chinese elm stump advice on carving

[Jamie]

im with ya on the patience thing mate.. i really struggle sometimes to just not just jump in to things, but have had to learn that. and patience is one thing that bonsai has taught me!
will keep ya posted as progress continues

[Jamie]

ok guys heres an update!! after waiting so long to get the right gear to do the work, and finally getting it then finding the time, i finally got the chance today!!

i have been able to take the top down under the height of the bark where it will be able to roll over nicely and there was some dead sections down on the nebari and on the side of the trunk so i have cleaned it up and deepened the uro.

i will wait a few weeks to let any small nicks into the cambium to heal and then i will lime sulpher it with a mix of sumi ink just to dull it down, although last time i got into this i lime sulphered it without ink in it and it toned down just fine

so here are the shots. there is only one worry for me and that is the top, i was under the assumption chinese elms are apically dominent yet this one hasnt seemed to be to strong on top, i have just let it grow for the past few weeks with out touching it, any ideas??

as you can see with the top that it is quite smooth and the carving has been done to be under the height of the bark so when it rols over it will be a smooth transition, i have given it a slight "gutter" around the edge of the bark aswell.

as always comments, advice and critisism always welcomed

regards jamie

[MelaQuin]

Bottom photo... where is the branch on the left coming from? That branch isn't doing anything for me and I don't know if it is the fact it appears to be just 'hanging'. I can't see where it joins the trunk and branches are usually clear of foliage for a short distance from the trunk out to give the older look. Does it need wiring and positioning, reshaping, removal? I can't tell.

I didn't reread the top posts and don't remember how long you have had this tree. If the apex isn't growing well I would feed it. Elms are very apical dominant and one of the downers I have come across is the fact the apex branches thicken so fast and can hit the stage they have to removed and new ones grown to get the taper feel again and reduce some top visual weight.

With your shari, use a finer bit to create grooves of varying widths from ultra fine to a bit thicker to deeper. It is the light and shadow that creates interest in carving. Look at some deadwood and see how the grain line goes and if you can find a piece of wood that has had insect damage you can see the alterations in depth and thickness ... nothing is straight or the same width. You don't have to go in deeply tho it won't matter. Just be sure that you don't create recesses/pools where water can collect. All carving should allow water to flow out of the recess or carved area.

Elm shari.JPG

There are 3 Dremel bits that you need for refining carving. The steel brushes. I don't know the numbers off hand so I have flaunted my talents and drawn them in Paint. You can do without the middle one but the flat brush and the slender brush are essential. The downside is that on a major carving job you can reduce one or two to a couple of millimetres and throwaway and at $10-$11 each it sorta hurts. But they take the roughness from carving and help remove the working marks. The slender on is ideal to get into areas like your shari. And yes, another downside is they tend to remove some of the carving detail so you refine and recarve, refine and recarve until you get the balance.

Dremel bits.JPG

[MasonC]

good growth rate! I think that you should extend the carving up the trunk and hollow the top?

[Jamie]

mel, thanks for the input to start with. the bottom pic with the branch hanging down is one that will need wiring, i havent done any wiring work for now or any pruning i have just let it grow out to get strength and options for branching. it is just a new shoot that has gotten heavy from length
as for the feeding thats the thing, i have been feeding it consitantly along with all my trees. the branching on the sides of the tree are booming where as the apex is just not doing to much at all. i dont get it as you have confirmed it should be apically dominant but it doesnt seem to be the case. my feeding regime involve miracle gro once a week at a slightly less rate than recommended, i dont want reverse osmosis to happen as every second week i use seasol and i use slow release pellets when needed. do i need to boost the feeding with miracle gro??? the other branches have boomed so it is a bit of as conundrum to me. for the shari there, that is natural it was there when i aquired the tree. it has a slope out in the bottom to let water out and i will be giving it some more detail probly tomorrow. i done a lot of carving today with my tridents, my hands still feel fuzzy from the vibration

and i agree with the wire brushes being dear but necessary, its all god though as i have a far stock of these at the moment and find them very useful
one tip with them though, dont go barefoot when using them, i found three bits of wire in my foot tonight after the carving session that was a bugger to dig out!

mase, thanks for the comment, i am thinking extending it up wont be a bad idea either, as for hollowing out the top i am not sure, its something i will look into though thanks for the idea. but i dont know if it is the way to go with this. after a long discussion on this one i decided to work the tree instead of full carve out because my intial idea was to split the trunk!

as for the overall design i am starting to change my mind on having foliage pads and am leaning more to a full crown on top, i think it would suit the tree quite well, as per the virt.

