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The creation of a Phoenix Graft, and possibly other useful information
Creating
art usually involves many techniques, and the more techniques an artist can develop the easier it will be for him/her to develop
their 'vision' and 'inspiration'. My friend Mr. Al Keppler, an extraordinary bonsai display stand artist and fellow bonsai
practitioner, made a statement some time ago which I think best describes my bonsai philosophy.
"Bonsai is an artistic representation
of a natural tree. It is an image, an illusion of nature. It is smoke and mirrors that defies the senses. The best bonsai
are magician’s tricks that have fooled the eye into seeing a far off place in the distant past, or the side of a craggy
cliff. We all have to strive to be the magician.".
I will always be thankful to Mr. Al for those thoughts.
I have spent most of my life doing various types
of woodwork from basic carpentry, to cabinet/furniture making, to woodcarving, and learning the use of various tools involved
with the shaping and preservation of wood, and I am of the opinion it would be a shame not to use the experiences I have working
with wood as a tool for developing bonsai. Although many consider the 'phoenix graft' techniques as cheating, deception, or
worse, I do not share this opinion. I believe good art is 'good' not because of the manner it was created, but because of
the 'emotion' it evokes in the viewer. To place limitations on any artist is certainly counter productive.
I have noticed there is not a lot of information available in
books or on the internet about the methods used in creating a 'phoenix graft', and although I have little doubt things similar
to this have occurred before in bonsai, I have never seen or read of such in books, on the internet, or in person. I have
several times in the past used methods similar to the phoenix graft techniques to add a 'prosthesis' piece of deadwood to
an area to aid in the illusion of taper, eliminate reverse taper, or create deadwood roots to visually balance the surface
roots of a tree. A few years ago on the BonsaiTalk forum Mr. Andy Rutledge posted a Japanese Black Pine to which he had added
a 'prosthesis' dead branch [jin] where there previously was no branch, using a technique he learned from Mr. Nick Lenz. The
thread did not go into any detail of the process, and in fact I still do not know the details of the method used by Mr. Andy
or Mr. Nick. I have been able to find from other sources that one method of doing this is to shape the base end of the deadwood
branch to be attached in a double taper, then by inserting a chisel point into the live trunk or branch one makes a vertical
[in the case of a trunk] slit that can accept the taper of the deadwood branch and it is secured with a tiny drop of "Gorilla
Glue", which is very suitable to withstand the watering and weather requirements. If properly executed the bark will eventually
form a callous around the base of the ‘alien jin'. This idea intrigued me. I have for several years saved dead juniper
trees and ‘woody’ branches I remove from junipers. The wood is extremely durable and quite suitable for 'prosthesis'
usage. Since this tree is my second attempt at a true phoenix graft, I desired to incorporate several of these techniques
into this one tree.
I began the project with this stump of Juniperus ashei [Ash juniper, or Texas mountain
cedar], collected in Wimberley Texas, June 13, 2004. The stump in the photo is a trunk of a much larger stump that I used
to carve a display stand.
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| Raw Tanuki Material |
This Juniperus chinensis 'Robusta Green' [green robusta juniper], 27 inches tall,
1 1/4 inch base, nice slingshot trunk, and good healthy foliage, was purchased on October 6, 2004 at our local bonsai club
auction for $10 USD. The photo was taken January 2, 2005, after re-potting from a 2 gallon plastic nursery can to this grow
box, and removal of 3 or 4 small branches at the bottom near the base. This was to become the 'live' portion of my tree.
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| Juniperus chinensis 'Robusta Green' became the 'live' portion of the tanuki |
The front of the ashe juniper stump was chosen [actually the opposite side of the first
photo] and initial carving began using an electric chain saw, a hatchet, several wood carving hand chisels, and the concave
cutters, to establish a design that looks like a tree trunk with good taper, a wide root base, and some movement. This photo
taken February 5, 2005 shows the deadwood being placed next to the live tree to mark the location of the channel, where the
trunk of the live tree would be inset into the deadwood trunk.
