Hi Bodhi,
I want to thank you. I too have an ugly Cedar, and your post has encouraged me to get stuck in and give it a whack! Here's my story posted together with yours as birds of a feather flock together!
I have been trying for ages to think what to do to this tree, and you can see why. Here it is before I got stuck in.
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I couldn't figure it out, but then saw yours. I had a similar problem in that the tree was very straight and featureless with a good amount of foliage higher up and branches on only one side. Time to get set in with a router and biscuit joining bit!
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Then in went two thick wires, a layer of elastoplast plaster and a a layer of plumbers tape. Added a few wraps of good solid wire and started to get some shape into it.
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Problem I had was that the wire was not holding it, so I had to use cable ties to hold it in place once bent. I ran out of thick wire!!! I have also learnt that the branches on the outside of a bend tend to split away from the trunk at the top of the branch. One did and I had to wire it with heavy wire to get it back into place. Not sure if it will survive, but it is still connected at the bottom. So here it is after the main trunk was shaped. Gotta remember to cut the groove so that it stays on the back!
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Then I decided to thin it out a bit to reduce the foliage mass and wire a few more branches into better positions. I gave it a bath in some Superthrive to help with the shock. Hope you like it, and thanks for the inspiration! I think it is an improvement. Now we hold thumbs that they both survive!
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This little Cedar came to me when i took over the Bonsai barns stock and i thought i could move it on for a hundred bucks give or take. It sat and sat and sat. It presented to me a chance to try something i read about in Colin Lewis's "the Art of Bonsai design". It was to insert a wire into a tree to create more movement. I will give a blow by blow description with each picture. I reiterate that this is not my idea but when you start something like this you have to change some things to suit the present situation. The project took four hours and i wish i had someone to help from the start. My wife rescued me about 3/4 of the way through. It is a lot to put the tree through in one hit and i hope it survives its ordeal. Nevertheless, i did learn a remarkable amount about how much you can manipulate a tree and that alone makes it a success. 
Did the tree make it?? One other question what is that string u used, Where you get it? Looks kind a like thick twine, If thats how its spelt?
...Thank you to yourself and the countless others for contributing your wealth of information to this forum, so newbies like myself may aspire to create these masterpieces ourselves one day.... 
and what I am trying to do to a Radiata Pine
