It was my impression that this discussion was about carving slate as a slab
on which to create a group planting. Maybe I jumped to that conclusion as
that's the only use I have seen for a slab. I would not consider a piece of
slate or other flat rock a good base for a bonsai pot, probably because of
the double hardness impression.

ed castillo in nw va
----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig Cowing"
To:
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2003 10:16 AM
Subject: [IBC] Carving slate


Bart Thomas wrote:

I found some slate floor tiles and used the wrench method to shape
them
into
slate slab stands for small bonsai and companion plants. The report
is
that
It's worth looking for slate for this purpose, the stands are great.

At Bill Valavanis' fall symposium, Shinji Suzuki criticized some trees
that
were displayed that way for "having stone (pot) on stone". I agree they
look great, but he is an expert.


I've used pieces of slate and other stone for stands, and I think they
look
perfectly fine. I have been able to collect various pieces of natural
flatrock
(generic term) such as slate, sandstone/traprock, and schist. In
particular, I
found in Maine this fall some schist that is very flat and nice and
rounded and
smooth.

It would be interesting to discuss some of the thought behind this idea
that the
pot and stone are both hard, and the pot should be on top of something
that
contrasts, that is "soft," such as a wooden stand. Is this a sort of
Yin/Yang
thing? I'm curious.

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a Sunset 37


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