Styling my Larch

[Sjors van Leeuwen]

so this is the result.

Its a messy image because of the wiring. I did not wire every branch because of the foliage, only the first part of some important branches so they would set earlier. The tree had 2 tops, i removed one. The front of the tree had a straight part and a part leaning to the left, i found it distracting that the tree had 2 different lines so i used a large piece and t-reps to get it more straigt. Lifted the left side of the pot a bit.

I can see the total image but its just realy messy right now, did nog want to do any more work on it. Im curious what you guys think.

 

[AlainK]

Very good move... It's heading in the right direction

 

[AlainK]

Couldn't edit my message after 26 mn, but I wanted to add: after a while, the "bayonet" effect will be less conspicuous.

 

[Sjors van Leeuwen]

Couldn't edit my message after 26 mn, but I wanted to add: after a while, the "bayonet" effect will be less conspicuous.

can you explain the bayonet effect for me?

Thanks for the reply!

 

[AlainK]

The word "baïonnette" (English: bayonet) comes from the city of Bayonne, in the French part of the Basque country where there was a manufacture.

It's a kind of knife added at the end of a rifle for close fight. It was widely used in the trenches during WW1.

I use this term for trees whose main leader was cut off and replaced by a side shoot: it's difficult not to have this double right-angle. Many og my larches in training have this "bayonnet effect"...

 

[Sjors van Leeuwen]

The word "baïonnette" comes from the city of Bayonne, in the French part of the Basque country where there was a manufacture. It's a kind of knife added at the end of a rifle for close fight. It was widely used in the trenches during WW1.

Thanks for the quick reply, what exactly do you mean by this? cant realy link this with bonsai right now.

Thanks!

 

[Sjors van Leeuwen]

The word "baïonnette" (English: bayonet) comes from the city of Bayonne, in the French part of the Basque country where there was a manufacture.

It's a kind of knife added at the end of a rifle for close fight. It was widely used in the trenches during WW1.

I use this term for trees whose main leader was cut off and replaced by a side shoot: it's difficult not to have this double right-angle. Many og my larches in training have this "bayonnet effect"...

clear! thanks for the explenation!

We will see if the top stays like this after removing the steel next year

 

[AlainK]

All right: I was thinking of this sort of shape:

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Or even:

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Like this one that I didn't want to die:







See what I mean?

For an upright tree, if there are curves, or even angles in the trunk, to me uit can only be in the 1/4 top part, preferably less, to look "natural".

Of course there are "trees in nature" that have a straight vertical trunk for 3/10th of their total height, then turn one side 45/90° for 1-2/tenth, then go straight up again. Very often, the "first vertical line" is completed by a jin (several examples of this in recent posts), but not always.

This kind of shape is (still?) considered as rather unsightly.

But there are trends and fashions, and schools , and chapels , and religions in bonsai too.

The first one was in an 11-cm wide pot (4 inches).

That one is about 1.60 m from the soil to the top. Here is the top:



C'est ce que j'appelle "l'effet baïonnetteé - this is what I call, etc.

 

[defra]

cool larch, looks familiar!

but sjors be patient, there is a reason why larch is better wired in winter.

oh oh

youve already wired IMPATIENT
not to be harsh but who's the teacher?
my "teacher" also says wire in late winter/early spring

i encourage your enthiausasme its good to make plans!
Really be creative and imagine a design possible made out of all the branches and green you see
look at the tree all around change the pot angle in every direction hell even put the tree upside down and look at it.
then eventualy something wil come to mind or catches youre eye as a point of interest to go forth with
then if its the right time of year (with this i mean certain things are done best in specific seasons or moments the plant itself is at in its growing, dormant or waking up etc)
then you finaly get to the fun and (for me) most satisyfing thing the styling
( i think this a @sorce quote) nothing beats the moment of when the tree is fully wired and ready to)
it just great start the actual work and set the plan in motion but remember after that is again the wait
@leatherback mentioned it already more tree's

now on topic and ill just be honest with you what comes to my mind looking at these pics

first i hope you didnt pay to much for a larch of this size

the branching is way up and splits into two at about 2/3 of the tree's total hight


the nebari is a good start but needs some work still the roots are all evenly thick and look like a couple sausages laying around the base of the trunk
they are alowed to slightly differ in thicknes but just like branches they have to split up in 2 smaller roots at some point and also like branches with taper going from thick at the base to thinner to the tips
my 2 cents on starting the work on that coming spring is to pot it up deeper and get those roots below the surface this is to give them the chance to sprout some roots that you will be able to cut back to in a couple years to improve the nebari!


on empire i already posted this sketch i quickly drew :



to visualize it better i was referring to something like this:

your first branch is up way higher but you get the idea...
it doesnt mean that you actualy have to style the tree this way but imagine things that arnt there yet (< i believe @Vance Wood quote )
forums like here on bnut are places you can learn allot from ive been online self teaching for 2 years and learned allot but also i am attending workshops now and benifit allot from that as well
but to be honuost i know i want to do the actual styling or making up designs(plans) myself it must be an artistic thing i guess... i always enjoyed creating things with photoshop so why not create a dope ass living art piece only they are the oposite photoshop gives results in minuts, hours or some days, some weeks but a tree in a pot takes years, decades , century's.

welcome to bonsainut and enjoy your time with this addictive hobby

you were right all allong
learn to play the waiting game