You certainly work outside of the conventional box Tony. Many would say that deciduous trees don't make good literati subjects and only pines and junipers are suitable. It's great to see that you don't subscribe to convention and do your own thing. It will be interesting to see the future outcome. I have just watched this morning, Peter Chan making a literati Scots Pine. It's worth a look. Take care mate.
I just rewatched that also. I do have a couple of larch and hawthorns that lend themselves towards literati style, though I might be inclined to agree that on the whole the style is more suited to pine and juniper rather than most deciduous species.
I suppose pines are a lot more flexible so it makes sense to use them, but I always used to set my computer games onto the hardest setting! I must be a masochist!
Fantastic news Nigel. I was hoping that you'd be up for it. I'm really looking forward to seeing you approach this kind of challenge in your own unique way!
Awesome video Tony,i love the field maple out of the three of them,I'm watching it while seeing what material I have to take up your challenge....... Watch this space!!
Great idea John. Let your artistic side come to the fore, and do some research online. Google literati bonsai and there is tons of inspiring photos that we can use as guidance.
Very nice work Tony, literati is one of my favorite to achieve. Recently I dug up my mothers 40 year old English lilac. It gave me 13 great potential literati trees.
I saw one Japanese bonsai pro using the Omega sign at 90 degrees to each other. I have found this useful on small seedlings. Got a result there Tony, much improved.
Thank you, yes, it's interesting what we can pick up watching people work. I love watching the Japanese masters bending trees. they excel at this kind of work
Love the challenges and the start you’ve made Tony! I have plenty of literati material at various stages of development… mostly garden centre bargain bin sticks in pots… this is right up my alley!
You would think that literati style is the easiest style to make cause you get a lot more' freedom' with what to do, but it's - in my opinion - the hardest to get right, there must be a certain balance and elegance to a literati bonsai or it doesn't look really like a literati. By the way, when garden designers use organic shapes, it means round(er) shapes, that's why organic shapes are seen more as feminine shapes while straight lines are seen as masculine.
@TonysBonsai what do you reckon about creating a play list that we can all throw our videos in and then maybe we can add an update video down the track to show how our trees ended up?
You've got some nice curves into those trees. Literati has something about it that I can't quite understand, but it looks good! Good on you for not following the rules - the trees have to give YOU enjoyment, not everyone else! Take care, thanks for the video.
Cheers mate. I don't think there's any point limiting ourselves to a certain type of bonsai, especially someone like me who is still learning. I love at the different aspects and the artistic side of literati looks wonderful when it's done well.
Hi Tony, right now im growing a sweet chestnut (castanea sativa) from seed in a pseudo-literati style and I made it really contorted at the base and it,s basically growing horizontal and circles it's self, and I noticed that it's leaves are very tiny but the growth itself is quite vigurous, I was wondering if massively bending seedling while they grow affects leaf size of if I just have a small leafed chestnut.
That sounds really interesting. I suspect that it is just dealing with the challenges of its life so far, and in time the leaves with get bigger. It is also possible that you happen to have a tree with a genetically small leaf size. I have an oak with really small leaves. It looks great, but it grows very slowly.
I get why some people,like to wire and twist branches and trunks, but trees don’t grow naturally like this. I think they look so much better with the clip and grow method of shaping.
Nice trees. ! Heres a suggestion for the next challenge i wanna see how far everyone can push a juniper . I mean the hardest bends u have ever done. I wanna see trunks bent to the max! Prob go for shohin size or one bigger. Ive seen bonsai q do some really extreme bends where trunk comes back to touch the trunk again😂. Would love to see this as the next challenge
Hi Chris. Junipers are certainly very flexible, and I do love twisting and contorting them. I think they look amazing when done well. With a bit of luck some of the other channels will use junipers for this challenge.
Hi Tony are you ok you have been missing for a couple of days ? I think the vet tape manufactures should give you a kick back as you are keeping them in business HaHa, Interesting literati concept.
Hi Joe. I've been busy this past few days sorting out my back garden. It was completely crammed, so I've been laying some flags and sorting it out. I've also repotted at least 30 - 40 trees which was quite a grind. To be honest though this time of year is quiet in terms of video. Nothing is ready to prune and all the creative stuff is kind of done.
Hi Marc. It is called vet tape. They sell it for use as a kindof bandage for horses and dogs. It's pretty cheap on Amazon. I like to buy the wider stuff and double it over for extra strength.
You certainly work outside of the conventional box Tony. Many would say that deciduous trees don't make good literati subjects and only pines and junipers are suitable. It's great to see that you don't subscribe to convention and do your own thing. It will be interesting to see the future outcome. I have just watched this morning, Peter Chan making a literati Scots Pine. It's worth a look. Take care mate.
