raw material juniper 9 months on

here is the first stages of an unstyled juniper imported from japan  - these are old field grown trees that are roughly carved and cut back in the ground. This one has sat at the importers for a few years as it was quite a challenging piece of material - 110cm tall with a very flat & straight section

the tree as it came home

the first bends are put in the trunk to add movement and to compact the tree as it is too tall


with a modified jig saw the live vein and foliage on the right hand side is cut down towards the roots so it can be brought further round to the front of the tree and the living branch moved higher up. This now puts taper into the lower trunk and adds more interest.


Using the same method I cut the trunk down towards the roots on the left hand side so the branch that side could be twisted on the live vein and moved from one side of the tree to the other. This was better than just cutting it off and we now have a 2nd section of live vein visible from the front. The first wiring has layered the foliage in a rough plan and given the tree an initial shape.





the trunk bends were done in March then the tree left to rest
the veins were separated in june and the tree left to grow all summer
the first wiring was done last week of November.

lots of work to do still but the tree has a bonsai plan now

The tree looks great! Well done Marcus. Your jins look very awe naturale...

Love and light

Lovely Marcus! did you apply/add the lowest jin on the tree? It looks convincing.

Todd Ellis wrote:Lovely Marcus! did you apply/add the lowest jin on the tree? It looks convincing.

hi Tod - no, not added artificially.

look at first picture...the branch on the lower left......using my adapted jigsaw i separated part of the live vein that feeds this branch from the trunk, then i managed to twist the entire branch from pointing left to pointing right. you can see the same live vein now moves up and across the front of the trunk. A small screw at the back holds it more securely in place than just the separated section of wood.

in the same way the living branch and jin that was on the right was also loosened from the trunk and brought up and inwards, but both branches remain attached to their live veins, the roots and the lower trunk etc.

it was just an adaption of the technique where a section of branch is partially hollowed out so it can be bent easily.

cheers

one other detail Todd,

the foliage on the lower right pad is the branch that was on the left ! The foliage that was originally on the right hand side is now in the apex of the tree at the back. this upper section will be jinned i think as there is lots of spare foliage in the upper tree

I love what you've done there Marcus. Really nice work.  

Marcus    

sorry, that's all I can say.
Khaimraj

excellent tree, excellent technique. well done.

I have a thought. In order to keep the visual beauty of lives veins moving across the trunk, don't jin the foliage pad that originally was lower right and now is rear apex. Reduce it is good, but keep enough foliage to keep the life line alive.

a major flaw in USA Juniper styles I have seen is too much dead wood. Everything looks like a Tanuki, even if it was not Tanuki. Keep enough live veins that it visually looks more alive than dead. Multiple life lines are interesting, too much dead wood tends to look artificial.

so far your tree looks like in time it could be a masterpiece. Well done, you have far better vision than I. I would have never thought of moving the branches the way you did.

Hi Leo,

thanks to you and everyone else for such kind and encouraging comments, and yes I totally get what you are saying. I must admit my main reason initially to keep living foliage on the two branches that were quite substantially moved was to prove (to myself) that the methods I was trying were possible while not killing parts of the tree. In future I may have material with one critical crucial branch to move and now I have confidence to repeat the methods if need be.

When we (Peter Warren & I) initially assessed the material we knew only one at most of the two lower branches would be needed but we left them both in place and just concentrated on putting the big bends in the trunk. I have studied how Kimura was separating living sections of junipers and cutting out poor sections of trunks etc and thought it was worth a try adapting this to move living branches on the tree to better positions rather than just cutting them off or jinning them. So far so good  

I know we all see our own trees with rose tinted specs etc but I've got more and more excited by this one as the work has progressed. We repotted last year as well so growth in 2014 will be strong and this will cause lots of new inner shoots and many strong growth tips. It will be hard to get the foliage neat and tight until the tree is getting pot bound again though, so there is no point in doing a pad refining wiring for 2 years. The flowering slows down as the tree settles too and as this sets back pad development so much it is better to wait it out a bit until the tree is ready for stage 3

cheers everyone

Marcus