This was a root cutting taken from a large elm years ago when i decided to remove a landscape tree .The root in question had grown up against a solid rock and fused like a club .I dug the tree and collected the root as a root cutting .It has had different top originally i cut a series of v’s around to top and grew 7 new leaders . unfortunately they created a reverse taper so 4 were removed. It has been slow to redevelop into the tree it is . Now is the time to rip into it and make it worthy of the past effort . I removed it from the pot , raked the roots and trimmed them back hard . .Next i drilled a hole up from the bottom and another down from the top using a clean cutting spade bit . A  series of pilot holes were drilled into the side to aid carving and hollowing of the trunk .The with a dremel i simply carved out the sides and center until a desireable finish was obtained . .With the carving done i simply re-potted the tree back into the original pot . Today i needed an RDO from work so i decided to wrap the trunks/leaders with raffia and apply some wire to style the canopy .I firsts compressed the carved stump to improve the taper then set about wiring the trunk’s ready for rotating around This took some serious time and with the wiring complete i bent and twisted the trunks around about 90 degree’s .then i simply wiring of the branchlet’s and all done and dusted .It will go back to the benches and grow on and recover , well  maybe just a little more persuasion is required then it can retire to the bench  .There was a couple of OH BUGGER moments as i heard a little crack however these elms appear to heal themselves quite well .Cheers Alpineart