Hello and welcome to Media/Pool, I’m Andrew. In this video we’ll be talking about the Hypodermic Needle Theory – developed in the 1920’s and 1930’s after Frankfurt School researchers examined the …
Hello and welcome to Media/Pool, I’m
Andrew. In this video we’ll be talking about the Hypodermic Needle Theory –
developed in the 1920’s and 1930’s after Frankfurt School researchers examined the effect of World War 1 propaganda. With the hypodermic needle theory a model of communication meaning the way that a message is injected and wholly accepted
by an audience, imagine this: imagine yourself, using a drug. Fixed to it? Yes.
Want more from it? Yes. May be even, accept it? Maybe. Now – imagine the hypodermic needle theory, as this drug where the media
injects messages and ideologies into consumers who accept and absorb it
freely without question or reaction. And, with similarities to the Magic Bullet
Theory where the media shoots virtual messages into audiences, this was
developed in World War 1 where researchers found audiences had accepted the propaganda messages due to little other media sources to argue different. So whether it be TV radio or even media propaganda as just said, this information
as injected as it is does however present some problems. Ask yourself
whether this is really positive – the media as a drug we only believe what you
are told? I think personally injection is not good. Thus, manipulating the thoughts and opinions of various audiences into believing what they are seeing is
correct. And if you’ve ever heard the term couch potato, a passive audience
listens with no outlining thoughts or questions as to whether such a message,
is actually correct. Although in today’s standard this could be considered different with audiences taking a more active role in producing content
themselves on the likes of YouTube – thus more aware of the consequences and
un-trustworthiness of the media, let’s examine film and the way a message is injected into an audience to persuade them to accept an idea. For messages
injected can have direct responses, so by taking Sex and the City, would the media be injecting an ideology where women are driven by sex and romance? I’d think so,
as for some of this message would be wholly accepted – in an age where others may consider alternative meanings as well. For during a time where the media is of increased dominance in society – as again – our
dominant source of communication, this linear model of communication between
the sender to the receiver, emphasises the so-called public audiences – dictated
to and specified a message that many know audiences will accept. And although I
could criticise that audiences might be able to form on their own judgements on topics – not at all aided by media messages such as how a troubled relationship might
make you view a certain demographic a certain way, I hope you’ve gained an insight as to what this theory actually is. If you’d like to know more about the Hypodermic Needle Theory, take a look here and perhaps report back your findings. Check out the link in the description below! That’s all from me for now. If you’ve enjoyed this video please click like and subscribe below, leave a comment and check out our other videos. This has been me, Andrew, for Media/Pool. Thanks for watching!
– [Steve] In this video, we’re gonna talk a little bit about needle felting a large-scale sculpture. This piece has been covered in what’s called roving wool, using the needle felting …
– [Steve] In this video, we’re gonna talk a little
bit about needle felting a large-scale sculpture. This piece has been covered
in what’s called roving wool, using the needle felting process. So I’m just gonna kinda
walk through how I did this. It’s also a little bit
of a product review video because I tested out all of the different needle stabbing devices that I could find. So the basics of needle felting is that you start out with
this little ball of wool and you stab it over and over again with this special needle. The needle has little
barbs on the end here, so as you’re stabbing it, the wool’s getting tangled up in itself and it kind of compacts in on itself to create a little bit more dense ball. So you keep adding more wool and stabbing that into the first ball and you can just start to kind of create whatever shape you want. And with a lot of stabbing, you can create a really dense ball of felt and start to add details. And then with a lot of practice, you can start to make stuff like this. So I had to modify this whole process to make it work on these
five-foot tall sculptures. The first thing I did is look at all the different needle stabbing tools to see if there was
something that was faster and more efficient. So there’s a variety of
different types of needles you can buy. 36, 38, 40, 42, I’m not
sure what they all do, but they all have specific things, some of them have barbs that
face at different angles, so when you pull ’em out, they give you kind of a fuzzy texture. I know that the 40 is
one that is often used to finish a piece because it
leaves the smallest holes. I use, for all of the big
sculptures, I just use the 38s. It’s kind of a commonly-used, default needle for needle felting. So, the first thing I did is look at all the different hand tools
that held multiple needles. There’s this one here that holds three. This one here that holds eight. This one here that holds 12. And this one here, it holds 20. So after trying all of these, the three-pin was hands-down my favorite. I actually ended up using the three-pin and occasionally the single
