What would you do??? Carving suggestions

[banksia]

I've had this Bougi for a little over 2 years now, and while it's just starting to get some structure to it....the obvious inverse taper and large chop scar have always bothered me . I'm looking for suggestions on how it would be best to rectify this and get some taper into it. Or maybe some carving/hollowing and make a design feature out of it!
My carving skills are somewhat limited to say the least, but I have a good Dremel and the asssociated bits needed to make a decent start on it. My photoshop skills are even less magnificent..so any virts would be appreciated too.

Cheers,
Anthony



P.S This "tree" is 27cms tall and just thicker than a Coke can.

[Bretts]

Thats a tough one online Bank.
My thoughts are to start by carving drasticly and roughly to remove negative taper and then stand back and have another look over a period of time at what you have. Others may prefer to have a plan from start to finish.

[Steven]

Nice and fat Anthony. What ever you do will need to be pretty extensive.
Perhaps something like Pup's Melaleuca which you can see in this post. Because the Bougies have soft wood which rots easily, the burning will help preserve it.
Regards,
Steven

[Joel]

Hi Anthony,

I haven't worked with bougies before, but i would consider air layering just below the bottom of the scar, and then flattening the roots out a year after removing the layer. Then you could either use the scar as the front, hollow it out, treat it, and use some black ink on it, or you could put it at the back and pretend its not there at all!

Good luck!

JayC

[banksia]

Thanks for the replies so far people. As most have said so far, things will have to be quite drastic and extensive at that.
JayC!. While I never really thought of layering it, the comment is an interesting approach to the problem. However, while not huge, the girth of the trunk is substantial enough to be able to make something interesting out of it and this is the approach I would prefer to take. I have another Bougi which has a hollowed trunk and am well aware of their tendency to rot
Particular care will be taken so that there are no catchment areas and therefore hopefully no softspots/rot will develop.
Pup has graciously put his hand up to give me some help. So this weekend I'll travel over to his place, discuss my options and hopefully make a start on it. So having said that I dare say Pup and his blowtorch may be making an appearance in the near future.

Cheers!,
Anthony