I just rewatched that also. I do have a couple of larch and hawthorns that lend themselves towards literati style, though I might be inclined to agree that on the whole the style is more suited to pine and juniper rather than most deciduous species.
I suppose pines are a lot more flexible so it makes sense to use them, but I always used to set my computer games onto the hardest setting! I must be a masochist!
@@TheBonsaiGarden I think of all the deciduous, hawthorn and blackthorn are probably about the best
A great idea and I think anybody can do this challenge nursery material. I wonder what i can do with an oak...
I knew this would a good one for you mate. You've got loads of material to choose from, and an oak would certainly be quite a way outside the box!
@@TonysBonsai I looked at it today...maybe a bridge to far on that species :)
Great to see a new challenge Tony, I'm in!!!
Fantastic news Nigel. I was hoping that you'd be up for it. I'm really looking forward to seeing you approach this kind of challenge in your own unique way!
Awesome video Tony,i love the field maple out of the three of them,I'm watching it while seeing what material I have to take up your challenge.......
Watch this space!!
Fantastic! I'll look forward to seeing what you come up with. It will be really interesting seeing how people use different species of tree.
@@TonysBonsai I've already got a couple that might be considered literati,I'll put them in the video and see what everyone thinks
Good idea. the more literati the better!
Contortion bonsai compliments of Tony’s Bonsai. Nice work as usual Tony. Thanks, keep growing
Cheers buddy. If only I was as flexible as my trees. I should really start yoga.
@@TonysBonsai ..I’d have to a vet Tape my entire body just to touch my toes 😂
@@mattbrennan647 🤣🤣
Great idea for a challenge Tony! I love literati style bonsai
Me too mate. I think they are really cool.
Great work Tony. I will look for another leggy garden center material and see what I can create.🙂👍
Good man. I'm sure you'll find something that you can work with mate!
Tony! This is great! I have a yamadori juniper I diden know what to do with. So will start a literati! Thx for the inspiration. Keep up the good work!
Great idea John. Let your artistic side come to the fore, and do some research online. Google literati bonsai and there is tons of inspiring photos that we can use as guidance.
Very nice work Tony, literati is one of my favorite to achieve. Recently I dug up my mothers 40 year old English lilac. It gave me 13 great potential literati trees.
Wow, that's quite a haul mate. I am currently turning one of my mums lilacs into a bonsai (she just doesn't know it yet) 🤣
Challenge accepted, I just need to find something suitable. 👍
I do have a hawthorn stick which I got from another bonsai YooChuber 😂
🤣I'll look forward to seeing you creative on this one mate. Anything goes!
@@TonysBonsai off to dig out and consult my book by Master Quingquan
Got my tree, nicked a bit of your video intro and putting something together over the weekend…
Good stuff. I'll look forward to watching it mate.
Not usually my cup of tea Tony, but I have the perfect tree for this challenge, so I accept.
My video has just gone live.
Nice one mate. You did a super job!
Cheers Tony!
I saw one Japanese bonsai pro using the Omega sign at 90 degrees to each other. I have found this useful on small seedlings. Got a result there Tony, much improved.
Thank you, yes, it's interesting what we can pick up watching people work. I love watching the Japanese masters bending trees. they excel at this kind of work
@@TonysBonsai I think it must be all the Saki in their blood.
Love the challenges and the start you’ve made Tony! I have plenty of literati material at various stages of development… mostly garden centre bargain bin sticks in pots… this is right up my alley!
Yeah, literati is great fun, and as the years pass, your trees will just keep getting better and more interesting I'm sure
You would think that literati style is the easiest style to make cause you get a lot more' freedom' with what to do, but it's - in my opinion - the hardest to get right, there must be a certain balance and elegance to a literati bonsai or it doesn't look really like a literati.
By the way, when garden designers use organic shapes, it means round(er) shapes, that's why organic shapes are seen more as feminine shapes while straight lines are seen as masculine.
Indeed, literati is certainly not an easy thing to do well, but the potential reward of a beautiful slender artistic tree is worth the effort I think.
Nice one Tony thanks for the video trees will make good progress in time
Thanks Phil. These are long term projects, but in time I think they could be really nice
Some big words and big bends. Some future classics in the making 👍👍
Cheers Andy. Given a few years I think they will be really nice little trees.
I accept your challenge Tony, I just have to wait for Amazon to deliver my vet tape. 😂😂😂
Nice one Dave. I'll look forward to the video mate!
@TonysBonsai what do you reckon about creating a play list that we can all throw our videos in and then maybe we can add an update video down the track to show how our trees ended up?
