (a carpenter said it was walnut wood). The first step was to give it the basic outline for which I used a chainsaw and a chisel.

Že dolgo sem si v svoji zbirki razstavnih mizic želel imeti eno lepo izrezljano. Ker pa so te ponavadi precej drage, je bila moja želja dokaj neuresničljiva. Zato sem se odločil, da jo poizkusim narediti sam.

Doma sem našel lep kos debla (mizar mi je rekel, da je iz orehovega lesa). Prvi korak pa je bil, nakazati glavno linijo, po kateri bom delal naprej.

After it was all carving work. Dremel in one hand and makita in the other - quite a few hours of work.

Naslednji koraki so bili pretežno rezkanje z dremljem in makito - kar nekaj ur dela .

Some more detail work.
Še nekaj detajlov.

Sandblasting to smoothen the surface and to remove carving marks.

Peskanje za odpravljanje vseh sledi rezkanja.

And to finish it some nice paint. 

Since this was my first try I didn't want to overdoo it with the carving. I was afraid peaces of wood would start to fall off. Therefor this root stand looks a bit more massive. I'm sure I will get it better next time. But I finally own a root stand!

In za konec še barvanje. 

Ker je bil to moj prvi poizkus izdelave takšne mizice, nisem želel pretiravati z rezkanjem. Bal sem se, da bi deli lesa začeli odpadati. To je tudi razlog, da mizica izgleda bolj masivno. Moj naslednji poizkus bo zagotovo boljši. Imam pa končno eno takšno izrezljano mizico!