regards jamie

[kvan64]

mel, thanks for the input to start with. the bottom pic with the branch hanging down is one that will need wiring, i havent done any wiring work for now or any pruning i have just let it grow out to get strength and options for branching. it is just a new shoot that has gotten heavy from length
as for the feeding thats the thing, i have been feeding it consitantly along with all my trees. the branching on the sides of the tree are booming where as the apex is just not doing to much at all. i dont get it as you have confirmed it should be apically dominant but it doesnt seem to be the case. my feeding regime involve miracle gro once a week at a slightly less rate than recommended, i dont want reverse osmosis to happen as every second week i use seasol and i use slow release pellets when needed. do i need to boost the feeding with miracle gro??? the other branches have boomed so it is a bit of as conundrum to me. for the shari there, that is natural it was there when i aquired the tree. it has a slope out in the bottom to let water out and i will be giving it some more detail probly tomorrow. i done a lot of carving today with my tridents, my hands still feel fuzzy from the vibration

and i agree with the wire brushes being dear but necessary, its all god though as i have a far stock of these at the moment and find them very useful
one tip with them though, dont go barefoot when using them, i found three bits of wire in my foot tonight after the carving session that was a bugger to dig out!

mase, thanks for the comment, i am thinking extending it up wont be a bad idea either, as for hollowing out the top i am not sure, its something i will look into though thanks for the idea. but i dont know if it is the way to go with this. after a long discussion on this one i decided to work the tree instead of full carve out because my intial idea was to split the trunk!

as for the overall design i am starting to change my mind on having foliage pads and am leaning more to a full crown on top, i think it would suit the tree quite well, as per the virt.

regards jamie

Carve more Jamie! See my post from your trident's thread. viewtopic.php?f=104&t=2502

[Jamie]

i am just looking at the book now mate, i can see what you mean, now why didnt i look at that and think of it i think you might be right there mate, i have a bit of dead wood down the trunk where this would work too. it doesnt have to be a major carve out split but something like that would work just fine wouldnt it any tips on how to get the split like that???

[kvan64]

Here are the bits I use

[Jamie]

i got the same dremel bit from bunnings, number 134 if i remeber correctly, now i have a question for ya, how do you use the router bit? do you have a special collet for a dremel or do you have the router attachment for the dremel. right now i am restricted to the 3.2mm shaft.

[kvan64]

I use my cordless drill with that router bit. The trick for precision is fasten the drill down on a surface. The moving part is your potensai. Set the drill to low speed (would be good if you have a friend to help control the drill). For small/light job, you could just use a small battery operated screwdriver/impact driver with this bit.
The advantage of this router bit is that it does very nice and clean cut into the bark and heartwood. Disadvantage is it usually taking a lot bigger chunk at a time comparing to the dremel bit. You wouldn't want any error with this thing.

[Jamie]

ok another bit of work on this one....i get the feeling melaquin is not gonna be to happy bout it but i think it will work for the overall design... sorry mel

as i have decided on different veiwing angles showing the deadwood on the nebari, a small section of dead wood in the middle of the trunk, and the V going into the top i decided to join it up, the pics i have taken are what you will see overall of the shari as such but i expect the wounds to heal and cause a nice roll exibiting the tree, it allows for a deeper section of V aswell creating a better visual impact.

regards jamie

ps. there is still more to go

[kvan64]

Nice carving Jamie. How about some burnt effect? I have used a Benzomatic Map Gas Blow Torch on my collected peach stumps with great success. I was worried that the heat would harm the bark and folliage. The result was quite opposite. A lot more buds sprouted out soon after. I guess that this have similar effect just like on the survived plants after a bush fire. If you do not own a Benzomatic torch, I think a butane gas torch for $15 on ebay would do similar effect.

[Jamie]

im not so sure about a burnt effect mate, i am hoping more so for the edges to roll over and create that sort of effect, just like in the bonsai handbook

i think once i can get development of the foliage into a crown it will work out well, i think it will happen soon if i can get the bloody tree to start booming on the top like it has the sides! it still has me buggered, i feed like crazy i do everything right and the top just hasnt had to much growth, but i notice a few new buds on the trunk line up top which i hope will start to boom it out, i think my biggest problem was i was pruning the sides in continuously to keep them going strong as elms are apically dominent and i have taken the strength from the top to much. i think it is time to just let it go, which i have been doing any ways. i will be wiring some of the new shoots as soon as they harden off

regards jamie

[kvan64]

I think I should start learning to be more patient like you and less spontaneous Suddenly remember someone here said that bonsai have taught him patience . After all it's one of the important principles of the art. Keep posting the process.
Cheers

[Jamie]

yes mate, patience is the killer as much as we want those awesome trees the development takes time. thats why we have other trees to work on while we have to wait for the others to get to a stage to work on again it is one thing that annoys me but we cant speed up time. i think it was skippy that posted a thread on here showing what 5 years can do, and just to think on that there is a lot of things that can be done in five years. development, changes in design etc. etc. and not to mention new trees in a growing collection, my missus can be absolutly amazed at how much i just want to go to the nurseries and when i see something and grab it because i know if i wait it wont be there next time. but this is what gives us the patience to wait because we have something else to work on while we are developing something else. well thats what i do any ways and funny you mention patience because i am at the stage again where i dont have to much to do on my trees and i am in the market at getting som nursery stock that i can develop looking at juniper shohin along with carving i have started to get a fettish with shohin junipers not to mention airlayering, looking at a tree and going that bonsai doesnt need the top on that and there is a nice little tree in there! (which is what i am thinking with my avatar juni at the moment, but thats another story)

regards jamie