About wiring.

Vance Wood

Vance Wood

Lord Mugo
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Outside of understanding artistic principles and the horticultural needs of a particular tree there is nothing more important in bonsai than wiring. It is absolutely imperative that you master this sub-art and wiring is in itself an art. You will not learn this art without a concentrated effort to do so.

I think most people on this forum know that I am self taught but the art of wiring has for the most part eluded me on the levels I needed to accomplish the type of visions I was picturing in my mind. Two or three years ago I posted a video on the wiring of one of my Mugo Pines. After posting the video Adair butchered it and pointed out just how bad and ineffective the wiring was. He was right.

I owe him a great deal of gratitude in kicking me in the ass enough that I considered my own efforts and looked at them through different eyes. I then set forth to master this art. I sought out every site I could find and watched countless hours of professionals wiring. I was able to improve why skills 100 fold and since then have been able to elevate my bonsai to a level much higher than I thought possible. You don't learn this stuff why sitting on your butt believing that as time goes on you will get it together. The truth is you will get things together up to a point but, if you want to go beyond that point you must put forth the effort.

So for what it's worth Adair: Thank You my friend I owe you.
 
Vance Wood said:
Outside of understanding artistic principles and the horticultural needs of a particular tree there is nothing more important in bonsai than wiring. It is absolutely imperative that you master this sub-art and wiring is in itself an art. You will not learn this art without a concentrated effort to do so.

I think most people on this forum know that I am self taught but the art of wiring has for the most part eluded me on the levels I needed to accomplish the type of visions I was picturing in my mind. Two or three years ago I posted a video on the wiring of one of my Mugo Pines. After posting the video Adair butchered it and pointed out just how bad and ineffective the wiring was. He was right.

I owe him a great deal of gratitude in kicking me in the ass enough that I considered my own efforts and looked at them through different eyes. I then set forth to master this art. I sought out every site I could find and watched countless hours of professionals wiring. I was able to improve why skills 100 fold and since then have been able to elevate my bonsai to a level much higher than I thought possible. You don't learn this stuff why sitting on your butt believing that as time goes on you will get it together. The truth is you will get things together up to a point but, if you want to go beyond that point you must put forth the effort.

So for what it's worth Adair: Thank You my friend I owe you.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Vance. I know at the time that created some hard feelings between us. But we've grown beyond that, haven't we?

Jonas just posted a new entry on his blog, that I think may be helpful to some folks new to wiring:

https://bonsaitonight.com/2016/12/30/wire-y-branch-intersection/

If anyone cares, before I started studying with Boon, I thought I was pretty good at wiring. Boon, however, gave me as big a jolt as I did Vance! He showed me lots of things I was doing wrong. He made me take off all the wire I had spent two hours applying, and do it over again. Twice! That was rather humbling.

And mind you, it took several years before I truely "got it". (I'm a slow learner, and had lots of bad habits to overcome).

Oh, here's a little technique that Boon teaches: on a complicated branch that already has some wire on it already, finding the path for a new piece that won't cross wires can sometimes be tricky. So, use a really thin piece of aluminum, and do a "test wiring". See if you can apply it neatly without crossing wires. If you cross over wires, remove it and try another way. The thin aluminum can be straightened back out and used over and over.
And saves you from wasting your copper or thicker pieces of aluminum. I do use this occasionally now. It helps a lot.

Sometimes, there's just no way to do it without crossing wires. So, you have a choice, you can either take the old wire off, and run it a different way, or make the cross in an inconspicuous place. One rule, however, never cross a heavy wire over a thinner wire. If you find yourself in a situation where that appears to be necessary, you've done something wrong, and you probably need to take some wire off and redo it.
 
I found the Etsy class by Colin Lewis that Adair turned me on to tremendously helpful. Most of the wiring I did for my first year and a half was totally ineffective and often useless. It's amazing what a difference doing the job right makes : )
 
In my workshop you would be cleaning a lot more of those old brown needles!:p

...but the wire looks good.
 
