July 2006 general meeting.I was pleased to be able to facilitate an evening of creativity and fun through the use of a few pounds of clay at our July General Meeting. Making pinch pots, just like making bonsai, is an outlet for creative energy which allows the artist to both express their inner thoughts and accomplish something tangible. The club owes a great thanks to Ron Weaver for making this program possible through the use of his kiln.

Here find a summary of Eric’s points to remember for selecting pots:

- Individuality is one of the qualities that I value more than anything else in a pot. We don’t spend year after year trying to make our trees look great just to stick them in a pot that makes them look like every other tree out there. Take some time to think about what pot is best for your tree and select one that makes your tree stand out from the crowd while still complimenting it the way that the proper pot will.

- Good pots don’t have to be expensive: a pot that has kanji scrawled on the bottom of it may cost a lot more but it most likely will not be a lot better. Most of the cost of imported pots from Japan is in the importing process, the middleman is what you are paying for.

-The reality of whether or not a pot is “handmade” is in the details: smooth texture on the outside which is even throughout the pot and shows no signs of tooling means that the pot was almost certainly slip-cast like the majority of commercially available pots. Handmade pots, made with pride, will exhibit unique qualities, no two will be the same, even if they are very similar. Handmade round pots are made on a throwing wheel, the texture of the hands, sponge or other tools will be evident on the outside unless the artist has taken great care to make the surface smooth. Handmade square, rectangular and in some cases oval pots are “handbuilt” from slabs of clay which are joined together; even the most accomplished craftsman is likely to leave a small trace or two of evidence of construction methods. Glazing can be another good tool for detecting the difference between unique pots and mass produced ones. If you’ve seen the color of the glaze on the pot countless times, then there are probably countless factories churning them out. Glazes on handmade pots will have imperfections, surface variations and unique colors. “Rookie blue” is a color that seems to have its roots in pots used for Satsuki Azaleas in Japan, these pots are antique masterpieces, glazed in a time where lack of variation in surface coloration was most likely considered the pinacle of pot quality. Today the realities of mass production make planned imperfections more interesting.

-Although many people say that an old tree is best complimented by an old pot, this is not universally true. Age in bonsai pots is a tricky thing to determine, and since bonsai in the US doesn’t have a history going back much further than WWII you are not really going to find a true antique pot in the US or a truly old tree. Matching other qualities of the pot and tree first and worrying about the age of the pot as a minor concern is more logical.

- Drainage: This is one thing that the expensive pots coming out of Japan have right. The more holes the better basically, in a 14 inch pot there should be no fewer than five holes, four of an inch to 1 1/2 inches and a center one of 2 inches perhaps. If you are looking at large pots which only have one drainage hole, keep looking. In small to medium pots there should still be at least two drainage holes, if they are smaller than 1 inch across then they are too small. Only in shohin pots and accent plant pots should you find very small holes for drainage. Low quality pots may sometimes have places in the bottom of the pot where water can pool. It is important, if you are going to use these pots, that a hole be drilled to allow water to escape from these places.

-Wire holes: generally, 4 to 8 small holes for wiring the tree to the pot will be beneficial. If only a single tree is to be put in the pot then only 4 holes are needed, but if you are planting a forest 8 or more can be helpful. Wire holes in the bottom of deep cascade pots are difficult to use as they typically do not provide the quality of achoring that holes in a shallower pot do.

-Clay quality: Terra Cota pots are made from low fire clay and fired to a much lower temperature than stoneware pots. Terra Cota is porous which is evident to anyone who has seen moss start to grow on the outsides of the pot. Low fired clay, because it allows water to penetrate is subject to damage by freezing. Stoneware pots are impermeable to water so they are not subject to damage from freezing,In the end you should treat your selection of a pot like you do your selection of a tree, buy fewer pots of higher quality and you will be happier with your collection and have more room in your basement.

Tag: pots