Air-Layered Camellia

[Raging Bull]

Hi to all the seasoned Bonsai artists,
I have successfully (I hope) air-layered a small camellia branch which I potted today . I'm really chuffed that the air-layering was successful, as it was my first attempt. There was a nice little bunch of fresh white roots in the poultice of sphagnum moss.
After the 3 months that it was in place the leaves started to get a slightly more yellow colour than the rest of the bush, which was the main reason for potting the selected branch. As can be seen on the pics there are a lot of healthy buds, so I pruned the branches down to about half of their original length after potting.
The questions I have are,- what is a good style for camellias, can the leaf size be reduced by defoliating (at a later time), and what is the best way to develop a thicker trunk?
I'm hoping some-one has some experience with camellias and can advise.

[shibui]

Growth rate will probably depend on the species and variety. I've mostly worked with the small flowered and small leaf varieties and find them frustratingly slow to grow and thicken.
Flowers are the main feature of camellia so you'll probably want a style that will show off the flowers well, probably not literati. They don't seem to be overly apiucally dominant so I think you could probably grow cascade style as well as any of the upright shapes.
They are mostly pretty resilient so I have no doubt that yours will just keep growing.