Ficus Benjamina : Shohin Weeping Bunjin

Progression of a Ficus Benjamina cutting that I started back in 2011.
Still a long way to go, this is a 1 year progression from 2012 till 2013.
I'm going for a shohin size [ < 250 mm ]
Initially it was going to be a classical bunjin, but during one of the wiring stages the image of a weeping style bunjin came in mind and that's the direction this design is going now.

Bunjin or literati is a special style in bonsai.
There are some rules and lots of free interpretation.










I did mess up when I defoliated the tree, but I needed to see the structure I was creating without the leaves blocking the view.
It seems to have taken the stress rather well and is currently putting up new growth.










I think I will stick to this height for now and start to concentrate on the roots and ramifications.

Malpighia coccigera #001 : Part II

This is the part II of Malpighia coccigera #001 : Starting a bonsai from nursery stock

Part I here
Part III here

Quick recap : This is a progression of a nursery stock that I am using in a current online competition.
The target is to start with a raw evergreen material.
In part I, I just made a basic re-potting.
Since then there has been two growth cycles.

First Growth Cycle



Another sketch I made and more or less what I'm aiming for.

The tree has pulled some new growth.




Quick progression




Detailed progression of the wiring

Wiring the main trunk.











Wiring side branch that was going in the wrong direction.

When I repotted initially there was this branch that was going in the opposite direction.
Time to set it right.







Removed several branches that were nearly parallel or not necessary for the end design.




Several more wiring later...

---

Second Growth Cycle

One of the main focus of this design is the exposed roots.
Initially they were completely white, but since they have been exposed to the elements [ sun, wind, water/rain ] they have been ageing nicely from my point of view.

Before:



Right now:




Following the second flush of growth, I also had to do some cleaning up.
The new growth was all over the place... even on the roots and lots of bespoke wheel branches growth.












That's it for now.
Sorry about bad quality of the last pictures :(

Part I here
Part III here