pin for all of the sculptures. The main thing is that the
three-pin was really able to kinda move around the
entire contour of the shape and really the end result
is that the texture on it was very uniform and organic-looking. As soon as I started to go up in size, I just noticed that the
texture that it was leaving was just not as uniform. Especially with the larger ones, it just wasn’t creating a
very consistent pattern. It helps, I think, to go into the surface
at a perpendicular angle. So with that many pins, when you’re dealing with an
organic shape with curves, it’s just hard to put
that theory into practice. Then there’s this thing
called the addi Quick. It’s got a motor, it’s
got an on-off switch. (whirs) It’s got one single needle. I found that this works
great on smaller pieces, especially if you have detail. Sculpting this little
spiral pattern in here with this tool goes very fast. I didn’t end up using this tool though, because I didn’t really have
any fine detail in my work. (whirs) Then there’s this thing
here called Simplicity. It’s got a little on-off switch, and basically when you push this down, (whirs) it’s got a system of eight needles that goes back and forth,
kind of like a sewing machine. This did not work at all for me, and I think it’s more
specifically designed for this process called applique where you are felting flat objects on a flat piece of felt. (whirs) But whenever you’re dealing with an object that has kind of, curves, it just does not work, but it looks cool. (whirs) So I’m using New Zealand Corriedale wool. Corriedale is the name of the sheep. After the sheep are shorn, the wool is washed, then dried, then dyed. So there’s a lot of US
vendors you could find on the internet and on Etsy. This is my favorite one
right here, wistryia.com. Super nice lady, always helped
me to find what I needed. Most of the US vendors sell
small packages of wool, like this size or this size, and I think that’s just
because most of the people are working on a much smaller scale. I was always ordering in bulk
these two-pound bundles here. The US vendors never really
have this size in stock, they always had to special order it from their European people, so it did take a little
bit of time to get that. So the wool also comes
in different gauges, anywhere from a 27 up to a 32. I’m not exactly sure how that all works, but this here is a 27-gauge, this is a 30-gauge, I think it has to do with the coarseness and also how the wool is combed. If you spread this wool apart, you’ll see that it kind
of goes in a crosshatch, it’s combed in different directions. This is definitely a lot more silky. This is a 30-gauge, when you spread it apart you can see that it’s all
combed in one direction. For me, I like the 30 to
the 32-gauge a lot better and it really just boils down to what the final texture looked like. This silkier one left a texture that was a little bit more wispy and you could kind of see the direction, the cord of the felt in the final texture. And I think the thinner felts
are better for like knitting, knitting scarves, and the heavier ones are
better for needle felting. So, now on to the sculpture. This piece was carved out
of a piece of blue EPS foam. This video is actually
part four in a series where I talk about how I made this piece, so if you’re interested
in learning about the foam or how it got to be this big, you could check out
parts one through three. I started by pulling a
strand off the bundle, and then I pulled a
bunch of little strands off of that strand. Then I kinda pulled everything
apart a little bit more, and squished it into
this cotton ball shape. Then I put it down on the foam and I stabbed it in a few
key spots just to secure it. Then I stabbed it a bunch of times in a consistent and even pattern, until it had the same texture that all of the felt around it had. If you aren’t super
methodical and consistent with the way that you lay down the wool and stab it into the felt, you could get a very uneven texture. So regardless of what
system you come up with, I think the important thing is just to really remain consistent. This process of pulling it apart in a bunch of different directions and then bunching it up into
a little cotton ball shape really prevents it from
looking cordy and strandy. If you lay the felt
down without doing this, you can really see the
direction of the fibers. That was something I
definitely didn’t want, so I really tried to bunch
it up into little balls where the strands were not
all going in one direction. (rapid clicking) So another thing I would
do is leave the edges a little bit unstabbed, so it’s a little bit frayed
or a little bit fuzzy. This just helps the new piece blend in to the pieces that are already there. And then I think one of
the most important things is to stab the new piece into the foam in a uniform pattern, and what I mean by this is
don’t just focus on one spot and then move to the next spot, and then move to the next spot. Kind of bring the entire ball of felt down at the same level. (rapid clicking) So you can see here that
there is a little bit of a circular pattern from
the cotton ball shape, but it kind of blends in
and it’s a uniform pattern so it doesn’t really bother me, I actually like how it looks. So I put a second layer of felt on, because after the first layer you can still see some
