First shari/jin work - critique please

Dirty Nails

Shohin
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OK here is my first workshop tree mentioned in another thread. I went to town on the jin and beginnings of shari. The jin are fuzzy, I am thinking let it dry out for a few weeks and sand it down. Comments or suggestions?
 

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Brian Van Fleet

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Good start. Consider usingas sharp knife and clean up the edges of live tissue where it meets the jins and sharis so the callus tissue rolls over more uniformly. Also, using pliers, grab some of the splinters of the Jin tips and pull them back toward the center. It's easier to add texture now while the wood is still green.
 

october

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Very nice work. I would definitely consider pic 2 as your front for this tree. Pic 2 has the best base and the best movement.

Rob
 

fourteener

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Regarding the fuzziness of the jin, the other thing you can do is take a blow torch to it. Have all the little tips burn up and smooth it out.

As far as a critique, I think the jin is too long. We only want a hint that there was life beyond, not a full scale view. I know your trying to keep those branches as points of interest, but it feels like it is a bit to much. The deadwood outweighs the foliage visually.

For the shari, it seems a bit like a power tool got loose and made a bunch of scars. I would rather have a strip of bark removed(maybe around an old branch). I always try to imagine the story that would make sense for this trauma to have happened.

I agree that picture two is a good front. The movement, the foliage in the front, the depth with the jin in the back all seems to work together pretty well.

Watch a Graham Potter video on Youtube with his blow torch!! Not only does it take away the fuzz, but create some texture on the wood.
 

october

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Well, I think this tree has a lot of potential, so I came back and did a virt for it. I hope that is ok. This is all done in stages of course...Using the second pic as the front. Here is an example of what this tree could look like in the future. I would develop the main foliage area and create 2 foliage areas from it. I would remove the foliage on the right. Here is the virt with all the mentioned work and a pot as well. Also, if you go with this design, you could keep that long jin. It works well with this design, imo.

Rob

 
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Dirty Nails

Shohin
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Regarding the fuzziness of the jin, the other thing you can do is take a blow torch to it. Have all the little tips burn up and smooth it out.

As far as a critique, I think the jin is too long. We only want a hint that there was life beyond, not a full scale view. I know your trying to keep those branches as points of interest, but it feels like it is a bit to much. The deadwood outweighs the foliage visually.

For the shari, it seems a bit like a power tool got loose and made a bunch of scars. I would rather have a strip of bark removed(maybe around an old branch). I always try to imagine the story that would make sense for this trauma to have happened.

I agree that picture two is a good front. The movement, the foliage in the front, the depth with the jin in the back all seems to work together pretty well.

Watch a Graham Potter video on Youtube with his blow torch!! Not only does it take away the fuzz, but create some texture on the wood.

Thanks for the great input. I was thinking the jin would not look so imposing in a few years as the foilage develops. It might be too much but you know you can't put it back on once it's off.

As far as the shari scars those are first year ovals like Brian showed on his shimpaku thread. They will be connected in the coming years.
 

Dirty Nails

Shohin
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Well, I think this tree has a lot of potential, so I came back and did a virt for it. I hope that is ok. This is all done in stages of course...Using the second pic as the front. Here is an example of what this tree could look like in the future. I would develop the main foliage area and create 2 foliage areas from it. I would remove the foliage on the right. Here is the virt of with all this and a pot as well. Also, if you go with this design. You could keep that long jin. It works well with this design, imo.

Rob


Thanks a million Rob, that looks tasty! I will print it off and use it as reference.
 

fourteener

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Thanks for the great input. I was thinking the jin would not look so imposing in a few years as the foilage develops. It might be too much but you know you can't put it back on once it's off.

As far as the shari scars those are first year ovals like Brian showed on his shimpaku thread. They will be connected in the coming years.

I'm guessing the ovals start the process creating new lifelines in the cambium? How long do you wait for the next step? Sorry for coming across as harsh. I could have worded it better! Thanks for your grace of non-reciprocation! That tells me a lot.

And yes, always better to want something shorter than longer!
 

Dirty Nails

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I'm guessing the ovals start the process creating new lifelines in the cambium? How long do you wait for the next step? Sorry for coming across as harsh. I could have worded it better! Thanks for your grace of non-reciprocation! That tells me a lot.

And yes, always better to want something shorter than longer!

I don't know how to make a link to a thread but Brian Van Fleet has an excellent thread on a shimpaku using these ovals. It appears about once per year you add to them. Over the course of 3-5 years I am hoping to spiral around the trunks connecting them.
 

JudyB

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That is a really wonderful virt Rob, that shows off the best assets for sure!
And although I've never done much of this type of work, it looks good for a first effort DN. Best way to learn is to do....
 

bennybenben

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Nice job, i would shorten the jins a bit because in nature, they get weathered so they get shorter. Also for the fuzzy part, use a sharper knife to carve the deadwood. Adding on, the shari should be peeled back by cutting slivers of livewood and then peeling the bark down along the trunk and try to do this under deadwood because if you try doing it sideways, you might cut the lifeline of the tree going to the live branches. Well im still a beginner at deadwood but this is my advice to you. :D
 
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2 things... when creating twisting shari up the trunk, I would suggest one
first draws on the tree with chalk how you imaging the shari winding...
Then once you have drawn the lines, go through and examine how the
different live portions that need to be feed are going to receive what they
need to survive.

Now unless one has a twisted trunk already, where the live veins are going
to naturally twist, you will be cutting against the grain, so to speak... By this
I mean, that the live veins will naturally then be running vertically. So, if one
wants to change this, you will need to best consider how this will be done, and
how the tree would revert it's flow by what is being done.

The oval cut outs and their placement is not ideal, for what you are trying to
accomplish. Let's examine the photo where you have two parallel cuts...
Now since the branch does not naturally have a twist, the live vein here is going
to be running straight up the branch... So, then the space between the cuts is
going to receive less nutrients, seeing that they the trees energy will now be diverted
around the first cut. As, you widen these two cuts, the space between will receive less
and less nutrients, seeing that the energy will then be diverted even further away.

The best route if one wants to avoid killing the tree or a portion of the tree, when
doing a twisted shari on a straight trunk, really is by starting off at the base of the
trunk, and doing cuts a couple of inches up the trunk at a time. This way each time
one cuts, you are instantly telling the tree where the nutrients will flow. You also,
don't risk cutting off a live vein, seeing that you had previously cut below, so one knows
that the veins will already be on either side of the previous cut, as well as what ever new
cut one does. One can work it the opposite way as well... starting off at the ends of the
branches/tree, and working back down towards the base.

I will try and do a tutorial if I have a moment.
:cool:
 
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