How to style this maple?

[hearthforpines]

Hi! I have no idea what to do with this butterfly maple. I've added wire but i can't form the branches right in any way. Maybe i should prune? I'm a beginner so i would appreciate your help!

 

[rockm]

Some things to think about:

Bonsai is about removing what isn't necessary and understanding that the "final" product will take a while to get to.
Existing growth can be mostly unnecessary in a final design. See past it.
As you have seen, wiring not really a great way to begin shaping a maple. Deciduous trees are "built" using hard pruning and regrowth.
The best bonsai is the smallest one taken from a larger one--The trunk on yours (the first third -or even fifth--of it out of the ground) is the core of the future tree. The top (Which you have wired) won't really offer much down the road and will remain long and gangly.

 

[Bonsai Forest]

Hi! I have no idea what to do with this butterfly maple. I've added wire but i can't form the branches right in any way. Maybe i should prune? I'm a beginner so i would appreciate your help!View attachment 481905

For the next couple of years, keep using organic soil, watering properly, re-potting up to larger sizes along the way. Work on thickening the trunk and base so that eventually, after it grows longer and taller, you can chop it all off at a lower point so the tree will grow again with taper and hopefully give more branches and foliage to work with.

Currently, this tree is in development stage and nowhere near needing wiring, shaping, styling, bonsai-potting for the Refinement stage. Think in two phases: 1) development (organic materials, plantar pots, big growth - can take years); and 2) refinement (all inorganic medium, bonsai pot, refining and maintaining and not necessarily growing to get bigger and so on.

 

[hearthforpines]

Thanks for the replies! I will definitely concentrate on growing the tree more!

 

[Bonsai Forest]

Happy to help You can do this!

 

[rockm]

Thanks for the replies! I will definitely concentrate on growing the tree more!

Well, all this depends on what YOU want to do with the tree. The "grow it out" is fine as far as it goes. However, you can make a mame or shohin sized--smaller bonsai classifications) from what you have with a shorter time line.

If you're after a larger trunk, growing it out in a container is doable, but slows and already slow process. Planting it out in the ground for three to five years can halve the timeline for a larger trunk. It will take a decade to get the same increase in size in containers...

Mame and shohin sized trees use smaller trunks, but they also require more care as everything is small, soil volume (which dries out quickly, less branching to work with, etc.) It's a trade off...

Again, this depends on what YOU want in a "final" (no bonsai is ever really "finished") tree...

 

[hearthforpines]

Well, all this depends on what YOU want to do with the tree. The "grow it out" is fine as far as it goes. However, you can make a mame or shohin sized--smaller bonsai classifications) from what you have with a shorter time line.

If you're after a larger trunk, growing it out in a container is doable, but slows and already slow process. Planting it out in the ground for three to five years can halve the timeline for a larger trunk. It will take a decade to get the same increase in size in containers...

Mame and shohin sized trees use smaller trunks, but they also require more care as everything is small, soil volume (which dries out quickly, less branching to work with, etc.) It's a trade off...

Again, this depends on what YOU want in a "final" (no bonsai is ever really "finished") tree.

Well, it's actually 30 centimetres. It may look small but it's quite long. I was thinking of making literati but wanted to ask someone for their opinion first.
I really love mame and shohin bonsais but really it's hard taking care of them at least for beginner as me.