AusBonsai

so to continue the thread of "breakin the rules" with the success (only IMO, of course) of the two year old swampie, the cutting that I took off it a year ago (after I gave some away and sold some others) these are the new trials with swampies.
This one I purposely left the wire on to create a good scar, I will remove the bark from this scar to create a "live vein: up the tree and twist. Perhaps not shown in the photo but this one twists under itself, again wasn't initially happy being below the horizontal but it came back. This one just a twisted trunk and again left the wire on to create the "cleft" in the tree so I can remove the bark, on this one I will remove the bark from either side of the scar as opposed to the scar itself as in the first photo to see the different effects

and this one just gone for the zig zag, looking to see what this will create in 5-10 years with a trunk of around 15-20cm circumference from having been in a small seeding pot for too long some of the root bases have knotted up a little, not perfect for bonsai but I think when these are much larger trees I will get away with it.

As mentioned earlier these are two years behind the previously posted cascade swampy but not updated for two years .
Just a long term project, or three to be exact.
thanks for lookin'
Watty

from photos number 1 at the beginning; from photo number 4 at the beginning

and from photo number 2 and 3 from the beginning thanks for lookin'
Watty

I really like those, Watty.

I have a couple of crazy little chinese elms that I am working on in a similar way...although the initial wire scars were due to neglect, rather than design!

I feel that it's important to be aware of "the rules," as they have helped create many fine trees over many years, but, as with trees, so with life, it's good to get outside the box from time to time!
Keep us posted with these!

Nice results so far.
I have a couple in the ground at the moment and 1 is bent quite a bit( the other2 are straighter), and another twisted like a pretzel in a grow pot.
Interesting to see where they all end up in a few years too.

Ken

You break those rules! I always come across this tree as an example of one one of the best bonsai ever. Check out the reverse taper on it! Terrible...

Nice thinking outside the box!!!