This linked story is a good example of what can be done if we didn't have the Internet to distract us. The artwork was made about 1000 years ago and reportedly took 4 years to complete. It's the most amazing thing you will ever see, but it's made of wood. How can something that elaborate be preserved for an entire millennium?
http://www.conspiracyclub.co/2015/08/14/tree-art/
Tree Art
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Icey
Re: Tree Art
Oh blimey - that's beautiful Yogi. I wonder if the type of wood has any bearing on its preserved state, or whether it was coated in something? A masterpiece indeed.
Re: Tree Art
Beautiful artwork for sure!
My dad worked with live trees in his yard, pruning and guiding the branches to form a covered two person seat, a small arbor by his mailbox, and covered arches going up the side walkway. Took a lot of work to maintain them even after they were grown and project finished.
He also had two very rare ivy trees.
Out of about every 500,000 to a million ivy vines, one will stand upright and thicken up. For years these rogue vines were culled out and discarded. Dad decided to let one grow to see what happened. A couple of years later he happened upon another growing upright and snagged it too.
It normally takes a couple of years for ivy to start growing like a weed, but once it takes off, it is almost like a weed and you wished you never planted them.
These two little trees of his never got more than about six inches tall during the first couple of years, barely looked like they would live. They finally started growing straight up and their trunks thickened like a twenty year old ivy vine.
At the end of the fourth or fifth year, both stood over five feet tall, and formed hundreds of short shoots with leaves at the top. He tended those things like babies after that, and finally placed them in his front yard once they looked great.
My dad worked with live trees in his yard, pruning and guiding the branches to form a covered two person seat, a small arbor by his mailbox, and covered arches going up the side walkway. Took a lot of work to maintain them even after they were grown and project finished.
He also had two very rare ivy trees.
Out of about every 500,000 to a million ivy vines, one will stand upright and thicken up. For years these rogue vines were culled out and discarded. Dad decided to let one grow to see what happened. A couple of years later he happened upon another growing upright and snagged it too.
It normally takes a couple of years for ivy to start growing like a weed, but once it takes off, it is almost like a weed and you wished you never planted them.
These two little trees of his never got more than about six inches tall during the first couple of years, barely looked like they would live. They finally started growing straight up and their trunks thickened like a twenty year old ivy vine.
At the end of the fourth or fifth year, both stood over five feet tall, and formed hundreds of short shoots with leaves at the top. He tended those things like babies after that, and finally placed them in his front yard once they looked great.
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Icey
Re: Tree Art
Over here, English ivy creeps up at a fast rate, but so long as it's not growing up a house, I like it. It tends to just need the support of something (walls, fences, trees, etc.) but over time, the vines DO thicken up and become trunk-like. I suppose with being wrapped and intertwined with each other, this allows the support they need - hence some can turn into tree-like structures.
I bet those your father tended to looked great.
Here's a bonsai version of English ivy:
I bet those your father tended to looked great.
Here's a bonsai version of English ivy:
Re: Tree Art
this is beautiful work ,
what pure joy..
what pure joy..
Re: Tree Art
We moved from our original home to a subdivision in 1966. Dad spent a fortune to have some of his trees relocated to our new home. We were one of the first in the subdivision, and since they had graded away all the trees during construction, dad's home became known as the house with the amazing trees, hi hi... Speaking of the normal upright trees.
Those he pruned and trimmed and forced into shapes, such as the arbor and bench, the two side chairs, etc. were all started after he was settled in, around 1968, the same year I got married and moved out of his home, so did not see the work he put into them, only how they looked after he got them to do what he wanted them to do.
He began a few more projects in 1984, using trees he planted after 1966 and only worked with a little bit for a decade or so before deciding on what to do with them.
When I remarried and moved up north from my home town, we had a neighbor who trained grape vines to the point they became works of art. One of his other neighbors used to tease the daylights out of him, because he never had but a small handful of grapes. This was because he was forever trimming and shaping to force the patterns and designs he was working. The teasing stopped when he completed his major project, he had more grapes than the entire neighborhood could haul away. And all you had to do was reach up and pull them down, as many as you wanted and every flavor and type one could imagine. His grape arbor was self-supporting, no trellis work, only carefully trained grape vines, with beautiful designs for the side walls.
Those he pruned and trimmed and forced into shapes, such as the arbor and bench, the two side chairs, etc. were all started after he was settled in, around 1968, the same year I got married and moved out of his home, so did not see the work he put into them, only how they looked after he got them to do what he wanted them to do.
He began a few more projects in 1984, using trees he planted after 1966 and only worked with a little bit for a decade or so before deciding on what to do with them.
When I remarried and moved up north from my home town, we had a neighbor who trained grape vines to the point they became works of art. One of his other neighbors used to tease the daylights out of him, because he never had but a small handful of grapes. This was because he was forever trimming and shaping to force the patterns and designs he was working. The teasing stopped when he completed his major project, he had more grapes than the entire neighborhood could haul away. And all you had to do was reach up and pull them down, as many as you wanted and every flavor and type one could imagine. His grape arbor was self-supporting, no trellis work, only carefully trained grape vines, with beautiful designs for the side walls.
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Icey
Re: Tree Art
Sounds lovely Gary!
Your dad obviously had a way with growing and maintaining things.
Your dad obviously had a way with growing and maintaining things.
Re: Tree Art
I wish I could,
it is a great thing to do.
it is a great thing to do.
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Icey
Re: Tree Art
If someone has artistic flair and a love of growing things, I think practice makes perfect. Arbours can look beautiful.
Re: Tree Art
for boats?
No seriously I concur with you on that..
No seriously I concur with you on that..
