Styling an Easter Lodgepole

Keith Sturgeon

Day before Easter, and I decided that with a professional coming in May to work with me (my first time!) I had better get some things styled so that he could not only work on my raw material, but coach me on my technique.
In preparation I decided to work on a lodge-pole that I had in fact only collected last season- since the pine had shown excessive growth already, and had apparently not skipped a beat (I got a VERY intact root-ball on this one) I decided that it was going to be my sacrificial lamb. Everything else I have collected was of much higher caliber, and I didn't want to risk it. I definitely run the risk of losing this tree, and would NOT recommend this to ANYONE. COLLECTED TREES TYPICALLY MUST BE LEFT ALONE FOR AT LEAST TWO YEARS.
The tree from day one in the field appeared to me to be a cascade wanna-be, so that was what it was too be today! Sadly, Due to superstition I suffer as a still relatively un-refined bonsai artist, I didn't take any before pictures- fearing that the final tree would suffer from my "hubris." My wife was kind enough to sneak a few before I started, but without a background (I was unwilling to be a part of this) the pic is very poor- (hard to see the material.)
 

During the process, it was necessary to use very tightly wrapped raffia to protect the tree from the HEAVY gage wire I used, as well as guard against splitting and exposing the cambium as I bent the branches.  Luckily, lodge-poles are relatively flexible and forgiving as far as pines go, so I was able to rather drastically bend the main branches without ever hearing a tell-tale cracking sound.  In the lower pic, one branch has been moved all the way pointing down in preparation for the fire.

The jins on this tree are tremendous and natural (wrapped in towels above). The problem is, as luck would usually have it, that they were in a terrible position. I had read in bonsai Europe and other places that folks like Walter Pall use fire to heat and bend these old jins into positions they wouldn't ordinarily be in.  Deciding that it was time to face my fears, I got hold of a butane torch, and went to work.

Butane is by it's nature a very "cool" burning flame- this turns out to have been a problem, as while I was able to re-shape smaller jins, the primary large one is going to require much more heat and power- perhaps Propane will be my next attempt. For the moment though, I'm leaving the jin in it's current awkward position.  I'll attempt further bending and carving once I have developed better technique- perhaps next year.

When using fire it is critical to cover all the live portions of the tree. The steps I used in this process were initially soaking the jins with wet towels to allow water to penetrate the dry wood. The theory I was working off of was that the water inside the old wood would go to steam under heat, softening the wood and allowing the bends. As I said it worked in every case but the big wood.  I then positioned the jins based on where the big one would eventually bend, and heated them further to dry them. They held! However I decided to place copper on them to hold them in place for a season or two, as I'm not sure what will happen when the rains come again.

Following this, the tree was completely wired before any branch was placed, and then the usual hours of twiddling began until I was somewhat satisfied that the image I created in the tree would ultimately culminate in the image i had in my mind (perhaps five more years of work.)

I did not wire to the tips of the branchlettes as these were very delicate having just opened and I didn't want to further risk the health of the tree.  The bending was more than adequate to create plenty of risk.

From Possible Front 1

I refer to this tree jokingly as "walter" because it is my first attempt at a more "naturalistic" style, and was very definitely inspired by Mr. Pall.  As he told a friend of mine, (I paraphrase)"...you just have to get in there and DO something. Stop fretting about WHAT to do or HOW to do it, and just DO IT- what have you got to lose! <sic>" 

Here are several views of the final product 9 hours after I started-  Forgive the INCREDIBLY awkward Jin, it will be bent, one way or another, so that it wraps underneath the cascade and suitably frames the tree.

More views can be seen below. I strived to make the tree at least credible from all sides, including the back.  This is becoming more and more the trend in bonsai among many practitioners, and I believe it really helps you develop your eye much faster.

I took this unusual route to a cascade (as opposed to the more obvious one of following the jin as it stands and creating a traditional semi-cascade) in an attempt to create more drama and movement. With luck the tree will survive and be refined over the years, and the pads will become clear as ramification becomes more dense, and I can finally bend that BIG Jin!

Possible FRONT 2

Possible Front 3

Back

Back silouette

From the Top.