My first semi cascade

pebble · Post by **pebble** » March 14th, 2016, 8:37 pm

Ok so another weekend gone and another Saturday's bonsai class done, this weeks class was semi or full cascade. As we didn't really have to many full cascade trees to chose from and I'm not that fond of them anyway so I decided to go with a semi cascade, being that I don't have the budget of some of the others in my class went for a small to med size juniper quite cost effective.

I really needed a lot of help with this one, I found it quite hard to see the end product, even with guidance it would only get me so far then would need advice again. It took me hours of work wiring, trimming and was there for an hour after the class an still came home to do work, even a bit on Sunday.
still not quite happy with it, I feel it's missing something but maybe once it grows out and refine the foliage pads it might look better.
Any way here is what I come up with. Any advice would be much appreciated

Cheers dwayne
I'm a bonsai newb

Jarad · Post by **Jarad** » March 14th, 2016, 8:59 pm

If it was my tree, I would get some more crazy bends in that jin. Make it look like the branch had a bit of a tortured life, it will add a little more character.

It's better to take it easy than remove something that you might have wanted later on.

dansai · Post by **dansai** » March 15th, 2016, 5:31 am

It looks to me as though as though there is no clear direction. Flow is going every which way. I can't tell from the photos which is your front, not that I think there is always one front, but it looks like branches have just been placed higgledy piggledy.

Going from your first picture I would pull the branch going left up to make the apex and pull the back branch down and to the right. Maybe lower the tail more dramatically to begin with then lift the end so the foliage stays about where it is and lower the foliage mass thats closer in a little too. Then shape the jin to go with the flow of the cascade branch .

pebble · Post by **pebble** » March 15th, 2016, 8:24 pm

Cheers guys thanks for the advice, am definitely taking it on board.
yeah I felt that about the Jin wasn't right, I'm putting some better bends in it to start with and am going to have it directed towards the cascade more. Going to see how that improves the look and remove some of the smaller parts of the Jin so it doesn't look so fish bone, then if I'm still not happy with it I can always cut it back. I wish I had a better top branch so maybe in the next styling I may have to move one of the others into a new top. Agree that it probably should be the branch to the left in first pic because it looks out of place where it is. Just had it there as we were told that the branch on the other side of tree to the cascade had to be decent to balance the look of cascade.

Cheers dwayne
I'm a bonsai newb

anthonyW · Post by **anthonyW** » March 16th, 2016, 10:05 pm

Hi Dwayne
I think you have a lot of options there,this is just one maybe to think about,the boys are right what ever you do try and have a flow to it it,this stuff can have a to lean to a sweeping style if you like,the length will be determined by you,looks like all the parts are there,see what you think,just a roughie...cheers

phpKZis1eAM.jpg

pebble · Post by **pebble** » March 17th, 2016, 8:06 pm

Cheers again for another amazing drawing, was just reading treemans posts on drawings, an was thinking this is definitely something I need to learn how to do.
It's awesome how I couldn't really see something like that in the tree but now that you have drawn it I can see it and it really gives me some direction to take the tree in. Thanks again

Cheers dwayne
I'm a bonsai newb

pebble · Post by **pebble** » March 21st, 2016, 6:10 pm

Ok so after not feeling completely happy with my efforts with this juni and comments from my fellow bonsai enthusiasts( and I thank you

) I have decided to changeout up a bit. So my original back has now become my front. Have added a bit more flow about the tree and filled in some empty space and made more of a top

What you guys think any better?

P.s sorry about my terrible wiring...

Cheers dwayne
I'm a bonsai newb

Theodore · Post by **Theodore** » March 23rd, 2016, 5:56 pm

Dayne

That looks heaps better to me.

The only thing that I don't like is the very, very long jin. From the two dimensional photo it looks very out of place and in nature would likely have snapped off a lot shorter a long time ago.

Overall a much better result from where you started. Good work

Theo

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tgward · Post by **tgward** » March 23rd, 2016, 7:40 pm

coming together nicely--imo-(generally) very old trees tend to have shorter thicker jins- younger bushes and shrubs have long thin jins ---that jin tends to make it look like a bush rather than a tree

pebble · Post by **pebble** » March 18th, 2018, 4:58 pm

Little bit of an update on this one.
Working on this tree has been on the to do list for a long time.
It had filled out very nice, and I was going to work on it probably about this time last year but I was struggling with the confidence on what to do so I thinned it out a bit and put it back on the bench.
I have been looking at it ever since thinking about what to do with it.
Like a lot of other project just needed to make a start and I’m sure it will come to me.
So yesterday I did make a start and this is what it looked like beforehand...

So Saturday morning I started thinning it out, and doing some wiring take a moment look at it... look at it some more, then do some more.
I found it a real struggle with this one, I lost the cascade branch not long after I first put up this post.
there was two different new cascade branches I could have used and it was like nether really worked but kept at it, kept wiring and placing branches any way this is how it turned out.

It’s not perfect by any means but I’m happy with how it turned out, few branches needed to get some length and move into the right spaces.
Let me know what you guys think
Cheers dwayne

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MJL · Post by **MJL** » March 25th, 2018, 1:36 pm

Hey Pebble,

Cheers for the thread. I find this interesting because I am about to start something similar with a reasonably mature Shimpaku juniper. (See separate thread in the Pines and Junipers section.)

Now... let me preface my comments with a warning that I am a rank amateur - you’d do best you listen/read from more experienced folk in this fine community. [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

That said, I think this last set of photos is moving in the right direction - the second and third photos in particular show a nice triangular shape starting to emerge.

I guess the trick is to follow your instinct and commit to that over time; this should help with clarity of thought and thereby clarity of design over time. In saying that - I am as much reminding myself as anything else .... with the juniper I now have (an ugly duckling in its existing form) - I could go in a number of directions but I won’t start until I’m committed. [SEE-NO-EVIL MONKEY][THUMBS UP SIGN]

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pebble · Post by **pebble** » March 25th, 2018, 7:49 pm

Yeah if you have a look at the last time I styled this tree I had the other side as the front...
My silly mistake I styled it on the wrong side.
I realised and I have since turned the tree around and moved a few branches to accommodate that front. I will post up pics of how it looks now.
But thanks for your input, I definitely agreed that it looked better in one of the photos where it had that good triangle shape.
Well at least I know it will look good as an informal upright, if I loss the cascade branch again [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

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