First Shimpaku Styling

[fore]

Here is my first Shimpaku that I recently picked up. I cleaned it up, did most of the initial wiring, plus my jury rigged contraption to pull the leading branch forward and downward. (I know having rebar hanging off a pot isn't aesthetically pleasing, but I thought the idea was good to get the desired branch placement)

As I've looked at pictures of well done Shimpakus, I realized my branch placements need tweaking to show the trunk line better. The longer term plan is to extend a shari from the branch cut at the base of the trunk, upward to the two smaller jins and then extend it to the upmost jin. I was told to do this gradually over two years. Next spring, I'm going to repot this into larger pot to enlarge the trunk and get a more aged look. Rewire and keep it pruned to the basic design till I'm happy with the trees enlargement. I'd love to get some back budding to form sacrificial branches to quicken this development. (I'd thought I'd have one or two, but after styling, I used all the remaining branches. I cut that lowest branch so that I can do the shari work over the next two years)

So here are some pics. After the initial cleanup and jin formation. And after 2/3 of the initial wiring. After yesterday, I'm just about done wiring, I just haven't taken pics yet.

 

[stacy allen muse]

take some pics and post your final design. I am currious as to where you are headed... wire the base of your pot to something, to prevent it from tipping over all the time, perhaps a large concrete rectangled paver???

 

[fore]

Thanks Stacy for the tip, but the rebar is in a position that actually balances out the pot about perfect. It's not unstable at all...though it certainly looks that way )

And I will follow up with more pics. I have an image of the tree I want, I'm just not there yet. Though not a lot of interest in my thread I'm thinking people have had enough young Shimpaku styling threads...or I did a terrible job styling it and no one wants to say so LOL! Seriously though, I will post the pics when I'm done...Thanks for asking Stacy!

 

[stacy allen muse]

I think there are some that probally had a rather long weekend with the hurricane and bad weather... noticed myself, that there didn't seem to be as many postings for a normal weekend...
If you are having trouble, or are stuck with your design, post some pics anyways, and I am sure someone will help you figure it out....