Options on design, give me input.

[bodhidharma]

I have a lot of trees sitting around waiting for new owners. I dont like doing anything to them in the way of design as different people see things, well, differently. I have had this Chaemycyparis sitting around around for a while and, deciding nobody was going to buy it went ahead and opened it up today. It had a quick style a couple of years back and then i promptly forgot about it, hence, the wire marks. I have now hit the wall with where this tree needs to go and would like some input from the Aus Bonsai community. First and foremost, an I.D as it is a colour turner (bronze) in winter, secondly, the tree has possibilities and i have gone from semi cascade, to tree on top with the bottom branch semi cascading, developing the apex (which would mean cutting off the heavy lower branch) jinning the lowest back branch and steaming it down Etc, etc. Over to you Bonsai designers, if you have an idea give it to me.

[Bougy Fan]

I would look at cutting off the first branch ( the wire has done half the job ) and apply some serious bending to bring the trunk and foliage back towards the base. Haven't worked on this species so I am only presuming it can be bent severley

Tony

[Gerard]

Not sure any bending will be easy, perhaps drill at the red arrows and raffia before attempting.

DSCF3218.JPG

002.jpg

This kind of result may be beyond what can be achieved with bending but hopefully you can see what I mean, I suspect the first branch will always be ugly so a small jin in its place.

[alpineart]

Hi Bodhi , i think what you have there is a Thuja Rhiengold possibly a green form or it could be the summer colour , not a Chaemycyparis , for a tree of this age i think the foliage is far to fine for a chaemycyparis . I may stand corrected but in the early days i had quite a few of these , the foliage is quite soft and fine with a harsh coarse a occasional branch mixed in as the pics show .

Either way i would make use of the trunk line and stand it upright for an informal upright .I would have loved to have seen this prior to the large branches being severed . Each finer branch could be layered out like one would do for a pine , placing the same sort of movement as the trunk has ,making pads, concealing the blunt stubs shouldn't be too hard as there is plenty of foliage to work with .

If i'm wrong about the I.D , then slap me around with it when i visit in the very near future .

Cheers Alpine

[alpineart]

Hi Bodhi , just re-read the description , yes it is definately a Thuja Rhiengold , too late and tire to read the wording the pics captured my tired mind .

Cheers Alpine

[bodhidharma]

Haven't worked on this species so I am only presuming it can be bent severley

Tony

This kind of result may be beyond what can be achieved with bending but hopefully you can see what I mean,

Thanks for the input gentlemen. As usual, the photo does not help the cause. I will examine it more closely, this is in the" could be show worthy if i can find it" class

yes it is definately a Thuja Rhiengold

Thanks Alpine, after googling it ,100% correct. I will look further into the tree and find it. This is when i need to be at a workshop with talented people.

[alpineart]

I will look further into the tree and find it. This is when i need to be at a workshop with talented people.[/quote]


Hi Bodhi , look inside oneself , there is more talent there than most of us give ourselves credit for . I don't have any pics from the early days , before camera's and computers interfered with my being . That is an excellent specimen to play with , that trunk had me more than a little spell bound even at 2.30 in the morning ..

Cheers Alpine

[GavinG]

Obviously its just a guess based on the photos, but here goes:

Working from your last photo, maybe take off the first left and second right branches - they are thick, and distract from the trunk line. Then rotate the trunk forward (to the left of the photo) along its long axis when you repot it. Then wire the thinner branches into clouds around the sinous "reaching out" style trunk. I wouldn't bring the trunk upwards. No jins - the trunk bark isn't rugged, the lines are curvey not angular and the leaves are soft. It's hard to see from the photos, but if you play with the trunk, rotate it, look at it from different angles, and settle where it presents best, then take away what distracts from it, and clothe it with soft clouds, that might work.

You've messed with the trunk long enough for it to have taken on a life of its own now - just trust it and go with it.

Making me think so hard on a Sunday morning - damned inconsiderate!

Gavin

[bodhidharma]

Hi Bodhi , look inside oneself , there is more talent there than most of us give ourselves credit for

Making me think so hard on a Sunday morning - damned inconsiderate!

Thank you Gentlemen, wonderful input. Sorry Gavin, nothing a good cup of coffee wont fix, oh.. hang on, it is nearly beer o'clock.

[GavinG]

Keep us posted, Bodhi.

On the tree, not the beer. I can research that well enough myself. (Anyone else come across Harviestoun "Old Engine Oil"? Mmmmmm.....)

But I do want to see what happens to that trunk...

Gavin

[bodhidharma]

O.K, i got sick of weeding in the Victorian heat (which prompted me to do that silly post brain fried) and retreated to the shade to look at this tree again. Maybe the top will come off later down the track but i will wait and see. No hurry, the tree is resting in a solution bath. It only took 5 and1/2 hours once i decided which way to go. The main trunk has lots of movement when looked down on and i will now let it grow and let the branches get longer. Any comments positive or negative welcome on this windswept.

[bodhidharma]

So, i have done the finer foliage wiring and i think i will have difficulty finding the viewing side. The foliage is a bit raggedy at the moment but i am sure with time i will refine it. Now to let it grow and recover. These, i think are the best viewing sides and i think it will look better once i rotate it a bit. Time and patience will tell. I know it is a bit out there but it should settle in with a little more maturity.

[AndrewC]

Hi Bodhi,
Thanks for sharing your progression with us. From the photos, my preference is to view the last one that you posted. I like the large lower branch swept around behind rather than in front. I know this isn't what you asked about... but I'm finding the whole design a bit too 'L-shaped'. Would you consider removing the whole top of it from where the black rubber starts?

By the way - is that rubber that you've used beneath the wire?

Cheers, Andrew.

[bodhidharma]

Would you consider removing the whole top of it from where the black rubber starts?

I certainly would consider it Andrew I am waiting for the tree to settle in and i will make decisions of that nature down the road. I had an excellent question asked by pm and that was why would the main trunk grow against the wind It is a sight i saw regularly when i was driving to Geraldton in W.A. It is as if the tree when in its strongest growing period defies the wind and grows against it. This is why i am waiting to see if the design settles in with maturity. Yes, that is rubber wrapped around the branches. I have done this before with success.

[AndrewC]

why would the main trunk grow against the wind It is a sight i saw regularly when i was driving to Geraldton in W.A. It is as if the tree when in its strongest growing period defies the wind and grows against it.

It's an interesting observation. I've started styling two junipers in a windswept style whose lower trunks are directed 'into the wind'. Deborah Koreshoff explains that sometimes a drying wind will cause cells to expand slowly on the windward side, but that on the sheltered side the cells grow normally with the overall effect of pushing the tree into the wind. Sounds a bit technical, but plausible... so I wanted to find some photos of this phenomenon in nature to give me some guidance but i couldn't find any on the web after about 20 minutes with google. If someone has a good picture of a natural windswept tree leaning into the wind then I'd be keen to see it

-Andrew