Should I use raffia to bend the trunk of this jbp?

[Rodrigo]

I'm about to decandle this literatti and will be wiring it again. I'd like to also wire the trunk to put some more movement into it but it's already got some flaky bark developed I don't want to damage it.

What would everyone do in this scenario? Just wire as carefully as possible and hope for the best? I don't think I need raffia since they'll be subtle bends so it's just the wire itself that could damage the bark

(pictures from April, I'll take more later and post them)

 

[Shibui]

Wrapping with raffia will do as much damage to bark as the wire will, maybe even more as you'll be wrapping the entire trunk.
For subtle bends I'd just use wire. I use raffia more to prevent breakage when doing more severe bends.

Unfortunately, some bark damage is inevitable while bending. Fortunately it doesn't take all that long for new flaky bark to develop on mature trunks.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Leave lower trunk alone. As Shibui says either will destroy good bark. If developing a literati tree can/should be even taller and lower trunk is fine as it is for that. Pick best viewing angle for trunk movement if any is present. Your branching is very two dimensional and this needs changed hence further growth upward is needed along with possible new viewing angle.Tree also would be better and display trunk better without lowest branch.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Leave lower trunk alone. As Shibui says either will destroy good bark. If developing a literati tree can/should be even taller and lower trunk is fine as it is for that .Pick best viewing angle for trunk movement if any is present. Your branching is very two dimensional and this needs changed hence further growth upward is needed along with possible new viewing angle..

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Right now it isn't a literati - just a skinny informal upright. Skinniness is not, in and of itself, what makes a tree a literati - it is the movement of the trunk. It should have dramatic bends and abrupt changes in direction, like a calligraphy brush stroke. You need to decide whether to leave it alone, as an informal upright, or style it as a literati - which you may already be too late for given the trunk thickness.