Exploring Bonsai

​Bonsai, begun in China and appropriated by the Japanese is a wonderful theme from which to explore culture, art concepts, and even geometry concepts! It is also a project that is well known in my school, and often cited by students as the "reason" they signed up for my sculpture class.

I usually introduce it in November for several reasons:
1. They make great gifts for the holidays!
2. If students want to buy special items for leaves, Black Friday sales make them cheap.
3. If you do it too soon, kids might expect every project to be "like this" and they are not.
 
As for those Core Content or STEAM connections, trees are a great way to connect with fractals (https://goo.gl/C1VfwO) and are also a great way to connect with Asian history. (https://goo.gl/CqBnvb)

​I have done this project with students as young as 7 and all the way through high school. I like to use thin gauge stove pipe wire (black annealed wire) from Nasco because it's cheap and plentiful. The dark wire contrasts nicely with anything you add for leaves. It could also be done with pipe cleaners for the younger ones, but would require quite a few per student. Generally a tree needs between 50 and 100 wires, or about 30 pipe cleaners. Each wire needs its own "leaf," so counting is not a problem. Keep in mind, more wire is harder to twist... Even 100 thin wires can be a bit hard. 75 seems to be a good middle ground. You should ALWAYS make a sample.
 
I have done 4 different kinds of bases.
​The first two require no roots and are easier:
1. A block of wood with a 1/2 in to 3/4 inch hole filled with wire and a 1/4 inch dowel hammered in to tighten it.
2. A half inch dowel in a block of wood, covered with a plaster environmental base with the dowel exposed. We then wrap the wires to that dowel and create a tree.
3. Make and attach roots to an object students bring in for an expressive quality.
4. Attach roots to a rock. We get soapstone in bulk from Nasco when the budget allows. Found rocks will work too.

I am sure you could make something with clay too that could be fired and would work well too. (Raku Maybe?)

​If you go with soapstone or another soft stone, sandpaper and plaster tools can smooth and shape the surface with nooks so that roots can grab onto the rock. It can even be drilled for some root ends. For a jewel-like rock, start with a coarse grit, medium, then fine, and finish with a green scrub sponge under water. At the end you'll need to spray the base with clear spray paint. Some trees may need the help of a few drops of glue. I like 527 glue.

​I generally buy a tooling foil from Nasco for leaves, and have some beads and other crafty items around students may use as leaves. Nasco has brass, aluminum, and copper foil. Aluminum is cheapest. I warn students that the cut foil can be sharp, and we use rubber cement pick-ups or scrap rubber printing plates to emboss and puncture leaves or some other semi-soft surface. A nail or awl will work fine for embossing and puncturing. I pre-cut the foil into strips on my paper cutter. Students fold them and use the handle of a scissor to press them. They cut along the fold as one would to cut out a heart, just cut a leaf shape instead. Cut end to end so as not to waste foil. Running fingers on edges will cause deep cuts, something to consider. Beads are better for safety, and leaves take a while to cut and emboss. (But they do look really nice!)

​With my high school students, I give them the option to buy beads or items from the local craft store. I tell them to think about the person they might want to give this to and what THEY might like on the tree. What would help make it personal and expressive? I show them some examples from previous classes and they get excited by the idea. I remind them to shop the sales, but that they may have items already at home. Old costume jewelry, seashells, and craft items can make great leaf-like additions to their tree.
 
If you use wire, pliers, and cutting tools are important, as well as eye safety equipment.  We have a wood shop and are able to borrow from them from time to time. Cutting wire can be done quickly by wrapping it around some cardboard and using a tin snip or other durable cutter. Students can also cut one by one with a ruler nearby, but that takes a lot of time. I find 16 to 18 inch wires are a good size to work with. About 12 inches if you do not need roots.

​I have a poster (above) for the first steps with wires in two bunches coded red and green. This is VERY important if you make trees with roots as it will lock in the wires. If not, it can potentially all fall apart.  If your tree does not need roots, it is not important at all.
 
Once wire is cut, you'll need to even out one end, and begin twisting, separating in half, then twisting again, separating in half and so on. They twist best when you part them like a "Y" and put your hand in the middle to twist. The BEST THING about this project is that even "ugly" trees still look like trees. Branches should end in pairs or threes. If someone has a short single wire, just pull it out sideways, and add a leaf to it later. All ends will need about 1 to 2 inches of wire to add on a leaf or bead. 

​Roots can be shorter and end in chunks of 3 to 6 wires, but they will need to branch out and be twisted tightly to grab onto your chosen base. The photo examples above should be helpful to show the difference between root ends and branch ends.
 
When trees are near complete, we review traditional Bonsai forms, and show a video about it. They are required to shape their Bonsai to show the art principle of movement. I try to have them pick a movement that is self expressive. If they are an active student, pick and active pose. A Shy student might like a willow pose. I remind them that art should always be tied to the maker, the artist, or expressive in a way that would be appreciated by the recipient. 

Extra Hints: Obviously items with holes are easier to attach. Sometimes a curled wire is enough, sometimes, as with leaves, crimping the wire with pliers helps hold them in place. For shells or items without holes, I curl the very tip of the wire into a tiny circle, about 1/8 inch, then put a drop of hot glue on the loop like a dewdrop, then place the item in the still hot glue. Look closely at the samples below and you can see that items were attached differently depending on the material.

For more awesome lessons and materials, see those tabs on the left, and also check out some of my comprehensive resources for art teachers HERE.
Thanks!