I completed a two day workshop with Mauro Sternberg this past November, and as the new Bonsai guy I believe it was the best money spent. I am learning correct habits and technical application from the beginning. Wiring is simple and difficult.
Boon's students produce some quality wired branches.
 
chicago1980 said:
I completed a two day workshop with Mauro Sternberg this past November, and as the new Bonsai guy I believe it was the best money spent. I am learning correct habits and technical application from the beginning. Wiring is simple and difficult.
Boon's students produce some quality wired branches.
Click to expand...
One thing that helps A LOT is to prune your branches to look like Fig 15 of the handout Sorce posted. Alternating branches. Not only are they easier to wire, they make for beautiful bonsai.
 
Adair M said:
One thing that helps A LOT is to prune your branches to look like Fig 15 of the handout Sorce posted. Alternating branches. Not only are they easier to wire, they make for beautiful bonsai.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the advice!
 
chicago1980 said:
Thank you for the advice!
Click to expand...
Also note: after wiring, look at the angle the secondary branches are coming off the main branch. They're at 30 to 45 degrees. Not 90 degrees.

Splaying the secondary's out too wide is a common mistake. If you do that, your branches will become rounded, appear to have no central leader. Intead, we want the secondaries to be going in approximately the same direction as the central leader. Growing out towards the light. Branches should not be growing inwards towards the trunk.

An easy way to remember this is to look at your hand, palm up. Hold your hand flat, and bring your fingers together. Your hand is roughly triangular in outline.

Now spread your fingers out as wide as possible. The outline of your fingertips is round.

With most trees, especially conifers, we strive for triangular shaped branches when seen from above.

This branch is a good example:

IMG_4027.JPG

Also notice that I used heavy wire where the branches were thicker, and changed to progressively thinner wire as I worked towards the tips. The technique I tried to do was to keep 1 1/2 spirals going past a Y, then cut off the heavy wire. In doing so, I tried to end the wire by going under, then finishing with a curl upwards. Like a fishhook. As opposed to finishing with the end of the wire laying flat against the branch. Doing it this way makes it easy to see where the end is as I'm wiring the next thinner wire on. It also makes it easy to find in a couple years when it's time to remove the wire. Those sections of 1 1/2 turns of heavy wire provide the anchor for the next section of Fig 3. On a long branch, there maybe 3 or four places where you transition down to progressively thinner wire.

Always start with the thickest wire, close to the trunk, and work your way out towards the tips using progressively thinner wire.

When removing wire, and I recommend unspiraling it off, work the opposite way, starting with the smallest outside wires first, and working your way back. Heavy wire, gauge 10 and larger, you can cut off in chunks if you can't spin it off. I've found I can usually spin off 10 and 8, but have to cut size 6 and 4.
 
Good thread! I have to learn to wire better, I've never been shown a thing in person. I've gotten good at bending ficus to my will, but this year I will learn more when I can meet folks who know what they're doing. And I can get decent material to work with.....
 
Vance Wood, post: 413341, member: 6"Outside of understanding artistic principles and the horticultural needs of a particular tree there is nothing more important in bonsai than wiring.
Click to expand...

*Scissor work is far more important than wiring.
*There is way too much wiring going on.
*Most wiring jobs end up cloning trees.
*Wiring is a bit of a curse to bonsai craft.
*Wiring into a fan shape is superficial crap.
*:D
 
MichaelS said:
*Scissor work is far more important than wiring.
*There is way too much wiring going on.
*Most wiring jobs end up cloning trees.
*Wiring is a bit of a curse to bonsai craft.
*Wiring into a fan shape is superficial crap.
*:D
Click to expand...
I think I get your spirit. It has credence with me personaly, however I believe that the application of wire is the single most important technique to develop most bonsai in America. I think the overall national quality of bonsai is being elevated primarily because practioners are wiring more than ever before.
 
Well for me I finally annealed some wire for the first time. Wow... didn't think it was really needed before. Overrated I figured... LOL Still learning!
 
In America wiring is essential to making good bonsai due to the fact that most material available to most people is nursery and or cultivated for bonsai material not two-hundred year old Yamadori.
 
Vance Wood said:
In America wiring is essential to making good bonsai due to the fact that most material available to most people is nursery and or cultivated for bonsai material not two-hundred year old Yamadori.
Click to expand...
Hell Vance,

Excuse my lack of knowning on the topic. I have only seen nursery stock tree which often is grow from Bonsai. These usually have a lot of branches to select for placement.

I often hear that collected material needs wiring because of the lack of branch placement.

Am I mistaken or lacking in knowledge.

Thank you.
 
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