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| The front of the ashe juniper and stump are chosen |
The lowest deadwood branch on the left [an original portion of the
ashe juniper stump] did not look visually pleasing to me because it was too low on the trunk and due to the grain of the wood
was likely to break in the future, so it was later removed. The second deadwood branch is the trunk of a Juniperus horizontalis ‘Wiltoni’ [blue rug juniper
or creeping juniper] which did not survive my care. The blue rug branch is just wedged into a crevice made by a chainsaw cut
for this photo. It was later carved and attached by drilling a hole and using ‘Gorilla Glue to secure it to the trunk
in approximately this location.
After the channel was cut the live tree was temporarily attached
to the deadwood using wire ties with thick cork for padding on the live trunk. Some of the branches were brought down using
guy wires, and the tree was left to grow and acclimate to the new bends and positions.
Between the spring re-potting and the mid summer re-potting, I had the
opportunity to do some additional carving of the ‘ashe juniper’ trunk using the ‘Roto-Zip’, hand chisels,
X-acto knife, and "Dremel’ to achieve a more tree like appearance with taper and a good root base.
Particular attention was paid to the natural grain patterns
of the ashe juniper stump, and to achieve a more natural appearance, the pulling of fibers to follow the grain of the wood
was incorporated. This process works very well on conifers and can also be used to some extent on non-conifers. Although it
is best accomplished with wood that is still 'green', you can also get good results on dead and dry wood by allowing it to
absorb water for at least 24 hours. I first became aware of this while working at 'Silver Dollar City' in Branson, Missouri,
playing music one summer, many years ago. Having considerable interest in wood carving, I spent a lot of time between shows
talking to, and watching a wood carver working at the park. He could not use power tools because of the theme of the park,
and he kept most of his carving wood soaking in a galvanized stock tank behind the bushes near his shop. According to him
most woods are easier to carve with hand tools when wet. I have found this true also, and it has transfered well to hand carving
on bonsai trees. With unattached dead wood as used for a ‘phoenix graft’, I will usually just put it in the pond
in my garden for a couple days. If I need to pull fibers on dry wood on a tree, I usually wrap the wood with strips of terry
cloth, a sponge, or plush paper towels and keep wet for a few days to allow the moisture to be absorbed by the wood. Wrapping
a dry dead branch and keeping it wet will also aid in bending of the branch without breaking it.
I have made a
few photos of the process of pulling fibers on juniper wood, and will attempt to explain them. This first photo is an assortment
of tools I often use when doing this type of carving.
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| Assorted tools used for the wood work |
From top left and continuing clockwise, a 4 inch pair of diagonal
wire cutters, an old pair of concave cutters, an assortment of hand wood carving chisels, a pocket straight razor [excellent
grafting knife], an X-acto knife, 4 inch flat nose pliers, and a pair of jin and wire plier.
The next photo is a
piece of well seasoned ashe juniper that I put in the pond for a couple days to 'soften' the fibers making them more bendable
and easier to pull, although green wood works much better.
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| Seasoned ashe juniper stock for Phoenix graft |
With a piece of wood that has a flat cut end such as the ashe juniper stump I used
for this phoenix graft, it is best to work from the flat area [base]. The same is true with deadwood branches which have been
cut off flat. The tool I use most often to start a ’group of fiber’ is a pair of not so good [blades have nicks
and don’t quite meet] concave cutters that I purchased at a club auction with this purpose in mind, although a perfectly
good pair of cutters will work just fine, and not likely be damaged in the process. This photo (Figure 1) shows the beginning
cut with the concave cutters from a starting point such as one might encounter when working on a deadwood portion of a living
trunk or branch.
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| Figure 1 |
The next photo (Figure 2) is showing the concave cutters handle being
lowered after the cut to act as a pry tool and raise a bundle of fibers to grasp with the pliers.
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| Figure 2 |
In this photo (Figure3) I am using a pair of flat nosed pliers to start
pulling the fibers with the grain of the wood
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| Figure 3 |
Here we see (Figure 4) the grain ending after about a 6 inch strip is
pulled
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| Figure 4 |
This photo (Figure 5) shows the second bundle of fibers being pulled
with a pair of jin and wire pliers.
