New grape, should I carving more ?

[bonsai-max]

Hi, last year in a field near here they was changing some grapes plants to another variety, they gave me for free, very low roots but after on year the plants is still alive in a small pot. one part was ruined since they simply pulled away the branch so i decided to do some carving work.
What do you think ?
Alla the part I carved was dead and I stopped before see the live vein, so no problem for the plant, should I make the bottom a little bit larger ?
I am opened to suggestions, the 90° movement of the plant is not nice but I can't change it.

 

[Shibui]

There is no problem carving some of the live section provided you leave a reasonable live strip of bark to carry sap between roots and branches.
Inner wood is all dead so we can carve as deep as required without harming the tree - again, provided you don't go right through and cut the flow of sap on the opposite side.

 

[bonsai-max]

There is no problem carving some of the live section provided you leave a reasonable live strip of bark to carry sap between roots and branches.

Ok, thank you, there is lot of dead wood, I think on the side I am ok with shape and deep, my only concern is if I have to do an extensive work on the side.
At the moment i think the front will be deadwood part, but probably will be in a round pot so it's not mandatory.

 

[bonsai-max]

No ideas ?

 

[Shibui]

The extra carving will not threaten the trunk. Not sure if it will improve things because there's no front on photo to check.

 

[bonsai-max]

Still have to find the front, maybe I will find an idea here .
Some extra pictures

 

[Shibui]

Best front from trunk movement perspective appears to be the side opposite your carving because the trunk grows away then back but carving is not visible!
Carved side front on is not ideal because the trunk comes forward then away, spoiling the perspective.
Last picture might be possible though I can't make out depth. I think the lower trunk goes left and forward and the upper trunk is toward the front? That side also shows some of the carving without hitting the viewer full on. If that's the chosen front I'd leave the upper side and carve a little more on the lower side to expose a little more of the hollow.

Dead wood can be a useful tool to give the impression of taper as our brains only seem to see the darker parts of a trunk.

Try checking some more views slightly left and right from that last picture. Sometimes just a slight turn will make a big difference to what we perceive.

 

[bonsai-max]

Thank you, your is really a good point, this plant is strange and complicate, almost no tapering, this 90° angle and almost no movent.
At the beginning my idea was to let the vein get bigger, cut to keep more compact, carving the dry wood, like this, with some carving on the front, and more on the back, but it's really hatd for me, I have not so much experience

 

[Shibui]

Carving dead wood for bonsai is definitely a skill that must be learned and practiced.
It's good to have some less valuable trunks to practice on.

As mentioned above, dead wood can be very useful to give the impression of trunk taper where there is no taper. Just extending the dead wood slightly further will make it visible from the other side, making that a viable front.
In this virt, white = dead wood