How to create a masterpiece juniper

[Shibui]

If one were to wrap wires around a juniper trunk and let them cut in would that created spiraled live veins? I'm thinking 4 or 5 side by side wraps of fairly thin wire.

Why 4 or 5 wraps of thin wire. I thicker one would be just as effective and far easier to apply. Just widen the shari when you remove the wire.
Why waste the time on the wire? I would start with a younger tree and just peel off the bark in the desired spiral. If the tree can reroute sap for the wire it can also reroute sap for peeled bark.

I know they can deal with sections of bark being removed and you can steer the way the live sections flow. I am however every time slightly anxious when I make the cuts.

With more experience you should become more comfortable with the abilities of junipers to cope with changes of sap flow. I have only had one casualty out of around 30. It was one with a hidden dead spot under the bark. Not a disaster, just a change of plans. Here's that thread: disaster or opportunity
Note that what you see is only the current phase and is temporary. The live section will keep on growing and thickening while the dead part does not You can see that has already happened on the spiral tree. In a few years I think that would look quite odd as the dead wood becomes ever smaller part of the trunk.
I already have some where the twist of dead wood makes the trunk appear to have severe reverse taper in spots.

 

[James W.]

Why 4 or 5 wraps of thin wire. I thicker one would be just as effective and far easier to apply. Just widen the shari when you remove the wire.

I wrapped a young one that way once. After the trunk swallowed the wire I ripped it out and trimmed up the edges but it has completely healed over now. (I know, I should have kept carving periodically, I will dig it back up next year and see what it looks like.) I was thinking to start with older material and kill a wider band. My thinking with wire was that it would slowly cut off the live veins and give the tree more time to react.
I need to do some trials. I have a couple of Grey Guardians with about 1 inch thunks that need repotted. Should I wire a trunk or carve now (at the beginning of summer)?

 

[Clorgan]

I don't think you actually create the live veins. You create the dead wood and the live veins are what is left over

Creating junipers requires lots of time. Years of it all lined up end to end with small portions of activity interspersed.

Basically my approach is to start with cuttings. I actually root long, thin runners from the tips of shimpaku that gives me a 15-20 cm long rooted cutting about 3-4 mm thick.
Apply trunk wire then bend the trunk into contorted shape. The 20 cm tree wil now be less than 10cm tall. Leave it to grow. Remove wire after about 3 months or when you notice it marking the bark. Leave it to grow.
When the tip grows another 15 - 20 cm Apply more trunk wire and bend again. Leave to grow as above.
Repot as necessary to maintain good growth. Wire as necessary to create enough height in the trunk. Wire branches to match the trunk. Leave sacrifice branches wherever possible to add to trunk thickening. Even sacrifice branches can be wired in case you want to create shari from them when the growing is completed.
Leave to grow some more.
When the trunk has thickened enough to be able to remove some bark I begin creating shari.
Shari can be created in one go or over years. The latter gives added character as successive layers of wood show up in the dead wood shari.
Remove thin strip of bark along the length of the trunk. There MUST be a live connection between roots and all live branches so route of the shari needs to be planned well. Leave to grow.
Every year or so you can widen the shari but there are many years of growing before most junipers will look like those above.

You always give such great info - thank you!

 

[Shibui]

I wrapped a young one that way once. After the trunk swallowed the wire I ripped it out and trimmed up the edges but it has completely healed over now. (I know, I should have kept carving periodically, I will dig it back up next year and see what it looks like.) I was thinking to start with older material and kill a wider band. My thinking with wire was that it would slowly cut off the live veins and give the tree more time to react.
I need to do some trials. I have a couple of Grey Guardians with about 1 inch thunks that need repotted. Should I wire a trunk or carve now (at the beginning of summer)?

I've made shari whenever I had the time and suitable tree. I don't think it is season dependent. Early summer should be a good time to do some.
The idea of progressive widening is good. It not only gives the tree time to adjust but also allows another layer of wood to grow along the edge of the shari. When you widen there will be a great natural looking new layer on the new dead wood which gives the shari a much more natural look.
Wire will take a full season to begin to create your dead vein. carving is immediate. By the time you are removing the wire and making that first bead strip you will already be widening the initial shari on the one you carved straight up. Both should lead to the same outcome just with a time lag with the wired method.

A few of mine have also tried to heal over the initial bark removal. I think that indicates it is time to widen the shari so need to keep an eye on them through the year. Healing over is not the end, just recut the bark.

 

[leatherback]

Healing over is not the end,

might even be good to get some aligned structure in the wood!

 

[Stella]

here is a thread I enjoyed that has detailed progression on how the shari was created

Shimpaku Project

So I got this shimpaku for Christmas in 2008. It came from Brent at Evergreen...good things always come from Brent. Since I hadn't spent much time with junipers, I decided to save it for a workshop and try to learn a little about their training in the process and so I brought it to a Kathy...

www.bonsainut.com

 

[Potawatomi13]

That's exactly how the second tree in the first post was composed. Let the wire bite and get swallowed even. Then remove the strips as the deadwood is the desired girth.

How do you KNOW this?

 

[Potawatomi13]

James W. said:


If one were to wrap wires around a juniper trunk and let them cut in would that created spiraled live veins? I'm thinking 4 or 5 side by side wraps of fairly thin wire.

@Shibui "Why 4 or 5 wraps of thin wire. I thicker one would be just as effective and far easier to apply. Just widen the shari when you remove the wire.
Why waste the time on the wire? I would start with a younger tree and just peel off the bark in the desired spiral."

Because this is method prescribed by Master Naka.

" If the tree can reroute sap for the wire it can also reroute sap for peeled bark."

Not so! Wire allows tree time to gradually find new route. Cutting instantly removes gradual adaption of tree. Most unwise.

Thinner wire leaves smaller area for trees bark/cambium to grow between wires. Kills bark in covered area more completely/more smoothly. As mentioned before care must be exercised to see root has path to feed tree/branches or will die. Also sometimes if branch killed off will kill major root it fed. Believe Juniper do this as do also Bristlecone Pines. Tight spirals nearly guaranteed to cause unhappy result.

 

[Shibui]

Because this is method prescribed by Master Naka.

" If the tree can reroute sap for the wire it can also reroute sap for peeled bark."

Not so! Wire allows tree time to gradually find new route. Cutting instantly removes gradual adaption of tree. Most unwise.

Thinner wire leaves smaller area for trees bark/cambium to grow between wires. Kills bark in covered area more completely/more smoothly. As mentioned before care must be exercised to see root has path to feed tree/branches or will die. Also sometimes if branch killed off will kill major root it fed. Believe Juniper do this as do also Bristlecone Pines. Tight spirals nearly guaranteed to cause unhappy result.

You and Master Naka have your ways of doing things but it is just possible that your methods are not the only ones that will work. All my advice is based on actual experience, not theory or some one else's writing.