Smoke and Mirrors - 001

[Smoke]

I have decided to spend more energy on giving back. I intend to post small tutorials about some of the work I do. Mostly it will be trees that have been built in a rather short length of time hoping to show that this hobby needn't be devoted to decades of one's time but that in a couple of years one can have a nice tree with minimal effort.

This tree, an Itowigawa juniper was purchased from Ed Clark in January 2016. Ed has many small junipers to choose from and this was just an average juniper that he happened to bring to the swapmeet that weekend.



The one I chose had a special kink in the trunk. I wish to talk about that for a moment. Let me call this an W.W.S.D. moment. When choosing material don't look for ugly grotesque feature in a tree. Ugly gnarly exposed roots will always be gnarly ugly exposed roots. That is not a desirable bonsai trait. Kinks in the trunk need to look pretty, and like they belong there, not the result of a misguided change of trunk direction due to pruning. I know this is bonsai but pretty counts.

At first look the movement in the trunk was pretty, and it looked like it had always been there. Probably manipulated by Ed but done very well. I think the movement in the branches is pretty conducive to Itoigawa juniper in general and I don't think the small tree had ever been wired. If it had there were no scars and the trunk was flawless. There is a small sacrifice trunk coming out of the base of the root ball which probably contributed to the great flare the trunk has. Another tip to look for. Scratch around the can and see what you have before you buy it. At this point seeing what one has as far as branches is pretty hard to do. I can see that there are many and building a small tree out of this can easily be accomplished with whats there and finished up at a later date when more grow. There is some larger branches in there that can make jins, which is always desirable in bonsai today. All in all not a bad tree for $55.00.

 

[Smoke]

Later that same year I started to cut some branching and reducing length and cleaning to see whats in there. Choosing the branches I would keep, choosing which ones would be good for jin, and choosing which ones were to be removed entirely.

This branch was chosen because it had a funny turn in it and did not seem to fit anywhere. I decided that making jin was desirable because of it's size and would show up in the tree. Making a bunch of small twig size jins ultimately get broken away during pruning and transport.


The branch was smashed with my pliers loosening the bark and allowing me to just roll the bark of the wood exposing smooth bare wood. Try to keep a couple forks out at the end to look more natural but cut the forks back short. Bonsai design is about subtlety and it doesn't need to be in your face to get the point across.



More reduction and the removal of wholesale foliage. Branches shortened and branches removed and some making jin and some jinned on the tips of live branches.



Wire is now added bending some of the branches out of the way for further study. This is a small tree and being only about 6 inches tall is hard to work on with my big fat fingers. Wire is even more daunting. This first cutout of the tree is for setting the future shape. I am not interested in making a showable tree in this sitting. I am interested in finding a suitable combination of branch structure to trunk, finding the balance.



Another branch is found to become jinned as it is too large, but can be reduced in length and retained in the styling as jin. I couldn't keep the branch as it was too large for a live branch, but reducing it and jinning it works well. I need the smaller branches around it, too small to do anything with now but in a couple years will be ready for wire and placement.


After about 5 hours work I feel I have taken the tree about as far as I can with what I have to work with. Now it will rest and grow back more foliage to for me to work with at a later date. This is it in 2016

 

[Smoke]

Almost three years later.....and no. 10,000

Itowigawa are very fast growers. They trunk up fast in the ground and branches even in a small 6 inch cup will grow very fast and get pretty large. It is time now to find a tree. The tree is completely gone now as the foliage ahs taken over and is quite long now. Some branches are nearly a foot long if you unwind them.



There is wire in there
There is jin in there
There is even a trunk in there.

I begin by working the tree the same as I did the first time. Looking over the branches and seeing what to keep. Many of the branches I wired the first time will actually become jin now and new larger branches will take their place. The tree grew very well with regular fertilizer, sun and care.
Obviously one starts at the bottom and works down and this tree had a lot of bottom to thin.



That first branch that is now jin was one of the previously wired branches from three years ago. In fact many of the new jins are previously wired branches. Thinning and choosing takes time. Wire as I move up the tree is tedious. The tree is very small and working on wire in these fine branches is grueling. I used 24 gauge copper for all the fine branching. Every twig is wired.



I try my best to keep the tree layered as I move up. Always keep in mind that when wireing a tree that back branches are most important not only as fill for depth but for bending around the corner to fill in an outline when you don't have the branch you need in the tree. Maybe next styling one will be there, but take advantage with what you have today. Just make it look pretty. That's the hard part.

So after 7 hours of work I have the new improved tree.

 

[Smoke]

So I left the house after working on the tree. My girlfriend wants to see Mary Poppins and we go to the movies to see it. We get there and its not opening till the 19th. We go back home and I decide to fit it into a pot I have been saving for a long time. I have had this pot, in fact I have two, for twenty years. It is made by Bunzan and the clay is smooth as a Begei. The clay has small particles of yellow clay that are pushed into the soft brown clay before firing. The pot is cleaned with a sponge and the yellow clay can be felt in relief on the surface. The tree fit into it like it was made for it. The tree's apex will be softened over time and right now it is too pointy even for me. The white dot at the base of the trunk is the scar from the sacrifice.

Thanks for reading along

 

[iant]

Love it.
Thanks for sharing your experience and your hard work.
Nice little tree.
Ian

 

[discusmike]

Very nice Al,thanks for sharing your many years of experience ??

 

[Cadillactaste]

Resurrected I see. Good to see you back.

 

[just.wing.it]

You're the man!

 

[JudyB]

Atta boy... you like the atta boy's right???

Thanks for your decision to start documenting again your process. There is much that we can learn by seeing this from picking to potting.

Soak it up people! (don't just skim it, Read it...)

 

[Cajunrider]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I have bookmarked this thread.

 

[coachspinks]

Just awesome Smoke! Both in vision and execution!

 

[coh]

Nice progression.

@Bonsai Nut needs to dig out those special titles he was working on for that 10,000th post...

 

[Paulpash]

Lovely little tree - great stuff. Any plans for Shari later on? The sacrifice scar is sitting right where I'd run it.

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

Very nice!

 

[Gary McCarthy]

Looking forward to one on trident maples. Because you are THE MAN when it comes to tridents!!!

 

[Smoke]

Lovely little tree - great stuff. Any plans for Shari later on? The sacrifice scar is sitting right where I'd run it.

Actually I was going to do some last night before potting. It needs something there to tie it all together. I think the sacrifice scar is too low.
Maybe we’ll above that mark, or just ending near there. I see no reason to add a potential rot area low on the tree. Dealing with them on yamadori is one thing but intentionally adding a future problem low on a trunk makes no sense.

 

[Smoke]

Atta boy... you like the atta boy's right???

Thanks for your decision to start documenting again your process. There is much that we can learn by seeing this from picking to potting.

Soak it up people! (don't just skim it, Read it...)

Thanks, atta boys are nice but not necessary for me. Respect is a different matter???

 

[Smoke]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I have bookmarked this thread.

Thanks, there are lots more to come. That’s why I started with triple digits in the title!!!!

 

[Deleted member 21616]

Thanks, there are lots more to come. That’s why I started with triple digits in the title!!!!

looking forward to the maples! thank you for doing this!

 

[bonsaidave]

Much appreciated Smoke!