AusBonsai

Looking great Gabriel, you have a good eye for bonsai mate. Keep the transformations coming.

Gabriel,
BELISSIMO! Very good work. You should come and practice on some of my trees!

FORZA GABRIELE!!!

Very nice gabriel, can i have it now? I think you've had it long enough!

nice work good on ya ant for lending a hand well styled from some pretty ordinary stock its a cracka

Hartos wrote:What a ripper.

Is that an old tyre you have wrapped it in?

Is the bend just being held by the guy wires ?

Hi Hartos is just rubber from a bike tyre and yes there is only a guy wires holding the trunk in position

Gabriel wrote:This juniper ( not sure about the variety) was given to me about a week ago by Tony(ANTTAL63) just to practice with.....this is the result after a couple of hours work.....a few changes have been made after the final picture with tony like one of the little branch on the left that was stickin up

Thanks mate learning a lot from you

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Hi Gabriel

Nice work! the Juniper in looks like Juniperus virginiana 'Spartan' . Also known as Juniperus chinensis 'Spartan'. Could be described as a shorter, fatter Pencil Pine. Gows to approx 6M x 70cm-1M. Beautiful emerald green foliage. Will grow in sun or shade. Trims well, used for topiary.

Cheers.

Chris

Hey Le, it's looking good.

How many layers of bike tube are on it?

Cheers.

Jarrod wrote:Hey Le, it's looking good.

How many layers of bike tube are on it?

Cheers.

Only 1 layer there is raffia underneath the trunk isnt very thick probably i didnt need to put rubber but i just wanted to play safe

How did you get the bend so low? Was the bend done over time? I have the same tree at about the same trunk width and i tried with my hand to get it into something similar just for a test and couldn't even get it half way before almost cracking it. What's the secret?

I wouldn't have thought a tree could be bent like that without snapping in half. I have mostly stuck to 'clip and grow' because I thought I would break all the branches - but your transformation of the Juniper is quite inspiring. I will have to give wiring a go over the weekend - any tips for a beginner?

very, very, very nice Gabe! you have a very good eye for styling! it goes to show that with a little technique and some thought and design we can transform simple, plain nursery stock like this into interesting works! you have learnt very early to be bold with stock and pushing limits is only going to be better for your skills and eye! it has taken me a long time to try stuff like this!

Krusty wrote:How did you get the bend so low? Was the bend done over time? I have the same tree at about the same trunk width and i tried with my hand to get it into something similar just for a test and couldn't even get it half way before almost cracking it. What's the secret?

i think gabriel stated it was a two hour job the reason that you can get a bend like this is the binding around the trunk is key, it holds the crucial layers of the tree tight and keeps any minor fractures close to allow healing quickly without killing the tree, recently i did a similar thing with a juni that was approx 600-700mm high, with the binding and heavy wire i was able to compress the tree down to 280mm i think it is. it works well ya just need to get the guts to do it!

very nice Gabe and Ant!! lookin forward to seeing the rest of them ! Ant knows i am a big fan of this sort of work and styling!

J

Ok so as long as you have the rubber binding, it does not matter too much if the tree happens to crack or fracture? Looks like i'm off to the tire place tomorrow to get me some rubber.

hi mate,

there is always concern of how far you actually go, common sense and care should always be taken when doing stuff like this, obviously there is a limit to everything, generally speaking if it starts to crack a little or feels like there is going to be a problem stop. the binding needs to be tight this will help the vascualr layer to stay together and if there are fractures in the vascular layer it should be ok still to a certain extent.

go to the a bycycle shop near you and ask them for the tubes that have punctures in them they should at least have some and you will most likely get them for free! other wise the local dump recycle centre generally has heaps of kids bies you could get the tubes out and if you talk the cash man that walks around with the little waist bag nicely he will probably let you have them.

J