AusBonsai

Hard to tell how thick it is, but shimpakus can take one heck of a bending! Thick wire and some muscle will have the trunks moving together, although they look similar in diameter so perhaps remove one as a very short jin, then wire sharp bends and a bit of twist into the other.

Hi! And thank you, bodhi and Jarrod, for your contributions here. Bodhi, I look forward to seeing your Tanuki!
Below are the latest photos of this Shimpaku, after shortening of all the branches and a bit of clean-up. The trunks can be seen much better now. Also, two pics of the deadwood I have. 'Nother headache!!
I laid the tree on its side, and indeed, that is quite inspiring, though the main branches are a bit of a problem as fatr as fitting in with a semi-cascade design is concerned.
What do you think of the tree now, those of you who aren't fed up with it yet?

Lisa

Hi LLK , Never was a problem , just a bloody good challenge . I treat all these unusual trunks as yamadori , this allows one to look beyond a troublesome pot plant . The guys have come up with some very good idea's , thinking outside the square or is it google searching . Nice piece of deadwood with plenty of character for a Phoenix Graft /Tanuki .

Cheers Alpine

Thanks, Alpine. By the way, I also much appreciated something you wrote earlier: "I see so many plants chopped back to nothing and regrown basically the same as it was before ." I saw that happening with a Scots pine used for a demo. After that job, it sulked for a year and then regrew just as it had been before the demo. Only it wasn't quite as good any more. --- It seems to me that if one gets hold of a tree with an interesting structure, one should do one's best to make the most of it, and not chop it back with the idea that over the next ten years one can produce something better.

Lisa

LOL Have fun Lisa
CK

For my money (which is damn all at the moment) in view 2 the left trunk sweeps to the left and then returns, and the right trunk sweeps into the left very gracefully. The low left branch that sweeps across the front is maybe an eye-poker, but maybe you can harmonise it in. It would certainly be too empty without it. I'm wondering if the trunks harmonise as well from the other side, in which case the front left branch would become a back branch, and fill without standing out. The right trunk seems to be a bit straight down low, at least in two dimensions - do you have a screw clamp thing you can use to get some movement? Or just show it to Grant - that usually scares them.

I agree that the fun with this tree will be to work with its bends - it has its own rhythm, it's just a matter of where to put the foliage around it.

Have fun,

Gavin

For a start, thanks Gavin for your very sensible analysis. But yesterday, when it was about time to make up my mind regarding the shaping of this headachy Shimpaku, I could do nothing but gradually eliminate all the branching that went against the grain as far as my styling instinct was concerned. I had to face it: this shrub was just plainly a MESS (see e.g. view from the right), with two nice curves. In the end, those curves were what I decided to put the emphasis on. The deadwood I had was too voluminous for this juniper, but I'm going to try to find something more suitable, or perhaps find a suitable stone. This tree isn't finished. I won't try to repot it, because it has had enough of s shock to its system for now. Maybe in Autumn, if it is growing well.
Thanks to all who posted suggestios for the shaping of this shrub. I hope I'll do you better justice in the 2 years to come!

Lisa

oh dear ... all those wonderful low branches gone

anttal63 wrote: oh dear ... all those wonderful low branches gone

Looking forward to see where your heading with this one Lisa. Probably a candidate for Literati? now, although you have left a couple of lower ones and that will change the tree as they grow.

It looks like a graceful solution to a very confused situation. Now the cobra-jinn has a balancing relationship with the foliage mass - you'll have lots of fun refining the branches to make them dance. If you don't mind the comment, the tree seems at the moment to have two heads - the right one relates better to the jinn, but the left one has the trunk rising into it. Maybe the left can be bent over rightwards?

Ant, the low branches weren't all that wonderful as far as I could see. It seems to me that Lisa has looked to find the best shape the tree has to offer, and lost everything else.

Thanks for posting.

Gavin

GavinG wrote: Ant, the low branches weren't all that wonderful as far as I could see. It seems to me that Lisa has looked to find the best shape the tree has to offer, and lost everything else. Thanks for posting. Gavin

Gavin, Low branches are always wonderful to haven and depending whos lookn and doin, be the out come. Clearly Lisa with this one but it still got to be said its a shame to have lost them. IMO...

However i wish Lisa well in her quest to finding her best tree in this material.

Lisa,
I am struggling with the point/purpose of the tall jin'd trunk, obviously I do not possess your minds eye, however I believe the movement of the jin draws the eye away from the main body of the tree. Personally I would completely lose the jin or at least shorten it to nothing but a jagged stump.

Just my 2c worth.

Jeff

Thanks guys for a lot of greater bonsai wisdom than my own! (I've got to be fair!).
Ant, I hesitated for quite a while over those low branches, coz they had a decent potential, but in the end they didn't fit in with what's in my head. Gavin caught that very well and expressed it beautifully! I love that term "cobra jin"! Very apt.
Bodhi, I can't make a literati out of that strange tree shape. By the way, where's your promised Tanuki??
Jeff, most solid bonsai artists I know would agree with you about the dominating jin. I have to crave your indulgence by repeating that the tree isn't finished yet. I mean temporarily finished, since bonsai never are completely. Getting back to a suggestion you made earlier: the fork is too far above soil level for the splitting of the trunks.
Now I've got to go and explore my bonsai patch to see if I can find the thing I need next. Wish I could go for a wander in Apine's organised jungle, I'd be sure to find what I wanted.
Again my thanks!

Lisa

Hello all,
Long time no see. The reason is that I ended up doing more with this tree than I had intended to: I repotted it, together with 2 new, small Shimpaku at the base and another jinned trunk to complement the first. Because of all that, the tree had to go into intensive care for a long time; I don't much like doing a big pruning plus a repotting, plus making room for the roots of two new little trees. All in all it was pretty traumatic. Anyway, the "Headache Shimpaku" has been on a bench in a protected spot for a week now and notwithstanding the temps it seems to be doing OK. Where it seems that there are a few dead twigs: that's the effect of patches of sunlight on the tree.
I can't yet do any further pruning or wiring, and I'd like to find a much better deadwood solution.
Whether or not I made the most of this juniper is a matter of opinion. I have no doubt that others would have done better. But it's my babe and I did the best I could.
Thanks to all who gave me their interest and suggestions! I look forward to meeting you online again and, who knows,
for real here in Canberra on the occasion of the AABC Seminar. Regardless, happy 2013 to all!

Lisa