Shorepine styling advice

[JRidge]

I am looking at styling this twin trunk Shorepine as a literati.
General styling advice welcome!

Main question is, is this a good application for a wedge cut? I want to reduce the angle between these two branches and ideally do it at the same time that I put movement into the main trunkline.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I'd cut that trunk off above at the notch and use the branch as a trunk instead.
Gives you more freedom and it immediately shortens the smaller one of the two.

As for styling directions, I feel like this material has not seen any techniques applied, and I've never worked with shore pine so I don't know how to handle it.
The distance between foliage and trunk is quite difficult to overcome, so I want to suggest you'd want to wire all the branches down and start investing time in chasing back the foliage. Maybe even grafting those branches onto lower parts of the trunk by means of approach grafting, so you can compact the design in a year or two.
I'm all in favor of elegance and skinny trunks, but it needs to be scaled. Which is one of the most difficult parts in bunjin or literati style if you're working with rough material.

 

[Jpxc17]

This is what I see. Cut off at the red lines. Wire the remaining branches down into the new positions indicated by the white lines showing the direction and the new tops ending roughly where the green lines are.

 

[darzuo]

I agree with removing one of the trunks at the split, especially if you're pursuing literati. It's hard for me to see how you would avoid competing trunklines in a style where a single graceful trunk is usually the way to go. Removing the thicker one also gives a bit of a dramatic angle change if you can find a way to incorporate it

 

[Scriv]

Really cool piece of material. I would look to lengthen the overall line and narrow the silhouette to really bring out that elegance. You can keep the second trunk and if handled correctly it'll add to the tree's character.

 

[JRidge]

Thank you for the great suggestions.
Although I might in time remove a trunk, right now I thought I will keep everything because in 5 years it might look better removed with some added character…. So I set the major structure and laid everything out.
I decided to try the wedge cut and go for a dual trunk windswept style.

 

[Potawatomi13]

I disagree with needing added lower branching. You are fine with plenty at apical ends to choose from. Lowest branch trunk needs more dramatic bends and would suggest applying heavy wire first then notching two or 3 places for sharper more angular bends. Also protect notch you made with cut paste for better healing. It is a great tree for Literati.