Another shimapku - first real styling

[Shibui]

Another of my twisted trunk shimpaku.
I've been tempted to do something with this one for several years now but I've been disciplined and held off doing much to this one in an attempt to allow trunk to thicken. Several large sacrifice branches encouraged for a number of years.

Here's what I started with today.


Remove 2 big sacrifice branches from lower trunk and another 2 or 3 smaller ones higher up, wired and placed the remaining branches into appropriate positions.


Views from other sides.


There's still plenty to do with this one but that's enough for the first session. I'll let it recover for a while before any more reduction or refinement

 

[LuZiKui]

Cool tree, curious what do you grown them in for development? Standard bonsai mix?

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I was about to try twisty trunk with some young hemlock stock. I have a quick question. First you wire, then you twist and bend, right? Do you twist in the same direction as the wire coils, or in the opposite direction?

 

[thebonsaiproject]

Twisted trunk is always so interesting to look at, good stuff

 

[Eckhoffw]

I was about to try twisty trunk with some young hemlock stock. I have a quick question. First you wire, then you twist and bend, right? Do you twist in the same direction as the wire coils, or in the opposite direction?

Same direction. Wire will go slack otherwise.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Same direction. Wire will go slack otherwise.

But it tightens up when you twist with. Do you initially wind it loose or is the tightness good for holding the twist and bend?

I don’t have a ton of practice material, but maybe I’ll practice on some “volunteers” in the yard first.

 

[Shibui]

Seems to work better when you twist in the same direction as the wire - tighten the coils and tighter coils do hold better than loose wires. You are correct that the coils will tighten but how many turns do you think you'll get the trunk to twist in one place? In practice the wire does tighten marginally but not much as you are only twisting part turns in any one place.
Wire slightly loose and see how that goes.

All my trees are planted in the same potting mix, right from seedlings through developing trees to potted bonsai. I have lots of bonsai and many more developing trees it would be a nightmare to have different mixes for every different class of tree.