Would you mind posting a pic of where you hollowed out the branch to bend it. I'm always curious to see what these techniques look like after a few years.
If you look very closely, you can see it as a notch at the very top of the truck on the left. As the bark thickens and flakes, and as the cambium grows to partially cover such wounds, it all looks very inconspicuous.
Thanks for the kind words, everyone. This tree has been a lot of fun, and - like so many - it just gets better with age. If a tree has a great base and trunk, it can almost always be worked into something worthwhile over the years.