Do you think I should use raffia with wire to make bends,or just wire. Still wonder if I have to strip all the lower growth
To be honest, I wouldn't bother with raffia or wire. Raffia would do more harm than good and you wouldn't be able to get applied correctly (it has to be extremely tight and that tension on a trunk this small might crush it, not to mention it takes a bit of know how in getting raffia right even for more experienced bonsaiists). Very thin wire might be used, but again, it will be mostly overkill.
To level with you, this is material that needs to mature mostly. The only useable portion of this tree is about the lower six to eight inches of the trunk, maybe. There is very little to work with at this point. It needs to just grow and expand. Unfortunately that can take years. Pond cypress has relatively large foliage, coarser branching and less compact growth habits compared species such as maple and elm. Bald and pond cypress bonsai tend to be on the large side for those reasons and they're easily collected in larger sizes. Pond and Bald cypress grow very quickly, although pond is a bit slower than BC. In any case, You can probably double the size of this trunk by just putting it in a bit larger pot with dense slow draining soil and leaving it alone for a year (more would be better), or better yet, find a spot in the yard that stays pretty wet and collects rain water drainage.
If you want to get more immediate results, you have to start with more mature material. A trunk even twice that size might be useable. The photo below is of a group of pond cypress at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum in D.C. they have long fluid trunks and might be something to aim for with a long trunk like yours, however, they are very large trees, 3-4 feet tall, which gives room for branching and foliage.
