My Running Man Juniper

[jk_lewis]

If that peeled trunk was 1/3 as long as it is now, that might have worked, but as is that long, featureless bare trunk is too fat (fatter than the live trunk) and much too long.

But what's done is done. You might see if you like this:

 

[MaverickLancer]

Due to some personal issues, I haven't been sleeping well lately. Ive noticed that when I wire or bonsai in general, I'm a lot more relaxed. Looking around, I didn't really have material I could work on right now, so I came back to this juniper. I wanted to give it a chance to recover next season and then restyle, but I really didn't like how it turned out. It had been bugging me all week, and I finally decided that I'd go for it one last time.

I started to lower the trunk line into a semi cascade, but that damn jin was screwing with anything I tried. Remembering something I read in either a John Naka or Henry Tomlinson book, I wrapped the jin in a warm towel to soak it and then raffia'd it up. The moisture seeped into the wood and made it a bit more pliable. After application of heavy 6mm wire and several snapped guy wires, I was able to adjust the movement more vertically. By turning the angle of the front, I further softened the awkward C shape bend in the jin.

Any thoughts? This is really one of my first attempts to make juniper pads. I didn't clean as thoroughly as I'd like since it is still trying to recover from the car spray and trauma induced over the course of this thread. I know that the pads obscure the trunkline quite a bit, but I'm not really sure what to do about that. Also, is the lowest pad too low?

 

[sorce]

You snapped!

I think the low may be low.
But the top a bit high too.
I you can bring it in closer it'll be better.

And maybe divide each layer into 2, one a lil higher and one a little lower.

Nice.

Sorce

 

[sorce]

Shit Mav.

It's not an eyesore now!

I hope it F'ing lives!

If not, I hope you learned your lesson!

Sorce

 

[MaverickLancer]

You snapped!

I think the low may be low.
But the top a bit high too.
I you can bring it in closer it'll be better.

And maybe divide each layer into 2, one a lil higher and one a little lower.

Nice.

Sorce

Snapped? Thats what happened to part of the jin when I tried torquing it last. I'm not entirely awake, so the pliers may have slipped a bit...

I was considering bringing the pad spacing closer, but whenever I tried, the pads sort of blurred together. I'll give it a go tomorrow morning.

With all of the fiddling, I'm about 80% sure this tree is a gonner. It's all about those lessons learned right now.

Thanks for all the input, Sorce.

 

[sorce]

Snapped? Thats what happened to part of the jin when I tried torquing it last. I'm not entirely awake, so the pliers may have slipped a bit...

I was considering bringing the pad spacing closer, but whenever I tried, the pads sort of blurred together. I'll give it a go tomorrow morning.

With all of the fiddling, I'm about 80% sure this tree is a gonner. It's all about those lessons learned right now.

Thanks for all the input, Sorce.

With the way you Cali folks grow, I reckon you might just be ok!
After snapping stuff on a juni this active hot season, and it growing still, I'm pretty convinced this is a good time to work!

If you can get a guy wire to slowly bring the pad branch to the trunk, you're done!

Bravo Mavo!

Sorce

 

[A Random User]

I am on my phone, so a little hard to see... but I think you found a tree within there!

The more you do this the better one will become at not only being able to design a tree within the material, but also become better at determining what makes up good material.

Just let the tree go for now... it should recover fine.