Juniper first step styling

In the spring I acquired a raw stock Juniperus chinensis from a local bonsai shop. It was an award for a prize at the national exhibition. I selected this one from a selection of a few trees available. The reason why I chose this item was because of a twisted fat part of the trunk at the lowest part. The nebari also looks fine. Often this type of trees made in hundreds have a reverse tapered trunk, and likewise the lowest part very often is straight before the curves starts, making the specimens more or less useless. The ideal form is a trunk that begins its movement right from the base and continues the same way upwards.

What I first observed was a possibility to for a very compact small tree. This demands the top to be removed completely. I decided to keep the branch as a jinned dead wood area of the tree to add age and a more interesting dramatic look to the image.

The progress of this tree will be slow. I have now removed the foliage at the top part, and made the first work on the deadwood. Next  task will be to observe how the live vein is running from the trunk to the branches, before the future deadwood running around the trunk is exposed. This will slowly be visible when the now dead top branches dry out below.

The foliage will be trimmed and developed from now on, but no further styling or wiring will be done before the deadwood is ready to be carved. Good feeding and lot of light is the receipt for the next year or so, before it maybe in spring is time to look closer to the trunk and spiral deadwood that may be the result of the work, depending on how the tree closes the sap flow from the now dead branches above.