Oak style, Privet

Hi all, Just wanted to share my Ligustrum Ovalfolium ive styled like an ancient Oak tree, I acquired the tree this week..

Before:




After:













This is my second major carving job, ill let it weather a season before refining and treating with natural wood preserver..The ramification also needs to be built up..

My inspiration, The Bowthorpe Oak:

Nice tree and nice work with the carving and wiring too!

That's a good trunk for Privet. I have a couple but they're pretty weedy in comparison. Keep us updated on it's progress.

Regards

Richard

I like it. It will end up beautifully. They grow so quick!

Love your inspiration tree, the Bowthorpe Oak.

This can almost fit into the Fairy tail bonsai style....me thinks.

Love Light and Awakening
Andre

Hi, I appreciate the comments guys..

Andre, im not sure it could qualify for fairy tale, I dont think its unique enough, but I understand why you'd say that, because Privets look nothing like this in nature
But saying that, the branches on this tree were naturally ascending upwards from the trunk, so ive kind of went with the theme of a deciduous and added some movement to those branches that were already ascending upwards..

Im still fairly new to the hobby and been studying bonsai 3 years, I just try to make my trees look as natural as possible really... my favourite trees are deciduous..

Very Nice start.

This looks like the Chinese privet, Ligustrum sinensis. I've worked a lot with them, and they are fun -- BUT . . .

Watch out for rotting pithy wood where you cut the stump. I struggled for years, but could not keep mine from rotting away.

Mine -- now gone 3 years:







and it went downhill from there.

So keep a sharp eye on it. I used wood hardener, epoxy and lime sulpher to no avail.

Thanks Jim,

Im quite certain this is Oval folium and native to Japan, its a semi evergreen fully hardy variety....that simensis is actually sold as an indoor tree on the website I got this tree from, its not as hardy, thats probably why you've had issues with the rotting...see here:

http://www.kaizenbonsai.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=5517

http://www.kaizenbonsai.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=5041

Your best bet IMO might be to try a mixture of ronseal wood stain and or teak oil, something that keeps the carved areas water proofed, the lime sulpher isnt reliable long term as a wood preserver from my knowledge... see here:

http://www.bonsai4me.com/Basics/Basics%20Bonsai%20MythsLimeSulphur%20Page3.html

I have a really large privet bush with an amazing base growing in my yard that I will uproot this spring. However, I don't have much space on my benches since most are really good material (to keep)... so I might end up giving the stump to someone who can turn this into a beauty.

Here's an update on my Privet, i did some work on the uro a few months ago and this week did some touch up work on the carved areas...its been growing well, no plans on pruning until end of year..

Update on this one, the front is deadwood now, i carved it a few months ago..

It was done in stages, in the first image it looked a little man made with some straight lines, it needed to be more irregular..


Here i got more jagged edges in..










Some refinement carving can be done in time, but just to let it grow and weather in for now..
The branches will be left to grow and thicken for another season or two before cutting back.

Nice work! The carving looks really good.

A shame perhaps that all the foliage is at the back but that's a small point. The overall image is very strong and should just keep on getting better with time.

I'm tempted to get myself a similar stump. Kaizen do usually have a few for sale at very reasonable prices!

Regards

Richard

Cheers Richard, I do agree some frontal branches could of added to the image, there was one that died off, it was after that i decided to just make the whole front a deadwood feature. once the branches reach the required thickness for the trunk it will all flow better, the tree even without front branches has good depth when viewed from all sides and doesnt look flat..in time i will wire one or two forward to give even more depth.
Kaizen does have a few nice chunky pieces, ive been tempted myself