Loopy over a Scots Pine.

This sylvestris Pine has taken a number of years to get to this point. The foliage was a long way from the trunk but the movement and taper in the trunk was great so I thought I would take it home. It is a Scots Pine collected from near Inverness in Scotland and is a true native variety of sylvestris and is approximately 80 years old. Because of the distance of foiage from the trunk, the tree had to go through some severe bending.

The bottom red mark shows the original line of the trunk and the yellow arrows show how far this area was bent upwards. Because the green stuff was still a way from being a bonsai I decided to bend the branch around and graft it back on itself at a lower point.

This picture shows the area of the graft. The branch was hollowed with a Makita over a 60cm lenth and wires were placed in the groove. Tight Raffia was then bound around this area and then wired. This allowed me to bend the branch right round and in on itself. The bark and Cambium were then removed from the branch at the area it would touch the trunk. This area was then marked on the trunk and I carved a hollow in the trunk to match the edge of the cambium on the brach. Once they fitted tightly I srewed the two areas together and added a wound paste to all exposed cuts. The graft was left alone for 2 years and then the feeding branch was skinned slowly over the Summer to reduce the flow of sap to and help the trunk take over.

The tree had been pruned back in August to promote good budding. The old needles were scissor pruned to preserve mall buds in the needle sheaths.

Areas to rough carve

I discovered the deadwood was still alive with sap so any detailed work will have to wait until the wood has seasoned.

The original trunk line before collection. This area is too thick and boring. 

Close up of the foliage and the needle pruning

The branch on the left was carved to thin the wood but still keeping it in the round

I have never been that keen on the deadwood in the middle of the tree as it interrupts the trunkline. Carved a little but will either be shortened considerably or taken off completely. It stays for know.

A small hollow section in the back. More detail to follow....

The tree as it was just before wiring.

and a few hours later......

A long branch that headed out towards the back of the tree was bound with Raffia and then wired.

Using guy wires the branch was slowly bent back and up to help form the top of the tree.

Now for the fun bit. The styling begins...

Left side.......

.......the right side........

...........and the front

A few years of work to get this far and a whole lot more in the future.