Twisted Itoigawa Shimpaku Progression

Here is the shimpaku I was given at a workshop at Shohin St. Louis in 2009 before it was styled.


This next picture is halfway through the styling.


Here is the completed tree from the workshop. The leader of the workshop was Tigre Urishibata (forgive my spelling). His father was supposed to be the headliner of the show but had health issues. His father is well known for shohin in Japan. I did most of the work on the tree, like wiring and carving the shari, while Tigre did some jin and move branches around. Tigre helped me out with the design, back then I could not see the completed work out of the rough material, since then I have been working on my eye for design.


After letting it grow for a year, here is how it looked.


Over the summer, once I saw that is was pushing a lot of mature growth, a sign that it is good to work on junipers, I rewired it.




It will go in a pot either this spring or next. Any suggestions or comments? I plan on repotting it with Mike Hagedorn, with whom my father is in a study group with.

Andrew

Looking good shimsuki. My recommendation, if I may, is to tilt the tree slightly (possibly towards the left) to add more movement to the spiraling trunk and arrange the branches a bit so that the tree doesn't look so balanced. Right now your tree is a bit static and somewhat symmetrical. Nonetheless great job!

Great work, good progression. Thank for sharing

Well done Andrew! Brilliant material and a great start this tree has!

nice bonsai!, my opinion are it look too balance on apex. it look opposite form with twist trunk line.
I think... it will look better if the apex have flow to eiter side, maybe to the right as it form is strong flow to this side. I must apologize to you as it is only beginner comment