Friday, July 8, 2011

Mugo Pine #50 second part

Walter and Kolja worked on the tree then for a couple of days under my loose direction. First thing is to find the nebari. Then to look at the options and decide for a general direction. No need to decide about final front and so at this point in time. And then the deadwood. Most folks would postpone this and start with the crown. But the deadwood is the most important, At least at this point.
Walter and Kolja try to find the parts of the tree which are dead and where there is no sap under the bark. There they make credible shari. Not they decide where it goes, it's the tree that decides that. The existing jins are edited.
Whether to use power tools or hand tools is not a matter of bonsai culture but a matter of skill. The end result counts. If after ten years nobody can spot the marks of tools on a tree it is good and does not matter whether it was done with power or hand. Amateurs usually should work with hand because they cannot possibly have the experience with power tools to do it very well. Walter and Kolja are her to get exactly this experience.