Mahogany Row Studio

Thanks to Chris Lee for helping me repot some larger trees while I’m still in recovery mode. It’s great to get help from a fellow BSOBer.

I only took a few photos as we were busy working. I believe we repotted about five or six of them.

Commodore John Barry 1/14 scale. I digitally designed and printed this figure. I also did significant post printed sculting. John Barry was an American naval officer who served in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War and in the United States Navy during the Quasi-War. He has been credited by some as "The Father of the American Navy", sharing that title with John Paul Jones and John Adams. Barry was the first captain placed in command of an American warship commissioned for service under the Continental flag and got the USA's first naval victory in March 1776. Relating to Brevard County Florida, he won the last naval battle of the revolution off the coast of Cape Canaveral when his ship the Alliance defeated the Sybilof the UK. The USS Alliance was delivering $4Million in gold for the USA Army. After the Revolutionary War, he became the first commissioned American naval officer and first flag grade officer at the rank of commodore, receiving his commission from President George Washington in 1797. Painted with acrylics.

Entering about 3 full years of a cosmic redesign, this Cuban Laurel fig, Ficus Microcarpa Kinmen, had its third major wire adjustment this week. It took about 8 hours to wire the curves. I started this cosmic design back in 2023 when Laurent Darieux was a houseguest. We converted a shohin Fig forest I had started in 2005 into a cosmic style by filling a Home Depot bucket with pumice, placing a rock about 2/3 up, then adding more pumice, and finally wiring the ficus to the top of the bucket. It grew wild on top of the bucket for about a year and a half until the sun caused the bucket to crack. Enough roots had grown into the pumice that last year, I placed it in this big tub by American Bonsai. I started washing away the pumice among the roots, but not all of it, to allow it to continue to grow so the roots can support the weight of the tree and the rock. It is getting close to the ultimate size that I desire, so I started working on a very unusual bonsai pot. Stay tuned for that.

Laurent had sent me a sketch about a month ago suggesting I bunch up the roots to make an hourglass shape. I was actually doing just the opposite, but I liked Laurent’s idea. I purchased an inexpensive web strap from Harbor Freight, and used it to cinch the roots up underneath the rock.  The fluorescent orange strap is not a permanent part of the installation.

Let's live a little. The Headache tree on the left (Premna obtusifolia) is 3 feet high but 13 feet long. From the BSF Creative Exhibit in 2025 in Orlando. The bonsai pot is by Hippy Dad. The Headache tree, painting and droid are by Mahogany Row studio.