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| Figure 5 |
I also often use a 2 mm hand chisel curved gouge or a knife point (Figure
6). I try to get the tool under a few fibers and then lower the handle to pry the fibers upward. In this photo I am using
the 2 mm curved gouge and once again lowering the handle after the cut to raise the bundle so it can be grasp and pulled.
The important thing is to allow you to raise a few fibers enough to grasp them with a pair of pliers jin and wire, flat nosed,
or needle nosed.
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| Figure 6 |
With a bit of practice you will quickly learn about how large a bundle can be pulled
on each different type of wood. If the bundle is too large it will usually result in breaking before you have reached the
end of your pull. After a few bundles were pulled the resulting pulls began ending much farther up the piece of wood getting
into a more interesting area as shown in the next photo (Figure 7). Also notice how flexible the wood has become after soaking
in the pond for a couple days allowing long strips to be pulled without breaking.
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| Figure7 |
In this photo (Figure 8) I am using a knife point to make the initial cut into the
wood to raise a bundle of fibers, again lowering the handle to use the tool as a pry tool to raise the bundle.
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| Figure 8 |
Then grasping with the pliers it is slowly pulled away from the trunk to remove (Figure
9). The area where you start the pulls shown here can be cleaned up with a dremel after the wood has dried.
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| Figure 9 |
If one desires to end a pull that does not end itself in the
appropriate place, you can use any of the same tools used to start the pull to also terminate the fibers being pulled. The
gouge or the knife are the tools I use most often for doing this. Just use the tool to cut through the bundle where you wish
to stop the pull. This area can also be made to look much better with a dremel after the wood is dry.
This photo (Figure 10) shows how the grain
is beginning to look, and the next two photos (Figure 11 and 12) are taken a bit closer
to show the result of the fiber pulling method of carving. You can see the fiber ‘hairs’ left by the pulls. These
can be grasp with the pliers and also pulled, but when finished, and it looks the way you like, you should then burn the remaining
fibers away with a torch, lighter, or candle. Then wire brush to remove the black and treat with lime sulfur to preserve and
bleach.
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| Figure 10 |
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| Figure 11 |
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| Figure 12 |
This process can be continued as far as one wishes
to get the desired effect. I have only shown the very basics. This is not the answer to all your carving needs, it is just
another tool to add to ones methods of working on trees. Chinese artist Cheng Cheng-Kung has written a book on this technique
and has a lot of good information on his website at http://sidiao.myweb.hinet.net/index_e.htm There are some beautiful examples
of his work and what can be accomplished by pulling a few fibers.
The entire bottom of the ‘ashe juniper’ trunk was
sealed with a thin [approximately 1/8 inch] layer of ‘QuikWood’ [a two part polymer resin epoxy putty] manufactured
by Polymeric Systems Inc.. This will help to prevent moisture from entering the end grain of the wood contributing to rot.
An area of bark and cambium, roughly corresponding
to the channel was removed from the back side of the ‘robusta green juniper’ to allow the wood to dry for attaching
to the deadwood. This photo showing the carving progress was taken July 19, 2005, the edge of the bark removal from the ‘live’
tree can also be seen in this photo, and some of the guy wires are visible.
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| Preparations are made to marry both pieces |
My intention with this tree from the very beginning, was to use several
different types of juniper deadwood pieces that I have accumulated over the last couple years, thus the title 100% Juniper.
The next photo taken July 30, 2005 shows my first branch configuration. The first [lower right] branch is from a Juniperus
chinensis ‘Torulosa’ [hollywood juniper]. The second [lower left] is from a Juniperus horizontalis ‘Wiltoni’
[blue rug juniper or creeping juniper], and the upper left branch is from a Juniperus chinensis ‘Shimpaku’ [shimpaku
juniper].
