Daiza Carving 101

Paul Pikel — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 21:29:08 +0000

Last BSF Convention in Port Canaveral I sat in as a spectator for a Sean Smith daiza carving workshop. I’m glad I did. Sean is the highest recognized diaza artist outside of Japan and is respected for his work in Japan as well.
After the workshop I was very motivated to create one of these little stands and it turned out pretty good. So I decided to try another one. The following steps are what I followed to create one. I hope it inspires others out there to give it a try.

I bought a rock at the most recent CFBC meeting from a long time member, Marge Pierce. I didn’t like the stand, but the rock had potential. This is what it looked like when I bought it.

Here it is removed from the stand.

I used Rosewood for the daiza. This rock was an easy one because it had a flat base. So all you do is put it on the wood and trace around it.

The outline of the rock

I use a dremel tool with a router attachment to remove the material about 1/8″. Just stay in the lines.

Now put the rock in its place and trace a line about 1/8″ around it to form the lip.

I used a jigsaw to cut out the diaza. Its starting to look good.

Now select the areas for the feet.

Here it is in its final form. It still needs a ton of sanding and handling to darken it up. That’s all there is to it. Give it a try

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Tokonoma time

Paul Pikel — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 19:27:12 +0000

I participated in a Sean Smith workshop during the Joy of Bonsai for building a miniature Tokonoma. It was a lot of fun and a great price.

This was the first steps of constructing the Tokonoma. Sevrel types of woods were used, however I really can’t remember them at this time.

I love this picture! At first it looks like a computer course with people sitting around laptops, but they are only these wooden things. I like to think of it as an Amish Computer Training Class.

More supplies are shown here. It was put together with only glue. Really a great kit that Sean provided.

The side panel had a window that was later fitted with a bamboo treatment.

Here is the finished room with a tree from Louise Leister. Hard to tell the scale of it because it really looks like a full sized room.

I had a little bit of fun with Photoshop after the class by inserting pictures of all of the people that took the class. This photo actually became a bit famous and is used in newsletters and advertisments for all sorts of things.

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Orlando Bonsai » Sean Smith

Daiza Carving 101

Tokonoma time