I've found some earlier photos:
File info says 2009 but also says 4:09am so maybe the camera calendar was not set at that stage? - pretty sure it is the same tree. One of the root grafts still fusing at the base: This looks like the first time it was in a bonsai pot - Sept 2009. The previous root graft has ben reduced to a stump and more added. Nearly a year later in June 2010
precise details of that palmatum are also lost in the mists of time Keels. I can't recall if this was a layer or just a seedling chosen for having extra low shoots to develop multi trunks. I do know I deliberately set out to grow this multi trunk Japanese maple style tree and actually started several at the same time, some of which I still have but not all were worth keeping and have been passed on to other growers.Would love to know more on the first tree the Japanese maple. How did you develop it, It looks like a wonderful tree.
2010 is the earliest photo I can find of the structure and there's not much difference. May 2009 photo shows autumn colour but not the branch structure