General Update

What can I say? It's the summer (officially starting today) and I've been busy with everything. Here is a general update on my hobbies.

Bonsai

I never got a chance to take pictures of the fig tree all wired up. It's too bad because it was my first wiring project and I think it turned out fairly well. As of last Thursday, I removed the wire from the ficus because it had started to cut in. To explain, the tree obviously is growing the whole time the wire is in place and if left too long, the tree will start to grow around the wire and leave ugly spiral grooves along the branches. Even with my current timing, it left some evidence, but only on the underside of 1 or 2 branches. Hopefully that will grow out quickly as I think the fig is the most vigorous of my trees.

For my birthday I was taken to Bonsai West to pick out a new tree. I choose a Tropical Cherry tree that was in a nursery pot. However, it was mostly prepared to enter a bonsai pot so I also purchase a greenish pot. I attended another Get Wired session and potted the Cherry, which has already taken to its new habitat and is growing rapidly.

All of my trees are now outside to take advantage of the long days and warm weather. While today marks the longest day, it will remain warm for many months to come and my trees have plenty more time to grow. I have staged each of the trees in an area that gets morning sun for a week and then moved them to full sun. The last of this staging should happen this afternoon.

Origami

I'm currently working on a secret project that represents the most complex origami model I have attempted so far. I have almost completed the base for the model, but I am extremely nervous about shaping it to the final model. Wish me luck! More to come on this after the secrecy is no longer necessary.

I've attempted a few smaller models from an exclusive CP standpoint. I've been able to fold one of the three models, but haven't tried shaping it yet. I took pictures during the folding of this model so I hope I can find them and upload them at some point. The other models I gave up on and instead, cut the model in half to simplify the paper management. I've had more luck with this method, but I haven't gone back to finish the complete base for either model.