of the blue foam here. The second layer will hide all of this and just bulk everything up and I think it just looks a lot better, it’s kind of like putting
two coats of paint on. And you can see the edges
here of the second layer that I’ve started. The first layer can be a little bit looser and I don’t need to obsess
about making it look perfect because it will be covered
up by the second layer. So, the second layer can
actually take twice as long as the first just because I’m
being a lot more meticulous. And you can also see on this layer that the edges are a lot fluffier just to help out with the blending. So here’s just one more
walkthrough on the final layer. Pull a bunch of little
pieces off the main cord. Pull all of those pieces
apart in different directions and squish it up into a cotton
ball/hamburger patty shape. Put the piece down on the sculpture, making sure to overlap the
edges from the previous pieces, and in a uniform pattern,
stab the felt into the piece, making sure to leave the edges
of the new felt unstabbed. Here’s a little time lapse
of one of the polka dots. Each one of these dots took
me about 30 minutes to make. I probably put about 100
total hours of felting for the entire piece, and used about two and
a half pounds of felt on the five-foot piece. One last thing to show here, on the edges around the
face and the antlers, I did use the single needle. Sometimes with a little needle, you could just get into
those hard-to-reach spots or those tight little corners. And that is the end of the
final video in this series. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, I would greatly appreciate it if you liked it or shared it,
or even left a comment below. All of that stuff helps
YouTube’s algorithm share it to a wider public. So thanks again, and I
will see you next time. (“Wolf” by Chinese Man)
With the right techniques, binding off your projects can be easy and stress free. In this video, I’ll show you three ways to finish your knitting like a pro. Hi, I’m …
With the right techniques, binding off your
projects can be easy and stress free. In this video, I’ll show you three ways to finish your
knitting like a pro. Hi, I’m Stefanie Japel, a designer and instructor
on Craftsy dot com. I’m going to show three easy ways to bind off your project. Binding
off is what we call it when we are finished with the knitting of a project, and need to
secure the last row. First, let me show you a traditional bind
off. You just knit two stitches, pass the first knit stitch over the second one.
Then repeat across the row. Next let me show you how to bind off “in stitch
pattern”. This is similar to the traditional bind off,
except that if you come to a purl, you purl then slip the last stitch over, if you come
to a knit, you knit, then slip the last stitch over.
Now I’ll work a three-needle bind-off. This is perfect for when you want to join two pieces
of knit fabric together, end-to-end, without adding extra bulk. Like at a shoulder seam.
To do this, hold the two swatches together with the needles touching. Then, use the third
needle to bind off both pieces at once. Thanks for watching, and don’t forget you
can click the “i” in the top-right corner of this video to learn more knitting techniques
or to find the supplies I’ve been using.
That’s Pharm He’s the real culprit Their relationship is going to the next level How come we know this through social media We have to clear up with him He’s here …
That’s Pharm He’s the real culprit Their relationship is going to the next level How come we know this through social media We have to clear up with him He’s here Why everyone is looking at me? You want to know? Here I know What? You don’t need our help anymore What are you talking about? It’s not like that… I’m joking I’m not angry at you I’m just kidding But You should let us know where you’re going So, we don’t have to worry By the way When did he secretly start picking you up and dropping you off? What secret? It’s not a secret I think DeanPharm is becoming a thing because people are sharing photos Photos? What photos? The one that you fed him This is bad I fed so many people Why did they only take the photo that I fed him? Will Dean’s fans attack me? I don’t think so Dean’s fans like you very much How do you know? I’m not lying. I have evidence Here DeanPharm secret chat group At first It was just Dean’s fan club But now they added Pharm too You’re the exceptional person Pharm Manaow! Stop it Please There’re so many people who want your photos I promise that I will ask for your permission first before I share your photos Who will want a photo of me? Poor Manaow Of course, Pharm knows nothing Except things on the Swimming Club’s FB page And Dean’s FB Team! My friend If you have some spare time Please go check our university’s web board And Cute Boy Page There are so many photos of you Release me Can you stop hurting me? Why are you so cute? What are you doing? Stop it How come there are still TeamPharm shippers? They are so outdated So Can I upload your photos? If not It’s okay I took many photos already But it’s okay I’m okay But I took the photos already It’s okay if you don’t allow me to share the photos I won’t feel anything I just think you’re cute Act bigger Your photo is so cute Act bigger Can I? Up to you You let me act big for so long You are the cutest! Just don’t post it everywhere Of course not So cute! I won’t