Mugo pine workshop tree.
Posted: June 18th, 2012, 1:46 pm
I will do a separate thread for this tree as i had to dig up a few old photos of it. The tree has been sitting on my bench for a long time and i am still amazed nobody else saw the potential in this tree and snapped it up. 
I have not done a lot on this tree except some basic initial wiring and styling which really was not working for the tree. When Don was confirmed for our workshop in Castlemaine i decided to take this tree along. I had prepared the tree with thoughts of maybe taking it to the Hiro workshop but decided against it as i have some rawer material i want to take for that. I had an initial plan for this tree and ran it past Don who added some good input and confirmed my plan was sound. I also bought in a white pine to work on as a plan "B" but the Mugo was going to be much more fun. 
Don, as you can imagine, was very much in demand for advice and the three hour workshop was not going to be anywhere near enough time to complete the work so it had to be finished at home. I now regret jinning the top branch as it would have worked fine as a live branch but that is the way the cookie crumbles. It was to represent the dead section of the branch where it had snapped and become a cascading branch but we will see. I have resolved to do more workshops as running a Nursery and battling to keep trees healthy, and flourishing, jades your spirit and artistry. Just talking with someone of Dons calibre and discussing ideas make you soar and want to get stuck in. Anyway, i promised Don some completion photos (and Gerard) as i know he checks in here and here they are. Thanks also to Gerard for his input. We also decided that the tree will have three Apex's or heads. They will be 1) the very top 2) the second highest to the left and 3) the lowest left hand side. I look forward to seeing where it goes.
I have not done a lot on this tree except some basic initial wiring and styling which really was not working for the tree. When Don was confirmed for our workshop in Castlemaine i decided to take this tree along. I had prepared the tree with thoughts of maybe taking it to the Hiro workshop but decided against it as i have some rawer material i want to take for that. I had an initial plan for this tree and ran it past Don who added some good input and confirmed my plan was sound. I also bought in a white pine to work on as a plan "B" but the Mugo was going to be much more fun. Don, as you can imagine, was very much in demand for advice and the three hour workshop was not going to be anywhere near enough time to complete the work so it had to be finished at home. I now regret jinning the top branch as it would have worked fine as a live branch but that is the way the cookie crumbles. It was to represent the dead section of the branch where it had snapped and become a cascading branch but we will see. I have resolved to do more workshops as running a Nursery and battling to keep trees healthy, and flourishing, jades your spirit and artistry. Just talking with someone of Dons calibre and discussing ideas make you soar and want to get stuck in. Anyway, i promised Don some completion photos (and Gerard) as i know he checks in here and here they are. Thanks also to Gerard for his input. We also decided that the tree will have three Apex's or heads. They will be 1) the very top 2) the second highest to the left and 3) the lowest left hand side. I look forward to seeing where it goes.
Not everything turns out how you visualised it.