Pot resurection

We've been looking for a pot for the large Japanese yew I have here for a year or two now as the tree is getting close to ready for it. This particular pot is a Dereck Aspinall pot that has had a fairly hard life with a previous owner but it was the ideal size, colour and shape for the tree so I decided to buy it a few months ago.

Most damage was to the feet where all the edges are chipped off - this comes from sliding the pots around on the benches, tables or in your vehicle and is a commonly seen form of damage. I see it a lot on European pots and less so on Japanese pots so I suspect the clay used or the techniques in manufacture may have something to do with it, but that is a bit of guess work based on observations.

First thing was to clean the pot well and assess all the damage

 

There are several chips in the rim too, both inside and out - the pot certainly has had an active previous life but I'd had a good look at it a few months before deciding to get it so none were surprises. 

First job after washing and drying was to rough up the edges with a file, then apply an exterior 2 part epoxy filler

I left this for 24hrs in the warm and the next day began gently sanding with very fine wet and dry sand paper. Following the sanding I mixed a colour match from my paints, and gave the areas 2 coats, followed by an ink wash to blend it and finally a sealing coat. The entire pot was oiled and left to dry for a week in the warm. I'm very pleased with the results and will certainly plant the taxus cuspidata in the spring.

And here we have a lovely UK made pot back in its prime

Dereck Aspinall  - Soft Rectangle - unglazed, 23" x 16" x 5"