This is a series of bonsai classes written by:

Hud Nordin                                                                 
Cybernetic Arts                rkn@guest.apple.com                       
Post Office Box 2066           Telephone: 408.248.0377                      
Sunnyvale, California 94087    Facsimile: 408.248.0416                        

Class 4

[This is a continuing series of spontaneous and unrehearsed "classes"
 on the subject of bonsai. Many new readers were coming on board asking
 about how to get started. I believe you should just start making
 bonsai.  So, I will try to lead you through creating your
 first. Besides this gentle counsel, be sure to read the FAQ (which
 appears periodically) and search out some good books or people to
 introduce you to the subject. I will post sporadically with a subject
 containing the word "Class". I am going slow, so be prepared to be
 frustrated. If you have questions or comments about building your own
 first bonsai, post them "Re:" this thread (and if you have other
 questions, try to avoid a subject containing "Class").]

===

I threatened to do some ASCII art to try to convey bonsai aesthetics.
(Several people suggested GIF or PostScript renderings, but I think
I'll hold off on that, suspecting that a lot of readers could not
render them. I do have access to a scanner, though. Maybe when class
is over, people can send me photos of their first bonsai and we, who
are able, can all see them!) I am going to try to do it with words.

In John Naka's wonderful book "Bonsai Techniques I" (Bonsai Institute
of California, PO Box 6268, Whittier CA 90609), there is a lovely
drawing of an imaginary tree that exhibits 18 branch faults. I love
it.  It is SO ugly!

Let's see if I can render it in words, from the top down. These are
things to AVOID:

1)  No Apex (just lopped off)
2)  Stubbed Branch (just lopped off, leaving stub)
3)  Reversed Growing Branch (is thin, then thick, then thin again)
4)  Ingrowing Branch (turns and grows back toward trunk)
5)  Parallel Branch (2 consecutive branches from same side of trunk)
6)  Bar Branch (2 branches come from exact opposite sides of trunk)
7)  Pocket Branch (1 smaller branch grows between 2 larger)
8)  Wheel-spoke Branch (several branches grow at same level)
9)  Trunk-crossing Branch (turns and crosses in front of trunk)
10) Crossed Branch (1 grows down, another upward, crossing)
11) Y-shaped Branch (forking, one branch upward and one downward)
12) Half-circle Branch (has a single, simple curve)
13) U-shaped Branch (grows out, then curves upward swiftly)
14) Elbow Branch (has a very sharp bend)
15) Up-growing Branch (horizontal, but its branches grow up)
16) Dangling Branch (horizontal, but its branches grow down)
17) Tangled Branch (horizontal, but its branches grow every-which-way)
18) Eye-poking Branch (grows straight out toward the front)

These are all branches that could be produced in nature. But, even in
the billions of trees on earth, one hopes that nature has not made a
tree as homely as the one in Naka's drawing!

A bonsai artist has a better aesthetic sense than does Mother Nature.

He also describes some faulty trunks to AVOID:

1) Pigeon Breast (grows toward front, then curves back)
2) Bow Shape (has single, simple curve)
3) Gun Barrel (has the shape of a cylinder and does not taper)
4) Inverted Shape (has a bulge wider than the base of the tree)
5) Zig-zag Curve (has repetitive, monotonous zig-zag bends)
6) Repeated S (has repetitive, monotonous S-curves)

And finally, some faulty apexes to AVOID:

1) Failure to wire branch upward that is replacing a removed apex
2) Simply bending down a larger apex and replacing it with smaller one
3) Live apex and "jin" of same height
4) A sharp apex shooting out of a bushy crown
5) Two or more apex branches

===

Jin? What's that? Jin is another way to remove material. Instead of
totally removing a branch, sometimes you can shorten it, or remove
some branches and leaves, and then strip it bare of bark, leaving dead
wood, as if the branch had suffered some wind or lightning damage. The
mass of the branch is lessened, and it conveys a definite feeling of
aging. I have seen some bonsai that are more jin than living material,
looking like a piece of driftwood with a few leaves. Jin is something
to keep in mind when you are thinking about styling. Sometimes, before
pruning away a branch, you might try jinning it first to see if it
will "work" that way. If not, you can always totally remove it. A
beginner probably should avoid jin, for it requires some fussy care,
but keep it in your bag of tricks for that situation where a branch is
definitely needed, but the existing branch just has too much foliage
mass.

===

How are you at pruning? Done much? A lot of the rules of pruning big
trees applies to bonsai. (If you have access to big trees, you can
practice pruning on them, though it might take a year to see if your
technique is right. Through them you can learn what to expect of
pruning. Especially if you can find an actively growing big tree to
experiment on, nip off the ends of a few branches to see how new
growth comes in.)