post it everywhere Isn’t this cute? This is not cute at all It’s a candid photo This is a good photo It is not Can you take it again? I like this one This one is cute What’s wrong? Are you sick? Nothing I… You’re not in a hurry today? No I will eat breakfast with you two Why are you guys not eating yet? Because Del told me to wait for you We will have breakfast now, please Okay Rice soup with pork ribs? Who made this? Del made all this by herself Del said she wants her brothers to try her cooking Eat it before it gets cold Please Very delicious Delicious I like it I asked my friend to help me I tried making it so many times Which friend? My friend from the cooking club Is she cute? Why? Are you going to flirt with my friend? If she can teach you how to cook this well She must be an amazing person Of course I’ll flirt with her I think you’re too late Someone’s got eyes on my friend already Right? You know her? Ronnarit Ronnaporn Finish your breakfast quickly And let’s go to the university Yes sir Who texts you? Pharm: How was it? Del: They love it. Thank you so much Sunday (This piece should be here) (Why did you cut it?) (I don’t know!) (Damn you) (Why didn’t you follow the template?) (Should we do it again?) (You have to buy a new one for me) Again? (You pay!) (Help me fix this too!) (You have to help me, okay?) (Okay) I planned to wake up late This is so annoying (It doesn’t fit anymore!) (Stop arguing) (We’re in the same group) It’s just 6 o’clock (Fine, I’ll go buy a new one) (Go!) (And come back quickly!) (Please keep your voice down. From Room 802) (Sorry about the loud noise. From Room 801) Who should I go with? Dean Hello Why you sound so surprised? I was going to text you but you call me first What’s the matter? Nothing. Is there anything I can do for you? What time does your class finish? My class got cancelled today I’m free all day I don’t have class too Let’s go eat lunch together My friend just opened a restaurant at Siam He wants us to come over I’d love to Okay
Ah.. my stomach… Hello. This is HEOPOP. I feel not good now. Because I think I have an upset stomach from hamburgers at lunch. I ate two burgers. I think I …
Ah.. my stomach… Hello. This is HEOPOP. I feel not good now. Because I think I have an upset stomach
from hamburgers at lunch. I ate two burgers. I think I ate too much and I feel not good now. This is the auto needle. This is for pricking finger. I’m going to start to prick my fingers. I need a tissue. How can I open this? There’s a thing looks like a pen. When I push the button, the needle will out from this. Open this. I don’t have a power to say something to you. This is a needle for one use. Pick one from it. Open the cap, and you can see the needle here. Put this here. Close the cap. When I click it on my finger, the needle goes into my finger and out. Then it will blood, right? I can see the dark blood then. I’m going to start now. I feel nervous. It’s so nervous to prick my fingers by myself. I’m going to do this. Here.. I need to do it right now. I’m nervous. I’m too timid right now… I’ll do it. Like this.. and Go! It was too weak. Again. I’m going to do this. It’s bleeding now. You can see the red blood like this. Ah, it just came too little. It should be more. It should be more like this. Because the more blood means the more circulation. Because the more blood means the more circulation. Then it will help me digest. That’s why olders do this
when they have an upset stomach. That’s why olders do this
when they have an upset stomach. actually I’m scared to prick fingers. I’m still scared. Even thought I’m grown up. But, I can’t help it. You know, it’s better to prick finger and feel better. I’ll do one more. Make blood get together here. My fingers are sweating. I feel nervous. Like this, I’ll do this. Oh, it’s bleeding a lot now. It’s really dark. Dark red? It’s bleeding a lot. Does people usually prick the
opposite side of the finger? When I was little, my parents did that. It’s much hurt. Because here skin is weak. So, here, I prick this side. It doesn’t matter where you prick. But you can get more blood here. So, I’m recommending this side. Here’s too hurt. My grandma picked this side when I was little. Don’t use your phone or computer
right after you pricked. Because virus could break into through this. You should be carefull, okay? Let’s do one more. I’m scared. Let’s do it again. Okay. There’s not much of blood. Oh, okay, it started to bleed. I’m feeling like seating now. I think my body circulation works well now. Well, I need to do this to another hand. Third one. You have to eat slowly and
chew your food extremely well. It’s too bad to have an upset stomach. Okay? Granmas did home remedy like this. There’re many unscientific things. But pricking finger works really well. Because it helps body circulation. That helps you digest. It’s hurt to prick finger actually. That’s a weakness. Let’s do one more. It’s hurt. It doesn’t stop. Oh my… It doesn’t stop. I was dark red at first, but it turns to lighter. You can see this, right? Okay. After using this, take it off. And I’m going to throw away. This is a disposable one. Don’t use it more than once. There’re many of them. It’s all disposable needle. I took this video becuse I had an upset stomach. I got lots of dark red blood. I feel better now. You have to eat slowly and
chew your food extremely well. Okay? Don’t eat food too fast. Have a great day! Bye! Please thumbs up. Bye.
