Sometimes in the UK, especially over the dark, damp, wet Winter months its difficult to get the bonsai pots I’ve made for customers to dry out quickly enough.
So I took advantage of the recent bright, sunny day to move the pottery outdoors.
All of these pots were ready for their first firing that night! Can you spot your pot?
I’ve been very busy recently building pots after last years season almost wiped me out of stock! This lot will be fired soon and should be on the website in the next couple of weeks. 
Just found a Facebook page with photos of me doing a slab making session at Humberside Bonsai Society. Good fun was had by all! Have a peep here… https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.652531468117770.1073741836.519887344715517&type=1
Fantastic day today at Coventry for the annual bonsai traders show, very high numbers of visitors from the public and bonsai growers perhaps due to the free entry this year. Met lots of customers, old and new, plus made some new friends in the bonsai world – thanks for all your support and words of encouragement. Great response to the new China Mist branding too and the consistent quality of my pots was mentioned more than once!
Out of the kiln and ready to ship ‘down South’ to a delighted customer!
I sprayed the outer edge to create a weathered, rugged rock effect. The water feature in the middle has a cracked base to look like a dry sandy riverbed, the outer edges of this section are the same colour so the eye will follow the path of the water once its added to the finished image.
Cant wait to see it complete with rocks, stones and trees planted…
The customer liked my sketch so much they immediately asked for it to be made, so here is the slab drying before I can put it into the kiln…
Whilst browsing the Wee-Trees bonsai forum, I noticed an interesting debate going on about finding a slab suitable for creating a landscape, which would also contain a river or stream running through it. I contacted the person who wrote the forum post to suggest they commission me to make something suitable for their requirements. At first they thought it would be really expensive but after a short discussion over Skype we came up with an agreement and I sketched out my idea for how I’d visualize the slab to look, and here it is in rough format…
Well I’ve been promised power for the kiln on 30th December, which means that I’ll be firing pots again this year! Cant wait as this is the last part of the pottery relocation. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch up with the orders that have been coming in since September.
Thanks to all of my customers who have been patient – your pots and slabs will be ready for the Spring re-potting season.
About a year ago, I was flattered to be asked by Youri van Pinxteren of Bonsai Empire website to supply my details for an article they were writing on (and I quote) “the most important bonsai potters from Europe”. The article shows details and bonsai pot images from 24 different potters.
For me and China Mist bonsai pots its a great honour to be even mentioned alongside some of these names, so I’ve got to keep my creative and professional standards up now! No pressure then.
You can read the article here, its a fascinating insight into the variation and creativity that we have available to us in our bonsai empire!
The Okinawan Festival in Hawaii has lots of interesting stands but the one that interested me the most was seeing the Hawaii Bonsai Association. It became a must for me to go in and introduce myself as a bonsai potter from the UK! I even handed out a few business cards but don”t expect many orders as I guess its a long way to post my pots to. Here’s a picture of me outside their tent.
The Bonsai Traders Show next weekend. Final one to be held at the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield before its demolished. The new ‘China Mist’ brand ID will be on show for the first time there, looking forward to getting a positive reaction (fingers crossed).
Really pleased that I’ve been invited back to several bonsai clubs that I visited last year. If you’d like me to visit your club, for either a hands-on pot making session or just to bring some pots along for sale then please get in touch steve@chinamist.co.uk or 07961 934444.
Thanks to Humberside Bonsai Society, North Lincolnshire (Grimsby) Bonsai Society, York Bonsai Society, Lincoln Bonsai Society, South Yorkshire (Sheffield) Bonsai Society, Tees Valley Bonsai Society, Harrogate Bonsai Society and North Notts Bonsai Society (NNBS).
After 2 years of working under the experienced eye of renowned bonsai potter, Alan Harriman of www.uk-suiseki.com, I’m pleased to say the pottery has now safely relocated to its new home in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Got to admit taking on the building conversion has been a massive project that I seriously underestimated. Oh well, you live and learn I suppose. Now back to making some creative pots for clients.