The Bonsai Society of South Jersey: Mauro Stemberger at Natures Way Open House 12 May 2K12

This was Mauro's first visit to Natures Way, but he immediately showed his mastery of the art of Bonsai.
Mauro performed some magic on this wonderful old twisted trunk Rocky Mountain Juniper, and created a real stunner!

Here is the tree before starting. It is probably around 250 years. As you can see Mauro thinks it is a sweet piece!

He studied the tree, and made several sketches, showing styling options.

Option A was chosen, as it shows the dynamics within the tree quite well.

The top-most branch would have to go, and the bottom right foliage mass would be raised a bit and brought forward to make a compact design.

Mauro proceeded to remove the top-most branch, and set it up as a jin.

In the process a nice hollow was discovered where the main trunk changes direction, so this was hollowed out to add an interest point.

The main branch had a lot of deadwood where the live vein was growing, so to do the work necessary on the branch, the live vein was split away from the deadwood. The deadwood was left as an interest point.

Some additional carving work was needed to free the live vein so it could be moved.

Note Mauro's concentration on the job at hand!

Finally the branch and deadwood could be separated.

A small amount of fine detail cleanup work was needed.

The live vein was then supported with several #6 gauge wires, and raffia was wrapped over the area which would be bent, to help spreading out the bending tension in the wood fibers. This prevents breakage in the living wood.

Next some black plastic tape was added, which will help keep the whole bend "under wraps" until it has time to heal over and grow into the new position into which Mauro would place it.

Here you can clearly see the supporting wires.

Heavy copper wire was then applied over the trunk and the bend area on the branch. Using several guy wires to hold it in position, Mauro carefully bent the branch forward, and slightly up.

The owner of the tree volunteered to help with the fine wiring on the branches. Once this was completed, the branches were placed into their final positions.