Extensive Deadwood Carving on Bald Cypress

[BillsBayou]

My latest video is up. I did a great deal of carving on the deadwood feature of a tree I've had since I began doing bonsai.

I call the tree Briseuse de Coeur (Heartbreaker) because of all the trouble I've had trying to both kill it and keep it alive for 20 years. This is why it is still so far away from being something I would be proud to show at a bonsai event.

 

[johng]

Hey Bill... I really like the carving and appreciate your attention to detail. I wonder if a ninety plus percent reduction in the length of the branches would help with the scale problem you discussed in the video?? Try to make it look like a much larger tree by keeping the branching and foliage really close to the trunk...keep the flattop but keep it to a size approximately equalivent to the base.

It would be a challenging image with foliage, but could be really nice in winter!

 

[Giga]

Great video but I think I agree with @johng the height needs to be reduced as well as the branches shortened a lot and the scale would match the base

 

[BillsBayou]

Thanks for the replies. The tree has been a long series of disappointments with hope that it can still be something if I just keep at it.

Now that the deadwood is in focus I'll be doing some serious trimming. I like the suggestion to make it much much smaller in the foliage. I'll be sure to sketch that out. Many who do bald cypress like to style them like an ancient redwood. all the branches getting shorter and shorter, tapering quickly, and all branches coming down 60-70 degrees from horizontal.

That said, I still go to photographer David Chauvin's site and see trees like this:
http://www.davidchauvin.com/p890336802/h5bb44e02#h5bb44e02
And I wonder how far I can push my trees in the direction of these ancient beauties.

 

[johng]

Killer photos!

 

[GGB]

Whoa, appreciate the photo reference. Will watch the video after I get home from work tonight. I'm having trouble finding hard fast facts on cypress as bonsai so I'm constantly search bald cypress on youtube

 

[choppychoppy]

Whoa, appreciate the photo reference. Will watch the video after I get home from work tonight. I'm having trouble finding hard fast facts on cypress as bonsai so I'm constantly search bald cypress on youtube

What would you like to know - I've prob got 50 or so as bonsai and I live in florida so they grow everywhere. @johng has prob got more than I do as bonsai and he also is in the homeland for em

 

[GGB]

@choppychoppy messages coming your way, I keep bogarting everyone's threads

 

[Zach Smith]

My latest video is up. I did a great deal of carving on the deadwood feature of a tree I've had since I began doing bonsai.

I call the tree Briseuse de Coeur (Heartbreaker) because of all the trouble I've had trying to both kill it and keep it alive for 20 years. This is why it is still so far away from being something I would be proud to show at a bonsai event.

Very nice carving work, Bill! I vote with John on reducing the foliage mass. You've got a killer BC on the way! (And all in only 20 years.)