Juniper Literati styling advice

[makro]

Hi,

Its been a long time since my last post and I thought I would request for some styling advice for this Juniper that I am trying to style as a literati. As you can see I have started cleaning up the tree and exposing the trunk, but I am stuck in terms of how to progress this tree. Any and all help appreciated.

Thanks

[Guy]

on this I would use bottom branch only

[Pup]

G,day Makro, have alook at the literati competion here, the would be some examp;es for you there as some were material like this.

Cheers Pup

[JayP]

for now i would just get some heavy wire on that trunk and try to get some movement in it! once you have created a nice trunkline, style it accordingly!

[makro]

thanks for the tips folks, I will clean up the truck a little more and start a bit of wiring.

[makro]

Hi Folks,

I have been reading through the post and taking ideas from various threads on this site and finially decided to implement them on my Juniper.

Here is my first attempt at a Literati Juniper.... what do you think? Any ideas for improvement

Phase 1 - I removed the branches while trying to get the 1st, back etc braches placed

juniper phase 2.jpg

Phase 2 - I then removed the 2 side branches to get a nice triangle

juniper phase 3.jpg

Phase 3: Please advice on how to style the Right handside of the triangle to get the nice clouds? I am kinda stuck for ideas?

juniper phase 4.jpg

Thanks for looking

[Andrew Legg]

Hey Makro,

I have made a virt of what I think will look cool for this tree. Just my opinion!

Think about dropping that top foliage pad down to hide the top bend on the trunk (it will take a bit of hairy bending and lotsa pinching. Do the bending bt by bit as Junipers are prone to split at the branch/trunk junction. Maybe use the upper right hand foliage pad as the only foliage on the right and grow out that long branch (trunk continuation) and potentially use it as a jin comming out of the smaller foliage pad. It will need to be bent up quite a bit. If you go this route, bend it now and let it thicken up like a sacrifice branch. It will hold its position better once jinned if it sticks in the end position when still growing (I think?? Comments anyone?). You can bend the other pad down a bit to partly cover the jin in the long term. I have also slightly "worked on" the two left handf pads, and have killed the one that I felt was "cluttering" the inside of the truck curve.

I like the way this tree is headed, but I worry that it has a bit too much foliage for a literati. Literati is (to me at least) all about the trunk and jins, with foliage being kept to a minimum to compliment the core design, and keep the tree healthy. The other option (rather than hiding the top bend), would be to get the bend a lot sharper by under cutting it.

I have included two mark-ups on my virt. The red line is the current movement of the tree, and the blue is the movement of my suggested tree. I feel that the red line has too much emphasis on the downward trailing branch, and that this breaks the lovely movement you have going "up and away to the right" with the main trunk line. By reducing the visual loading on the descending branch and by placing the jin in such a way as to compliment the direction of movement in the trunk line, I think you end up with a more visually appealing tree.

All just my opinion. Use it. Lose it, but either way, hope it helps.

Cheers,

Andrew

[makro]

Thanks Andrew for the virtual and the tips as well. I agree with you and to be honest the right side was actually not as low, but I bent it down. I will bend it back and post a pic soon.

THanks and appreciate your help

Cheers
Makario

[kcpoole]

I concurr with Andrew and his Virt

the original has far too much foliage mass and the tails is too long

Ken

[Andrew Legg]

I have given this some more thought, and you could probably also get it to work by killing all the foliage on the way up and the top as well, and just use the foliage on the long crown. Only problme I see with this is the top bend is a bit "man-made", so you'd have to work on it. Its another thought.

[makro]

Hi Andrew,

I have taken your advice and tweaked the tree... what do you think?

juniper phase 5.jpg

I am going to let it recover for a bit and hopefully I dont loose any branches. and then I will work on the Jin.

Thanks Andrew and Ken for the tips and Andrew for the virtual.

[Andrew Legg]

Looking good. Keep at it and you will have a good little tree in a few!