Bag End Bonsai Trayscape

Lord of the rings Bonsai landscape

A large hill (The Hill) lay to the north, and under its southern slopes Bilbo's father Bungo built the luxurious smial Bag End above the lane of Bagshot Row.

This is the home of Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee, where both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings begin and end. The scene is recreated by Bonsai artist Chris Guise, who spend over 80 hours to build it.

The Bag End landscape

Before we continue with how this was created, let's first check out a few photos of the finished Lord of the Rings Bonsai landscape!

Bag end

This is the result of Chris' work. Read about how this was created below.

Bag end

Noticed the miniature broomstick? All these details were hand crafted by Chris!

Bag end

The trayscape in winter.

Bag end

More snow has fallen, and so Chris made a tiny snowman...

Bag end

Closeup shot of the snowman.

Bag end

The miniature Lord of the Rings trayscape in summer.

Bag end

Bag End, also in summer.

Bag end

Noticed the tiny chimney on the roof?

Bag end

A final shot of the landscape, let's see how it was made!

Building the Bag End landscape, step by step

Click on images to enlarge

Not long after I bought this tree I carved a shari down the trunk, covered the edges with cut paste and left it alone. After two years the edges had callused over nicely.

The carving up to this part-finished stage took approximately 3 hours, I had to be very careful not to spoil the rolled callus that had formed at the edges from the previous shari carving session.

After fitting the drainage mesh and tie-wires to the slab a mound of akadama was placed on it and the tree gently positioned and secured. I then built a peat/clay 'muck' retaining wall around the outside backfilled it with potting soil.

The frontage was built onto a plastic mesh backing. The mesh binds everything together so that the finished item is able to withstand a lot of handling. The bricks were cut from a roofing tile, tumbled to knock the sharp edges off and cemented around a round plastic former.

I wanted the big root to look like it had grown around the brick doorframe, so I carved a flat back on it to allow the brick front to butt up tight against it.

Brown silicone sealant.

Ready for laying.

The next step was to position the brick front. To do this I spread a plastic sheet over the slab and mounded up some quick-dry cement mix on it. I pressed some aluminium tie wires into it and then gently eased the brickwork over the top of the wires.

After the brick front was secured I started work on the back. I needed to build up a high mound of soil behind the frontage, even higher that the top of the bricks so I decided to try using florist's Oasis as a filler. It is very light, obviously absorbs lots of water and is easy to cut and shape. It was secured to the back of the brickwork with wire and was then covered over with a thin layer of muck and potting soil.

After the main components were in place I found I still had a gap between the door frame and the tree. The picture shows the solution, some brickwork and moss in behind the warty lumps on the trunk to fill the gap.

For the fence strips of Meranti wood were split with a knife and wound together with anodised aluminium wire. Before assembly the strips were given a coat of diluted dark wood stain to take away the freshly-cut look, and the wire was aged by rubbing it with wire wool.

The fence was pushed into the muck wall that I had built earlier and firmed into place.

The step in the gateway is a small coloured and textured cement slab left over from another project.

A hole was drilled in the door, also on the lathe, so that I could fix the knob in place with a small screw from the back.

The door construction was quite simple. Miniature planks were made, with the edges beveled and sanded. The planks were laid upside down on the table and more strips were stapled to the back. Then the door was cut to shape and sanded smooth.

I had built a slate path up from the gate to the front door, with a little paved area extending under the window. The cracks and gaps between the slabs were filled in with little tufts of moss.

The very last thing to be fitted was the chimney stack. To fit it I carved a little wooden stake to fit up inside and pushed the other end through the moss and into the soil beneath.

The final touch, a tiny broom bought from a doll's house shop.

Finally the trayscape was finished. I would estimate that I spent over 80 hours working on this project.

Bag End Bonsai Trayscape

The Bag End landscape

Building the Bag End landscape, step by step

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