Today I want to show you how to do a decorative 3-needle bind-off. You start by using a contrast color, and you pick up on the right side of the work …
Today I want to show you how to do a decorative 3-needle bind-off. You start by using a contrast color, and you pick up on the right side of the work for that. So I’ve decided on this garter-stitch piece that this is the right side, so I’ve picked up and I’ve done the same on the other side. Now what you do, rather than as normal, putting right sides together for the 3-needle bind-off, you want to put wrong sides together. You’re going to do the 3-needle bind-off otherwise exactly the same as before. You’re going to go into the 2 stitches on on the first place, knit through them, [joking] Eh… you’re gonna try again. Knit through them–there we go– you’re going to have the same number of stitches on each side of the work. Bind off one stitch over the other then. I’m going to continue doing this because I want to show you how it looks after it’s done. The ends will probably be a bit loose. And all you do later is weave them in and tighten them up, so that’s nothing to worry about. But. What looks really cool is how this contrast color makes almost a rope-like effect up through the middle. And I can using this to do all kinds of things– to do maybe sewing side seams of sweaters together, even, or putting purses together, or putting squares of a blanket together. It is just a great technique and I recommend that you try it! www.reallyclear.com
There are several lace triangle shawls out there that start with this same technique of casting-on stitches and picking up stitches around, and they’re scarves that look like this. I’ve worked …
There are several lace triangle shawls out
there that start with this same technique of casting-on stitches and picking up stitches
around, and they’re scarves that look like this. I’ve worked a few of them myself. This one
– I’ll give you a link to this pattern. And it’s for this little bit of knitting
right here. And when people read the pattern it doesn’t
make any sense [laughs], and so they think they’re not understanding what it is. But it is a weird little bit of knitting,
I want to cover this technique so you can see how it looks kind of blown up with bigger
yarn and you see that it actually does work. You’re not misreading the pattern. Let’s take a look on this lace scarf. You can’t even see it. It is this little bit of knitting right here. That just gets you started with the right
shape for branching out and knitting the rest of the shawl. The whole shawl starts from right here. And this is a finished bit blown up. I’ve only done the first couple of rows. It is this bit right here. I know it probably doesn’t make any sense
but it works out for the rest of the shawl. And this of course is a lot easier to see,
considering that this is the weight of yarn that you’re usually doing it in. I think that adds to the confusion quite a
bit, because it’s just hard to see when you’re using this yarn. Much easier to see when you’re using this
yarn. Okay, let’s cover the technique. The pattern will tell you – and these patterns
all start out the same like this. Um, they’ll tell you to cast-on three stitches. And there is something that I’m going to
show you that I did NOT do in this scarf. There’s actually a bump right here, and
that’s because that is my slip knot. It is neater work to do a cast-on without
a slip knot. And you’ll avoid having that bump. That bump is not distressing me in any way,
but I always try to do the nicest work I can. So I’m going to do a long tail cast-on,
slingshot method. And I’ll give you a link to this cast-on,
if you want a slower breakdown of it. I’m going to cast on three stitches. Okay. And then the pattern tells you to knit six
rows. Oh, one more thing. I advise you to start
on double pointed needles for this bit. You don’t need the double points, but this
part of the scarf is so fiddley, that you’ll do better to not have a bunch of cord flapping
around, getting in your way. This is four. Okay. So you end up with this little tiny bit of
garter stitch knitting. Excuse me just a moment here. Six rows, three ridges. Now the first thing the pattern tells you
after you’ve knit those six rows is to pick up three stitches from the long edge. There’s the short edge, there’s the long
edge. And I find that I can pick them up – the
first one, just after that ridge, kind of half way into that ridge. There’s one. You notice I’m using the same needle for
this. So I’m kind of changing the direction of my knitting, using this same needle. Kind
of stretching this bit of knitting around. And the third one I’m going to pick up right
before the corner. Okay, so now I have six stitches on the needle. The next bit of instruction tells me to pick
up three stitches from the cast-on edge. This is the part that everyone gets confused
about. Because that’s going the wrong direction! We’ve already come from over here, and over
