bending

Been admiring various off the cuff designs the Japanese satsuki folks have done over the the years. They are amazing in creating out of the ordinary Satsuki from plants found cast off in the garden, greenhouse, nursery, estate sales and trash heaps. Then taking these plants that wouldn’t...

This is the Chinese juniper "blue alps". It has not been repotted by its previous owner for about 4 years. This season I decided to replant it (since the soil contains quite a lot of organic matter) and change the style by bending the trunk a little more downward in this area using guy wires...

This Blue Atlas Cedar bonsai is one of the many trees owned by my Father in law. It was a full cascade then.. A couple years before Dad passed this tree (amongst others) was given to his oldest son. My better half and I repotted it over five years ago. Since then hadn’t seen the tree. A...

So I think I've got wiring down pretty well, it's neat, it's not tight, not loose, I am doing the two branch/slingshot method, no crossing wire etc. I feel it's going great. However when it gets to the bending part I am struggling a lot and lacking a lot of skill. When I bend the wire loosens...

I bought an 8' tall lodgepole pine (Pinus contortus) in a large plastic pot for $30 from a private seller about a year and a half ago. The trunk just above the base was about 4 inches in diameter. I was going to plant it in the front yard, but in the summer I noticed that it had a powdery...

Hi everyone, I’ve been directing a decent amount of the time I spend on practicing proper bonsai styling techniques on wiring since last spring. In the fall, I got over my fear of using copper wire and was even able to successfully put a fairly big bend on a ~1/2” nursery juniper trunk. A...

Hello everyone, I’m having a rather difficult time choosing a front on this Juniper. It has a beautiful curved trunk and great taper. I also need a little help choosing which branches to trim and which to keep. I was thinking about a possible a semi cascade with it by repositioning the tree...

It's a pretty thick and somewhat old (i assume so because it's a collected Utah juniper) branch that I have no clue how to bend. I want to bend it downward to create a cascade or semi-cascade, depending on how far it'll bend. I've also attached a picture of the overall tree to get feedback on...

Hello! I tried my hand experimenting on this very very stiff boxleaf tree I got from a local nursery, using a technique I’d seen videos of some bonsai teachers and enthusiasts doing. I hollowed out a channel on the back of the trunk to make the tree bendable, laid in copper wire, raffia wrapped...

Just recently finished the 1st initial structure styling of this Yew. Here's a before and after. I know it's really basic and needs trimmed and detail wiring but that can wait. Thinking I should let it recover all next year and do repot in 23. It was a learning experience for sure. Definitely...

Repotted into wooden box to grow, spring 2021. Here it is in fall, before and after doing some bending to put a bit of movement in the trunk. Broke one branch in the process, so I planted bits from that as cuttings. Haven’t had great luck with cuttings, but it doesn’t hurt to try. Note for...

Hello all! I’ve only posted here once (asking for hinoki advice) but I spend many hours here reading. Since my first post I have fallen ever deeper into my bonsai addiction. Let’s just say both my porches are full of trees. Anyway, I have got a few Hinoki Cypresses and one sawara cypress, so I...