Harry HarringtonArtist and Author, Bonsai4me · Author, Publisher, Webmaster, Bonsai Artist

Bonsai Garden In Winter : Behind The Scenes Part Three

21 Jan 2020 · 2 min

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1:41

In this third installment of the behind‑the‑scenes series, Harry Harrington gives a concise tour of his outdoor bonsai work area located in his garden beside his private collection. He points out three trees he is currently handling as commission work—a hawthorn, a very large oak that requires carving, and a nearly finished wired English elm on the bench. Harrington explains that winter work continues despite the cold, thanks to a covered concrete hard‑standing, sturdy benches, and scissor‑jack lifts for heavier specimens. He also describes a recent October upgrade: double strips of LED lighting that brighten the workspace during short, dark evenings. Finally, he remarks on his informal, “not tidy” approach to tool organization, noting that he can always locate the needed tool despite the clutter, and that the busy nature of his work leaves little time for tidying.

Chapters

So in this 3rd part of the behind-the-scenes series of videos, I'm going to show you my actual work area out in the garden next to my private collection. Here you can see some of the trees that I'm working on at the moment. We have a hawthorn, very large oak that needs carving, and up on the bench itself, on the workbench, I have a large English elm which I've nearly finished wiring. All of these trees are commission work. People have asked me to work on trees for them, and this takes up quite a lot of time during the winter. I still work outside in all weathers, but I have a covered area, a hard standing of concrete on which I work, and I have my benches with my tools and scissor jacks for lifting heavier trees up. As part of the Rebuild in October, I put in these, uh, double strips of LED lights, and they give me some fantastic light now for the darker evenings. It's still cold out here, but it makes it a lot easier for me to work. As you can see, I'm not one for being very tidy with my tools, but I can always lay my hands on a tool when I need one. Sometimes life just feels too busy to be tidying up all the time.