here, and now we’re going to go back this way? I swear, this works. Normally, when you’re picking up stitches
I advise you to pick up both legs of the V. Kind of too much to do for this one, I’m
just going to pick up the front leg, this one here, the front leg of the V of the cast-on
stitch. If I can. Lots of tension on the working yarn to get
that to pull through. I’m having a pretty easy time seeing where
I’m going with this. It’s kind of a different story when you’re
using the lace weight yarn. Okay, now [laughs]. See, I told you it was going to work out! There is the beginning of my lace shawl, and
I have nine stitches on the needle. The next row of your pattern – of course,
all patterns are different – but the next row is usually a wrong side row, and it gets
you started on the increases. So this is a really brilliant way to start
a triangle lace scarf. It’s really smart. But the beginning can be confusing. Hopefully
that cleared it up. [music]
Introducing how to make a gradation using wool felt. See lesson 1 for how to make a base. Use beige and black merino wool This color is a mixture of these …
Introducing how to make a gradation using wool felt. See lesson 1 for how to make a base. Use beige and black merino wool This color is a mixture of these two colors. In this way, 5 to 6 colors are created in advance. When you don’t know how to mix colors, you can learn from the links in the summary column Make the base hard Mark with a pen The line drawn on the outside is a measure of hair length. Planting hair from the center See Lesson 6 for techniques for planting hair. One row completed Then plant the brightest color At this time, be careful to be parallel to the black line. Repeat these steps Refer to the line for the poking position If it is too long, cut it roughly Cut the outside of the circle drawn as a guide Cut it little by little, carefully And it stabilizes by supporting with fingers Separate from the root Do you already look like an animal?
hey misfits, Toni Craft here. Do you like my bandanna? Yeah you do, and you want to know how to make it. I’m gonna show you how to make it with just a box of fabric dye and some fabric paint. I got this (bandanna) from a craft store, it was just a plain white cotton bandana and I made it cool and
I’m actually incredibly happy with the way it turned out. I kind of want
to make a bunch of them and turn them into dog shirts or something… you can make this exact same thing with a single box of rit dye – I used black, a pot of hot water, some salt (that’s part of the RIT dye instructions)
and and then the fabric paint. I just used a foam brush, you can really do this with anything. You can make your own stamp out of a potato if you wanted to. I
just did little X’s crosses whatever you want to call them to make a pattern. I
used two different colors, white and black and then of course the the bandanna
was already white and I just dyed the tips black. So anyways this is a
really easy project it is a little time-consuming because you have to wait between steps and iron things and so on and so forth. It was really fun and I
would definitely do it again! I love how customized you can make this. I mean when I was doing this I was like “oh my god” yeah I could do this in a
million different colors. so anyways I’m really excited about this I don’t know exactly what I’ll do with a
bunch of handkerchiefs besides wear them to protest – “can’t gas
me!” so anyways let me show you what I did to get this done so let’s get to it I really hope you enjoyed today’s video
thanks so much for sticking around and I’ll see you next week I just want to remind you that if you
subscribe by hitting the red button below you will always see my videos on
your home screen if you want an even more insider track if you hit that
little bell you will be alerted every time I post and you’ll never miss
anything and last but not least I need your help.
I know there’s other people out there who are like us, we just need to find them so if you know any badass crafty punk-rock creative people tell them to come hang
out and let’s build an empire, alright? thanks so much!!
Welcome to Appalachian Bonsai. Today, we’re going to be talking about some needle reduction techniques for a Japanese black pine I learned this technique from the Bonsai Learning Center of Charlotte, …
Welcome to Appalachian Bonsai. Today, we’re going to be talking about some needle reduction techniques for a Japanese black pine I learned this technique from the Bonsai Learning Center of Charlotte, North Carolina I’m gonna leave the information for that website down in the description below. Japanese black pine has a very interesting way to produce new buds when pushed under stress. I say that because I’m about to put this tree under a lot of stress. Therefore, this tree needs to be extremely healthy before we perform these techniques. The specific technique I’m going to be doing is taking off most of the needles of this tree.
