Extreme bend

[bonsai barry]

I bought this little juniper for students to work on at the middle school where I teach. It has an extreme 180 degree bend. Originally I thought the students might cut the trunk below the bend and make it into a slant or wind blown form using the small branch near my finger tip as the apex.

Is there any reason to keep the extreme bend. I think it looks a bit unnatural (even though it is natural).

What do you think?

 

[cascade]

I bought this little juniper for students to work on at the middle school where I teach. It has an extreme 180 degree bend. Originally I thought the students might cut the trunk below the bend and make it into a slant or wind blown form using the small branch near my finger tip as the apex.

Is there any reason to keep the extreme bend. I think it looks a bit unnatural (even though it is natural).

What do you think?

Well, it is not the best tree to teach bonsai. But, hey, it is a good tree to teach art! If the long branch after the bend isn't too heavy, you could consider adding even more extreme bends and form a "wild" literati ? Just a thought..

-dorothy

 

[cascade]

This is too perfect and most certainly cannot be achieved in one session, but I thought of something similar to that :

 

[bonsai barry]

This is too perfect and most certainly cannot be achieved in one session, but I thought of something similar to that :

If I had the ability to make that transformation, I'd be teaching bonsai not junior high art classes! Thanks for the virt, Dorthy. The top reminds me of the Casuarina that you recently restyled.

 

[Juniperus Californica]

Don't Cut That Tree

Hey Barry,

If you're teaching with this material, first clean it up so you can see the trunk. Secondly, use rafia (or jute) and wire on the main trunk and do some interesting bends. The base, where it is straight, can be bent to give the tree more movement. To just cut it off would be a waist of an opportunity to try your hand at bending. I would wait until it gets cool and the tree goes dormant to really do some extreme bending.

Give it a shot and post some pics.

JC

 

[Tachigi]

Hi Barry, a possible other solution would be to split the trunk at or just above the bend. It would #1 be easier to bend and #2 double the amount of available foliage once split. Thats what I did on my big juni which was a big version of yours, and has proven to be the right design solution.

 

[bonsai barry]

Hi Barry, a possible other solution would be to split the trunk at or just above the bend. It would #1 be easier to bend and #2 double the amount of available foliage once split. Thats what I did on my big juni which was a big version of yours, and has proven to be the right design solution.

This would be good practice. Do you have a photo of your tree?

Jeff

 

[Tachigi]

Jeff

I'm sure you seen this tree before. I posted it HERE which shows the split farther in the post and also at BV which is a bit more detailed and discusses the split which can be found HERE

 

[greerhw]

That one would look good on anyone's bench.....

keep it green,
Harry

 

[bonsai barry]

Nice example

I found this photo of a tree with a 180 degree bend. I'm not suggesting my twig will ever compare to this, but it does show that it can be done. That being said, I think I'm going to try to develop as Dorthy suggested with her virtual.