You've got some nice curves into those trees.
Literati has something about it that I can't quite understand, but it looks good!
Good on you for not following the rules - the trees have to give YOU enjoyment, not everyone else! Take care, thanks for the video.
Cheers mate. I don't think there's any point limiting ourselves to a certain type of bonsai, especially someone like me who is still learning. I love at the different aspects and the artistic side of literati looks wonderful when it's done well.
the first one is such and amazing tree all of the sudden, nice job!
Thank you. It was a good transformation I think. A bit of planning and a bit of luck I'd say!
The first hawthorn looks amazing ! Love your videos tony :)
Thank you. It turned out really nice I think. Glad you're enjoying my videos.
I have a similar maple. I think I will try a literati on it. Thanks for the inspiration Tony!
Excellent! they are not the easiest to bend, but we could both end up with quite an unusual bonsai I think Raymond. Good luck!
I'm off out to check on some trees I may collect. One of those is destined to be an attempt at this style so "I'm in".
Nice one Roger. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with mate!
I'd have air-layered the hawthorn below the inverse. Two trees for the price of 15 minutes work.
Yeah, that was a possibility, but I have loads of hawthorn and I wanted to crack on this this new direction for this tree,
Hi Tony, right now im growing a sweet chestnut (castanea sativa) from seed in a pseudo-literati style and I made it really contorted at the base and it,s basically growing horizontal and circles it's self, and I noticed that it's leaves are very tiny but the growth itself is quite vigurous, I was wondering if massively bending seedling while they grow affects leaf size of if I just have a small leafed chestnut.
That sounds really interesting. I suspect that it is just dealing with the challenges of its life so far, and in time the leaves with get bigger. It is also possible that you happen to have a tree with a genetically small leaf size. I have an oak with really small leaves. It looks great, but it grows very slowly.
I get why some people,like to wire and twist branches and trunks, but trees don’t grow naturally like this. I think they look so much better with the clip and grow method of shaping.
Tony liked to experiment, he didn't aim for a realistic look.
Try to bend roses and bougainvillea. That’s my counter challenge to all of you!
Doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me!
Nice trees. ! Heres a suggestion for the next challenge i wanna see how far everyone can push a juniper . I mean the hardest bends u have ever done. I wanna see trunks bent to the max! Prob go for shohin size or one bigger. Ive seen bonsai q do some really extreme bends where trunk comes back to touch the trunk again😂. Would love to see this as the next challenge
Hi Chris. Junipers are certainly very flexible, and I do love twisting and contorting them. I think they look amazing when done well.
With a bit of luck some of the other channels will use junipers for this challenge.
Hi Tony are you ok you have been missing for a couple of days ? I think the vet tape manufactures should give you a kick back as you are keeping them in business HaHa, Interesting literati concept.
Hi Joe. I've been busy this past few days sorting out my back garden. It was completely crammed, so I've been laying some flags and sorting it out. I've also repotted at least 30 - 40 trees which was quite a grind. To be honest though this time of year is quiet in terms of video. Nothing is ready to prune and all the creative stuff is kind of done.
I'm going to give this a go! Thanks for the inspiration.
Challenge accepted dude.
I’ll give you a shout out, not that you need one 😂
👍👍👍
Excellent. I'll look forward to it mate!
How long does the wire have to stay on the tree to make the bends permanent?
It varies from tree to tree, but I would say these will be having the wire removed in a few months time.
I’m with you on using thick wire. Why use two wires when one will do.😂
Nothing worse than trying to set a bend and it's just not holding
12:30 I guess next time you're going to use some rebars for wiring your bonsai trees.😁
🤣🤣Gotta keep them on their toes!
I just have to select the tree. I. am. in.
Fantastic. I'll look forward to checking it out mate!
Is that vet wrap ? Wow . Great idea! How does it react is in hot summer sun?
hey Tony what is the Bandage you're using. ? cheers from France ;)
Hi Marc. It is called vet tape. They sell it for use as a kindof bandage for horses and dogs. It's pretty cheap on Amazon. I like to buy the wider stuff and double it over for extra strength.
@@TonysBonsai Thank 's a lot Tony ;)
Great challenge. I wonder how many people accepted. 😄😘🙋♀️
What vet tape do you use
Hey Tony I may have ago at this 👍
Fantastic. The more the merrier! You just need to find a nice tree to use now.
@Tonys Bonsai yeh that's the hard part 🤣
Nice work, Tony, but not my style...
Grts
Kennet
Come on Kennet. I was looking forward to your take on literati. If you have a go and you don't like the resultant tree, you get your money back! 🤣
@@TonysBonsai
I´ll try to get a tree...
Grts
Kennet
Good man!