Now, part of this technique which will not be seen today is the removing of all the candles from this tree. I did that in early June, which is part of the Northern Hemisphere’s timeline for this technique. So, it’s gonna be late for everybody watching this video as it’s put out. but, Japanese black pine has the ability to produce two flushes of buds within a year. This is not the case for all other pines. So please be careful whenever you try this technique. Do not try this technique on pines that are not 2 or 3 needles. So 5 and 7 needle pines will die if you perform this technique on them. In the first week of June, I removed all of the candles from this pine. Every one of them right at the base from where they first grew. This is something that’s very unusual about the black pine. It will have the ability to produce new buds this year. Now it has to produce new buds. Otherwise, it won’t have new needles for the following year, which is important for the health and the life of this tree. The black pine can handle this. So when you reduce them all the way down to the base, they will put out new buds. Whenever they elongate, they will elongate shorter because they don’t have enough resources and they don’t have enough time to get longer. What we’re also going to do is we’re going to remove the majority of the needles from this tree which allows a lot of light in here. This can help the tree produce more buds as well as produce back buds. What I mean by back budding is that the tree will produce buds further back down the branch and this will allow us to ramify the structure of this tree To balance all of this out, we’re going to be doing this in phases. So again, as I said at the first of the month, I reduced all of the candles completely to nothing. TO NOTHING! Within a couple of days of doing that I came to all of the lower branches and I reduced each little cluster of needles to about two or three at the very tips. So as you can see here, I’ve only got a couple of needles coming out from each of these tips. I have a tip here, And I have a tip here and a tip here and a tip here and only a couple of needles are left. That’s the same on all of these One week later. I came in and I reduced all of the needles from about the middle of the tree. And so again, we can see that we are missing the majority of needles from this section from this section from all of these little tips There’s only about two or three needles.
Now that it’s the third week of June, I’m going to reduce the rest of them from the top. What I’m doing is I am allowing these bottom branches to callus over, to produce new buds, and to allow those buds to elongate before the top does, and this will balance the amount of energy that’s within the tree. Because this is apex dominant, it pushes all the energy up to the top leaving these lower branches weak. When we let the first branches, the weak branches, be pruned first they have a longer time to be able to heal, and to be able to produce new buds while the top continues to grow. When that top is finally cut, the rest of that energy is being filled into these branches that have already recovered. Therefore the balance of energy is complete. When the buds elongate, they will be approximately the same length around all of the tree. So, what I’m going to do now is remove all of the needle clusters from the top with the exception of two or three needles clusters towards the tips of each. I’m just doing this with my fingers. Just pulling these needles from the base. In little tricky spots I do have a pair of regular tweezers that I can use. You want to pull in the same direction that these needles are growing. You don’t want to pull down because you’re gonna rip the branch. And we don’t need any more damage done to these than what we’re already doing. So there! This particular branch has at its tip only two… three needle clusters and that’s it. Let’s move on to the next one. There! And that one only has one, two, three needle clusters. One, two, three. I have these down here at the base that should have been pulled last year. Never were. Again, three weeks ago, I came in and I pruned off every one of these candles from the top. Already, I have new buds. There’s one, two. One, two buds coming off of these. One, two, and then one, two, and three buds coming off of this one. You can see there’s new buds right here, here, and here. So that’s pretty much it for this needle reduction technique. In the fall time, the new buds will have elongated, the needles will have opened, and they will have hardened. New buds will be produced for next year. When that happens we can take off the rest of these old needles from last year and the tree will have a nice, clean, overall appearance with very short needles. Next year though, you will not perform this technique. You will only remove the buds that you don’t want down to one or two specifically two to continue forked branches. Then let it grow and recover its health. This is a very invasive very stressful technique to do on black pines. So, you should only do this every other year. As also mentioned before, this is specific to Japanese black pine and maybe a few other species of two or three needle pines. You cannot perform this technique on white pine or other five and seven needle pines. I hope you have enjoyed this video. If you want more information about Japanese black pine and needle reduction check out the Bonsai Learning Center of Charlotte, North Carolina. They have a lot of good information on their website that’s available for free. Follow me on Instagram @appalachian_bonsai
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