juniper chinesis "pyramidalis. intial styling

[jamie11]

hey everyone. this juniper i got about 6 months ago, was just a standard juniper chinesis nursery stock. basically the cone shaped junies you buy for hedgeing, i had an idea of what i wanted to eventually do with it but a long time of being patient and such to go. i got it healthy and filled the foliage out before i started styleing as it was quite thin inside the structure.
it still looks wild and has a long way to go but here are some pics of it first wired up and where i want to go with it with a virtual.
the pictures show three sides. the other side is basically the same as the counter clockwise oe shown.

any input is appreciated, ideas thoughts are all taken on board, good or bad. thanks for looking!!!

regards jamie

 

[jamie11]

and yes the virtual looks flat. im not that great with picture editing!

 

[jamie11]

97 veiws and not even a little comment or idea?

 

[ginger]

Did Will design this?

 

[Rick Moquin]

97 veiws and not even a little comment or idea?

... plant it in the ground for the next 10 years and let it fill out.

 

[rockm]

you can make a pretty good "tall tree" image with this sapling by simply getting rid of that first branch...It's extremely distracting.

 

[flor1]

If it were mine and I'm just really getting started in bonsai I would probabaly cut the bottom branch. Then start to wire some of the other branches down a little to take away some of the heighth issue thats already been mentioned here. Good luck hope this helped hopefully their are others here with lots more knowledge that will help.

 

[Klytus]

Train the distracting branch Kengai style.

 

[Attila Soos]

If you want to keep the trunk thin, then you can try to create a straight-trunk literati bonsai. No need to add any movement to the trunk, it should be as straight as a ruler.

Here are a few things that I recommend for such a literati:

Remove the first branch.

Bend the branches steeply downward, and, with time, shorten them, by creating thin foliage pads as close to the trunk as possible. Right now, on your virtual, the branches are about 2 times as long as they should be, for such a literati.

The branch arrangement should be irregular. The first-branch-to-the right, second-branch-to-the back, third-branch-to-the-left approach is totally useless, when it comes to literati style.

The length of the branches should vary. They cannot be of the same lenght.

A few jin on such a tree is a must.

Literati is an acquired taste. It really needs a lot of study, in order to develop a good eye and the right approach. For the beginner, it is the hardest style to learn.

On the other hand, if you don't want a literati, than you need to start with a different material.
If you still want to work with this tree, and use it to grow your own material, that is an entirely different topic, not much to do with this thread.

 

[jamie11]

thanks fpr the input people. what i was after was some different veiws as ones veiw can become deceived when thinking in one percepective for what you want. yes the trunk is basically dead straight. no movement in it so i was thinknig literati myself. the base of the trunk goes from about 2 inches to not much over the height of the tree which is bout 2 foot.
i kept as much branching on as possible for now to make sure i had enough to play with for when i decided what image i was going for. this little "sapling" isnt one that decides its own path as such.
there is a couple of jins at the base where excess branching were which would of in the end caused reverse taper.

klytus- im not sure how training the distracting branch into kengai would work as all the foliage is at the very end of the branch.

rockm- that is what enticed me to the tree. i was thinking along those lines. on getting it home was the problem of figureing where to go next.

rick- i would plant it in the ground but i am renting right now and will probly be moving in the next few months, i have bought a block and building my own house. so this might be an option to.

 

[Si Nguyen]

Hi Jamie, I second everything Atilla said. I can only see a bunjin style bonsai here, if you want to style it soon. If not, I would just put it in the ground and enjoy it as a garden plant for a while, and forget about it as a bonsai. Now as a bunjin, there are some interesting options though. Here are some quick thumbnail sketches for it as bunjin. As Atilla said, it is very hard to pull off a credible bunjin, mainly because there are no specific rules to follow. It's all about negative spaces, lightness, and the feeling of randomness, which are not really random at all.
Good luck!
Si

 

[TheSteve]

Tie knots in it.


Well maybe not literally but lots of big bends and proper shari will go a long way.

 

[jamie11]

literati

Si,

I am liking the look of a few of your quick sketches, these interest me. i think i am gonna have to research and find a lott of pictures of literati bonsai to get the idea a little better, this is a style i have not yet attempted due the fact it is a hard style to pull of convincingly as it has been stated before. i think with the way te trunk is so maluable right now it might be the way to go. if i put it in the ground for a few years i will lose the chance to do something like this and as i didnt pay a great deal for the tree (bout $15 US) i dont have much to lose.

i have always been amazed my the literati. the rugged look of such a fragile image.
and even though i am a beginner with only 4 or so years experience i appreciate all the knowledge i can get.
we are all still learning something new all the time.
i will have to get my hands on some heavier gauger wire and try see what i can come up with.

 

[jamie11]

steve, there is a couple of jins that i intended on extending a shari through once i knew which way i was going with the tree, now with some decisions half made they probly wont be far off.

 

[grouper52]

What appealed to you about this material when you first saw it? What did you imagine you wanted to do with it?

 

[jamie11]

with the straight trunk i initially was going along the lines of what you see in the pictures. thats what i seen. as not being exactly happy with the out come is one of the reaons for posting. i imagined some thing along the lines of the shore pines etc. now that you have put this question to me it has really made me think about what i actually seen in it.

 

[greerhw]

This is what we call a whip, great for making Tanukis or Phoenix grafts, whichever you prefer to call them. If you what something nice quick, find some really cool deadwood and create an instant bonsai. Andy Smith of Golden Arrow Bonsai has a great video on how to make one. Otherwise you are a long way off from anything nice.

keep it green,
Harry

http://www.goldenarrowbonsai.com/goldenarrowbonsai.com/Trees_Pg1.html