Hi, everybody,
yesterday was the perfect day to rewire and restyle “Wolfie” my old Mugo Pine. After I applied all the necessary aluminium wire, which was not that much because most of the main branches stay in place pretty good, I could start to bring all the smaller branches into their desired positions. Two of the main and heavy branches needed some support, so I placed some sticks underneath them to help them to stay in place. Then I roughly placed all the branches at the top and the right side of the tree into place. After that was done I could more easily see, how what I had planned to do with the left side of the tree would look! Normally I would do the whole styling of a tree in one go, but I was careful with a good reason! Now that this little tree and it’s designed has progressed a lot over the last years, I became more and more sure that that straight long Jin that protrudes through the left side foliage needed to be shortened considerably! I waited this long because, in real life, that Jin gives a lot of visual speed to the already exciting movements of the trunk line! But like I sad, it is to straight and there is not much I can do to change that! So it was time to see just how short it hat to become to fit best in the more refined design?! This is exactly why I don’t finish my deadwood sections during the first years of styling! In most cases, I like to form the deadwood to compliment the design of the tree, not the other way around! You can always cut it off later, sticking it back on is a lot harder to do! 😀 So the Jin was shortened so that it just sticks out through the foliage, this way it still has a function in enhancing the trunk movement and direction and also creates a point of interest and it helps to tell the story of this trees harsh live high in the mountains! I think it looks great with the bright green small foliage! Coming Monday I will start to work on all the deadwood on this tree! The large Jin on the left side will be worked on to create some more refinement and details, to fit this new finer design! The right root on the base of the trunk will be treated with wood hardener and Jin seal (lime sulphur). And all the other deadwood will be cleaned and then also treated with Jin seal. I will post some pics when I am done with that!
The temporary pot is a Tokaname. Height is 42 cm/ 16,5 inch.
I am really happy with the way “Wolfie” is progressing over the years! I can’t wait to see it in a nice pot!
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.
Info: karamottobonsai@hotmail.com
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The Bonsai Blog of Hans van Meer 