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[wampidy]

I must be weird because there never seems to be a section for the things I make (or attempt to make)

This Japanese style sand garden is not finished and I am looking for some input on how to position the stones. I realize that an artist should make his or her stuff then present a finished piece of art but since I am weird I am looking for artistic input. I will post comments with the photos and explain where my problem is.

This is the wooden base that makes up the garden. It is 5 3/8" by 6" and the sides will allow 1/4" of sand.

Cut all the side pieces making sure they were a tad bit long and not short so when I mounted them I could sand them to fit.


Added stiffeners to the bottom because the 1/8" plywood had a little curve to it.


Glued on all the sides with Elmer's new Pro Bond Advanced. Very quick and easy glue to use and is for stone also.





Now here is where I am looking for opinions. I have mounted the small stone in the center of the larger stone and off to one side of the larger stone. Three views of each way. First up is mounted in the center.




These are off to the side photos. I think it has a bit of a duck look. This way looks out of the ordinary or a bit different than what might be expected of one rock sitting on another. Since the stones are drilled these are the only two ways it can be.




I plan on making more of these using mostly jade. I think the two stones in this one are gizzard stones but I have no proof. They were found just like they are and only took a little bit of polishing. And, what is Ohio flint doing in Wyoming? The glaciers did not move that far sideways.

Thanks for looking and your opinions are very welcome.
Jim

[GoodEarth]

I like where this is going. I built a zen garden once that was 12' square. I have always had an attraction to this art.

Personally, not sure how the polished stones are going to work here. I have only ever seen Suiseki stones used. Looking forward to seeing the finished product!

[Itsandbits]

off to the side and I think you have hit on another good idea but I'm with GE, I like the river/wind/glacial/natural erosion type shapes myself

[wampidy]

I agree with you both. When I researched the Japanese sand gardens I saw only rough stones and of course with the larger ones there was always more than one stone.

I have had these stones for quite a while and could not figure out a way to display them. I came up with this idea before I did any research so now I am going to have one with polished stones and the rest will be rough stones with one or two polished sides which I like better than a totally rough stone. I think a combination of rough and polished together will be ascetically pleasing to the eye. It may be just my eye but I think that outside of Japan the raking of the sand will be the determining factor as far as other people are concerned. I think that when you see the hunk of black jade with a flat mirror finished top you are going to like it. Absolutely gorgeous stone. Then again you may not but I really like people that will give their true feeling instead of just saying it is beautiful or whatever nice thing they think of to say.

I will try to get some photos up of the black and other stones I have ready to go. I wanted to see how the stones looked before I went any further. Most of them could be used for a sand garden or a custom knife holder. Hell, maybe even a sand garden with a knife holder in it. Play in the sand while you think about whether or not you are going to cut your own throat. lol
Jim

[Enchantra]

I did bonsai back east.  Using Suiseki in displays goes hand in hand with Bonsai quite a bit. 
I would say you will be better off finding some nice natural jagged pieces of stone that you cannot cut into cabs or rings and use those. 
I made a garden like this once for a friend for his birthday and used various stones and even made a tiny wire and bead bonsai tree for inside it.

Of course now I want to get back into bonsai now that I'm settled into a more permanent location.  Now the problem is finding trees that thrive in this climate that will adapt well to bonsai culture.

[Itsandbits]

I personally can't resist finding out what's inside a rock Jim; I only take them home if I think there is something, so every piece I have has some kind of exploration on it LOL be it from a rock hammer, saw or grinder.... I usually do it on the "down" side but a window sowing and polished would also be attractive to my eye.

[Bentiron]

I have known two artists that have used large river cobbles in their art work, one guy would just drill through them with a 3/4" diamond bit and stack them up on rebar, kinda interesting, the other would have them sliced with water jet abrasives and then make steel links and connect them to his forged and fabricated steel sculpture. Lots of different ways to use large scale rocks in art work if you put your thinking cap on

[GoodEarth]

I can imagine these with a nice piece of jade polished on one side. That would be KILLER!

[wampidy]

I can imagine these with a nice piece of jade polished on one side. That would be KILLER!

I have six pieces (fist size) of jade that are polished on one or two sides that are going to be next up. I think they are going to rock. Especially the black piece with a perfectly flat top. I also have a really jagged black agate that has all white tips from weathering. Looks like white capped mountains. One of the very few rocks that I could not cut.

This is a really fun project. I have to get some rakes made too. I am using the top ends from the fancy toothpicks, a piece of wood a little smaller than the wood on the sides of octagon and one eighth dowel. Lots of drilling and gluing.
Jim