Displaying smaller stones can be difficult due to the challenges of achieving scale in a display. While it is relatively easy to appreciate individual small stones' features, locating quality accessories requires more innovation and creativity. The first step is to define the limits of the display. This space can be a permanent space in a cabinet or on a shelf. Another approach is to construct a designated display space that functions much as a miniature Japanese tokonoma. Once a lilliputian alcove is identified, you can focus on the elements used in this space.

Long or short scrolls and beautiful hand-crafted display tables or bronze trays used in traditional larger stone displays can be attractive and evoke strong feelings. However, these scrolls are too large to use with small stones, and the number of quality small display tables and ceramic or metal trays is limited and often expensive. This article will look at small wood panels as suitable alternatives to scrolls and display tables. Each display in this article is limited to an area of 40 cm x 40 x 30 cm (16 x 16 x 12 inches) or less.

We chose the wood panels used in these displays for their distinctive natural patterns. The wood of different tree species will display distinct patterns depending upon how a log is cut. 

Wood obtained from burls, a rounded outgrowth on a tree trunk that grows in a deformed manner, often reveals beautiful patterns. Wood panels obtained from traumatized wood can also be used with small stones. Injuries to the trunk or large limbs of a living tree are entry points for fungal spores. The spores germinate and spread through the wood, causing discoloration and gradual deterioration of the wood. Wood traumatized by fungal infections is known as spalted wood and has unique patterns and colors sought after by woodcarvers.  The pieces used in several of the displays illustrated here are spalted wood obtained from Timothy Shea, a skilled woodworker in Santa Cruz, California. He made the panels and recognized them as possible companion pieces in viewing stone displays. We received several small wood panels from Shea and began experimenting with using them with different small stones.  

We found that the spalted panels can serve as substitute miniature scrolls, a wall hanging, or in place of a table or slab, and as backdrops. In the following display, a spalted panel 27.5 cm x 5 cm (10.8 x 2.8 inches) serves as a painting of a pond with waterlily pads. This Monet-like element compliment the figure stone from the Gobi Desert in China. The tiny white stone sits on a flat Kamuikotan stone from Hokkaido and suggests a young turtle sunning on a rock. The Gobi Desert stone is 5.5 cm wide, 2.5 cm high and 3 cm deep (2.1 x 1 x 1.2 inches).

This display matched a small Chinese Taihu stone, 16 cm high, with a spalted panel with a pattern that resembles steep karst-like mountain formations. A tiny bronze turtle helps to establish scale, so the stone and panel appear larger than they are. The wood panel, 25.3 cm long and 6.5 cm wide (10 x 2.5 inches), with a pattern like rough steep mountains, is a replacement for a scroll. The small black Taihu stone is 16 cm (6.3 inches) high.