Styling jin on Peter Tea redwood

[skjohnson37]

I recently acquired this tree from Peter Tea, and absolutely love it.

My question is about the jin. The hard chop seems a different look to the soft curves of the branches and trunk.

Should I do anything to the jin? And styling or carving or dremel work?

I have patience but no knowledge or experience, and I very much don't want to ruin a tree I very much enjoy.

Thoughts?

 

[Frozentreehugger]

The only thing you have to do is treat it with lime sulphur to preserve it . Regular applications . You can buy it as a deadwood Jin seal . But it’s cheaper and easier to get at a garden centre sold as a pesticide or often with horticulture oil as a dormant spray . You simple paint it on the wood . It will turn white in a few days . This natural product has been used for a long time on deadwood . As for carving deadwood . I work at mine slowly do a little then leave it .and study it . After all there is 2 primary facts . 1 it don’t grow back . And 2 there is lots of time to consider it as the tree develops into a bonsai . Francois Jekers Book and writings on deadwood is a great resource . For style and inspiration . Look at trees and or pics of trees in nature not just bonsai. My first thoughts on your tree is leave it tall go for a tree struck by lightning look .

 

[Emanon]

The only thing you have to do is treat it with lime sulphur to preserve it . Regular applications .

Very nice tree! With regards to treating dead wood on a redwood...I've heard the opposite to the above but have no first-hand knowledge. I heard that lime sulphur will bleach redwood an unnatural color... and to use something like an epoxy wood sealer/wood hardener that will help preserve the wood without changing the color. If you do use lime sulphur, again, I've heard to use it while adding a dye. You'd have to experiment though to find the right color for you and your tree.

So you just need something that provides a penetrating protective clear coat that doesn't look plasticky when dry . One of the more interesting suggestions that I've come across on this forum is to use Paraloid. It just looks like it would be fun to experiment with (you buy the pellets then mix with acetone to make it as thin and as penetrating as you want it). I have no idea what the difference is between Paraloid B-72 and B-44 but I found a small bag of B-44 pellets on Etsy for under $8 so I'll start experimenting with that first.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Hmm…. If it were one of the redwoods in our backyard, the first thing I’d do is jagged up both the apex and the small Jin.

Tell a story with each and every Jin and shari.

For the apex I’d go for a lightening struck image, with char running down the front/side. It’s too regular for nature

As for that little guy, get rid of the flat top… break it down on a visible side as if the top was hit, cracked and fell over, tearing off more wood along the way.

Let the wounds season and dry, see how they naturally silver. Redwood resists fungus and decay pretty well on its own, so don’t rush in… some folks never treat it….. in the meantime, I think you’ve got branches to grow and style

cheers
DSD sends

 

[skjohnson37]

I love all these ideas - thank you all for taking some time to respond. I agree with the 'too regular for nature' line of thinking. This led me to ask the question in the first place.

This site is such a valuable resource - thank you again.