Here are a couple of fundamentals:

When a branch is eliminated, a slightly concave wound should be left.
Then, when the bark grows over the wound, it will end up relatively
flat. This takes a lot of practice to get exactly right, for every
tree heals its wounds differently. There is even a refinement for
large branches where you leave a slight peak in the middle of the
wound in order to get flat healing. Don't worry about it too much;
it's really an issue of fine detail. What you do NOT want to do is
leave a stub behind that has no chance of ever looking like anything
but a stub left behind by pruning. Remember, we are after naturalness
in a bonsai, and clear evidence of pruning destroys that. When you are
done pruning, and the tree has had a chance to heal, it should look
like nature never put a branch there in the first place.

(This is a place where a special bonsai tool can be useful. Some
 bonsai cutters are designed to produce a concave
 wound. General-purpose pruning tools often don't bother with this
 nicety. But, you can always produce a a finer result with a little
 more effort, for instance, by finishing up a straight cut with a
 little knife-whittling to yield a concave wound.)

Do pay attention to where new growth will come from when pruning small
branches and twigs that are growing outward. In general you want to
remove material so that the succeeding growth will tend to be
downward.  If a bud is left on the end of a branch that will produce
upward growth, then it will be hard to train the twig down to the
horizontal. A bud that produces downward growth will give you a twig
that can be trained to grow horizontally. Oh, how about a picture?

For this branch, you would prefer to cut it like this:

---/@--------\  \--/@-------------@
----------\@--\  \----------\@---/

And NOT like this:

---/@--------------/@--/  /-------@
----------\@----------/  /--\@---/

(How much of a stub you leave in this kind of pruning is dependent on
 the tree. Less looks better, but if you cut too close to the bud, you
 can damage it. The faint of heart can be conservative and trim off the
 excess stub, once new growth has been established.)

===

Are you getting tired of just looking at your potential bonsai? Are
you ready to remove some material? Do you have a design planned? And,
are you aware that as you begin removing material your design will
undoubtedly have to evolve to accommodate new things you learn about
your tree as you work with it? As I said before, be prepared to
compromise. You and your tree may have different ideas about what it
will be!

Relax. There is no one right answer. There are probably several bonsai
trees waiting to be discovered in your subject. All you have to do is
"liberate" one of them. I have read articles in bonsai magazines that
have several bonsai masters describing what they would do with a given
specimen. Often, there is considerable disagreement! Of course, any of
their approaches would probably yield a nice bonsai.

I would suggest that you try to begin cutting. Have I offered you
enough hope? You can do it!

Feel free to be very tentative. While a good deal of material may need
to be removed from your tree, starting slow will not hurt. Take your
time.

I hope you can see some branches on your tree that definitely have to
go -- perhaps some little sprouts among the lower, main branches that
you know you do not want. Perhaps you see a branch that is growing
obviously too low on the trunk. (But, first, be sure to remove soil
down to the level of the roots; I have spotted such obvious branches
before and then found that actually an inch or two of the trunk is
covered in soil. A good bonsai will have some roots partially visible
on the surface of the soil, just before they plunge into the ground
and, if possible, a trunk that flares a little at the base--signs of a
mature tree, you know.)  Maybe you have a conifer that still has
needles growing on the trunk; those can go. And, if you have vigorous
shoots growing, they can probably be shortened some; nibble away at
it. You can always do more later. Perhaps you can spot one of those
dreaded branches to be avoided, listed above, and eliminate the
problem.

A possible con to "nibbling" is that the design can drift in your mind
and you might lose track of what you are trying to do. Sometimes it is
best to get it all done at once. As a beginner, you can go slow,
especially considering the languid pace of your instruction. But, if
you take the approach of always making the best bonsai you can out of
whatever material is currently there, then you should be OK. Sometimes
it really helps to remove the obviously offending material, and then
stop, so you can better see the material that remains and make better
decisions about what comes next. If you happen to make a mistake, do
not worry. We all make plenty. Just roll with the punches and modify
your design. You'll get there. (And, if you commit a horrible,
unrepairable, mistake, there is always another tree to be had.)

[I will remind you that this might not be the best time to prune your
 particular kind of tree in your particular location. If possible, find
 out when pruning should occur and wait. But, cut away if you cannot
 resist; you can always declare this a "practice" tree if pruning
 causes harm now.]

===

Any questions?

I have a lot more to ramble on about, like wiring and de-wiring,
bending branches, roots, tools, pots, soil, maintenance, styles... No
wonder people can write whole books on the subject!

Oh, and I began to nip away at those three trees I bought last week.
There were some pleasant surprises (and some accidents). I'll have to
tell you about them.

But, have a small go at removing some material. Just a little. Get
your hands dirty, and maybe that will foster some questions we all can
profit from!