Give me a day or so and I'll share a bit more of the process. In short, Bjorn absolutely has a recognizable style, so I had a good idea of what we'd finish with, and it was what I wanted. This is my third opportunity to work with him, and we were both familiar with the tree. We made a plan last year to pump it up and prepare it for work this year. It's been refined and shown in the past, most recently 5 years ago; so the primary branches/bones were apparent. We discussed movement; does it move right or left, I wanted a more dramatic movement to the left, but the challenge is to get movement to the left, while keeping the first right branch, since the right-most live vein only runs to that branch, and the vein is important...so the branch has to stay to keep the vein. No sketches, but negotiated the plan over a cup of coffee and then off to the races.
Prune first: up and down growing stuff, stuff in the crotches, and leggy wispy growth. Prune bottom to top, keeping laterally forked shoots. Wire bottom to top. Wire a section out to the tips, set it, then clean up the undersides of pads, and trim each tuft so they are about equal in mass and strength. (You'll be surprised how full it still looks from various angles, because everything has a spot in the sun). The trick is making it look even, while still placing the pads without goofy bends.
More in a day or so. I'm thrilled with the result; great day, great tree.
