Some New Shelves and Bonsai Pots

I was getting a bit sick of squishing up my pots together onto the two shelves in the husbands man cave.

Splashed out a whole $19.85 each at the Warehouse and got myself 2 sets of aluminium shelves.  The other two were screwed to the garage wall and the workbench so it was only a matter of screwing the two new shelves to them as well.   You just never know when an earthquake might strike and rattle these pots to a sad ending on the concrete floor.

Its much easier to see exactly what you've got, instead of lifting up/moving over and shuffling them around. 

It was all good for me, but the realisation that his garage space was being decreased a little more, made me feel a tiny bit guilty.

In an act of defiance or marking his territory, I noticed a mower in pieces plonked fairly and squarely in what was once his parking space.  Almost as if to say no more space for you....THIS IS MINE!   Oh well..... perhaps when he's at work I might just give his mower a tiny wee nudge further over, after all I need room to move about. 

The big plan was to make quite a few more pots so I could get rid of my old plastic containers that are floating around my bonsai area....yes, I was going to keep more for myself this year.  I made a few large ovals and round bonsai pots.  However it doesn't seem to be enough and I have plenty of gaps once again.  The beauty of it is that I can always make another.

I seem to be accumulating a few of the smaller pots.  Some are made to test out glaze experiments and others are to try out new shapes and textures.  I know I wont use them myself as our annual shortage of water makes keeping too many small potted bonsai a risky business.  However, they are lots of fun to make.

These wee cascade pots I made turned out to be quite a revelation.   The glaze on them had lots of room to move down.  It gives them a bit of life and character instead of a plain block of lifeless single colour.

I seem to be having a bit of a run on the textured dark brown pots.  I've tried using a couple of different oxides and have found that some react quite differently when a glaze is put over the top.   Others look good with out anything, the texture speaks for itself.

The kiwi style pots seem to face a bit of opposition.  I can guarantee that if I'd put a Chinese or Japanese marking on them they would more popular.  Yes I know that bonsai originated from these countries and that tradition has alot to do with what people think is acceptable as far as pot styles etc go, but what is so wrong with trying to create your own style?  Are we all too scared of being told that "that's wrong you shouldn't be doing that"  Frankly, I don't enter in serious shows or conventions, its my garden, my trees, so whats wrong with using something that I like. 

Anyway, I'd better think about what I'm going to make tomorrow.  After all, if I don't fill up these new shelves I might go out one day and find them filled up with HIS tools - the battle over garage dominance continues!!