I would get someone who has been working with BC for a while to help you on growing it out to increase girth (although this tree doesn't need it really--collected specimens are rarely "perfect" and that's what gives them their charm) and further refinement. I might say this tree already HAS a compelling, pretty well-executed design as an aging giant BC. Trying to add girth to it will probably set you back years in the design that is already there.
Bald cypress are quirky trees and they usually have unique character that no other conifers have. They are NOT redwoods, or ponderosa pines, or any other kind of pine, nor are they typical deciduous trees. They have a style and growth habit all their own--And one that confounds the Japanese who have been frustrated in working with the species because they impose the Japanese "bonsai triangle design" on them. That effort is futile. Americans who have grown up looking and living with BC well understand how to work it into a bonsai. Gary Marchal, Vaughn Banting, Guy Guidry and a few others pioneered the most effective techniques for BC. Do a search on their names and see what turns up.
Understanding the species can go a very long way in understanding how to make one into a convincing bonsai. With BC, it is best to avoid "in-the-box" thinking about composition. Trying to strap a Japanese formal upright style or even an informal upright can result in a very odd unattractive BC. Since you live in the species' native range, the best thing you could do is go out and look at the "real" BC in its environment. Study the forms older and younger trees in their native habitat have...
Rockm, Thanks for the well thought out and very good response addressing my concerns regarding this BC. I only meant to post the part of your quote that addresses getting to know the species in it's natural habitat. I don't know how to get part of a quote and not the entire post.
I agree that this thing my look somewhat like a Redwood, a deciduous hardwood or many other things, but at the end of the day it is unique in of of itself. A deciduous conifer alone puts it in a very small class alone. That it's native habitat is mainly in the Southeast, with fingers extending beyond, added to the past fact make it even more unique.
I am new to Bonsai, but not to the world. I am a retired attorney and Judge and have an undergraduate degree in forestry. I grow pine trees, mainly on my plantation back in Alabama now. Prior to working as an attorney, I spent several years buying hardwood timber across the Southeast and spent most of my time in the swamps and lowlands of this area. From this time springs my love of the Bald Cypress. I have seen more stands of Bald Cypress than I could possibly remember, but I do remember how it grows, it's shapes and peculiarities. It can spend a good part of the year growing underwater in the swamp. This water may seem stagnant, and it is usually fetid, but it is moving. underneath this water is deep silty mud, and BC's have big, long, deep tap roots and sends up knees, the purpose of which has been the subject of much conjecture, but for sure are part of the root system. They will not sprout under any conditions as they have no growth nodes. It can grow under these conditions, but would prefer not to, growing in very wet lowlands instead.
All of that is to say that I am very familiar with where they grow and what a stand looks like as well as how different stands can look in different locations, even in the same swamp. Among other trees, White Oak, Quercus alba pagodafolia, and BC's are two of my favorite trees. I have no intention of growing this tree is the typical Japanese triangle style, rather as a mature, dominant, flat top BC.
It's too bad that I wasn't into Bonsai then or I could have collected many good species. Now, at 51 I stay out of the swamp at every opportunity and am too "soft" to do any collecting today except to buy good Bonsai tree's and young pre-Bonsai.
Thank you for the very good and well thought out post in response to mine. I really am appreciative. Phillip C