Day 2 in Belgium. Carving workshop

The day after Bonsai Association Belgium I was asked by Yannick Kiggen who is a good friend of mine, to help out a few friends on their trees. The day was spent working on problem areas with the use of powertools. The trees were mainly of the type that don't lend themselves to ripping and tearing techniques and need interventions with power tools to make convincing deadwood.

The day started with a discussion on the trees to be worked on. All ideas were thrown into the pot and the best ideas went ahead. First up was Chris and his Prunus Mahaleb.

The trees top was considered too straight, the deadwood was very flat and there was a root that had been cut and needed work

Chris and the tree. You can really see the straight section here.

The top being reduced

The top removed

The large root that needs carving. Chalk marks the line of bark that needs removing.

Initial work on the root. Because the roots wood is still wet it will need to season first and perhaps I will get a chance to work on it next year.

Chris working on the main part of the deadwood. He soon discovered that the tree was in fact hollow

First stage completed and some light scorching to remove tool marks. More detail will be added next year.

Thats enough for one day.

Some of the other trees. Patricks Olive and Yew.

The top of the Olive needed attention

I roughed it out and let Patrick put in some detail.

Difficult to see the detail here.

This cut root also needed some work too.No before shot unfortunately.

The mid section on the left also had some work done too. This tree looks very old indeed.

More to follow.......