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| A variety of juniper woods are married to the main trunk |
With the carving pretty much as desired I treated the ‘ashe juniper’ carving
with several coats of lime sulfur to bleach the wood. The ‘live’ tree was then attached to the deadwood using
a bead of ‘Gorilla Glue’ the entire length of the area to be fastened, and #6 solid brass wood screws of various
lengths depending on the thickness of the ‘live’ tree [3 in the large trunk, and 2 in the smaller trunk]. The
heads of the screws were ground to a smaller diameter and I pre-drilled holes through the ‘live’ tree a bit larger
than the screw diameter with a larger hole about the size of the head and 1/8 inch deep to allow it to go below the surface.
When possible I placed the screws where I had removed branches, and then sealed the heads and holes with the gooey [in the
yellow tube] grafting paste.
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| The living vein is attached |
The area where the ‘live’ trunk joined the dead had a natural
hollow at soil level that the ‘robusta green juniper’ trunk did not completely fill, and the carved surface roots
needed a bit more root in the area between the only live root and the first carved root to the left, so I searched through
my ‘deadwood supply’ and found a couple pieces I thought would fill the need. I carved them to the appropriate
shape and attached them with ‘gorilla glue’. This photo indicates the fill root [circled in yellow] carved from
the root crown and trunk of a Juniperus chinensis ‘San Jose’, and the desired new roots [circled in red] carved
from a branch removed from a Juniperus chinensis ‘Procumbens Nana’. Not all gaps were filled by the live wood.
Not wanting to wait for the natural growth to fill them because my plan was to use this tree for our club’s "Christmas
tree decorating" in December, I elected to fill the gaps [circled in blue] with the same ‘QuikWood’ polymer epoxy
I used on the bottom of the trunk.
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| Gaps between live wood and dead are filled |
The deadwood branch configuration just did not suit my eye due to the
lowest [hollywood juniper] branch being smaller in diameter than the second [blue rug juniper] branch even with the base area
I left for it when carving, and the upper [shimpaku branch] was too small when compared visually with the live branches at
the same level on the trunk. I made the decision to move the first deadwood [hollywood juniper] branch to the position of
the third deadwood [shimpaku juniper] branch, and start looking for a new lower branch, the obvious choice being shimpaku.
I found a likely candidate as far as size and shape, but when I removed the bark, the base half of the branch was almost flat
due to some sort of odd growth pattern. Since I really did like the appearance of the branch and the heart wood visible on
the front of the branch, I decided to modify it by carving a ‘prosthesis’ of a sort for the lower part of the
branch. I used a piece of Juniperus chinensis ‘San Jose’ and my dremel tool to match as closely as possible the
contour of the back side of the shimpaku branch and glued them together with ‘Gorilla Glue’. This next photo taken
August 14, 2005 shows the branch placed in the hole drilled for it and after soaking overnight in the pond the short secondary
[san jose juniper] branch was bent and secured with a short piece of wire. Also visible in this photo is one of the brass
screw holes [upper part of largest live vein] that was placed in the center of a previously removed branch stub, then covered
with cut paste.
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| The decision is made to replace the lower branch |
Following my decision on the three deadwood branches and their placement,
holes approximately 1/8 smaller than the diameter of each branch were drilled at the desired angle and location of the branch.
I then used the ‘dremel’ with a small ‘bud tip’, and a small ‘sanding drum’ to increase
size and shape the holes, and to decrease the size of branches, to make the fit as tight as possible. I secured the branches
to the ‘ashe juniper’ trunk with ‘gorilla glue’ and used the ‘QuikWood’ epoxy at the base
of the branches to make the transition as natural as possible. Some areas of the deadwood were then treated with ‘lime
sulfur’ with a tiny amount of black ‘acrylic paint’ for coloring the darker areas, which was followed by
‘lime sulfur’ with a tiny amount of light grey ‘acrylic paint’ to color the areas which I wanted to
be lighter. I used darker colors in some of the roots and the heavy carved ‘vein’ areas to give the appearance
of age and decay, but the smoother areas with the appearance of 'less time dead' were left more white to give it a ‘bleached’
look. On the left side below the deadwood branch there was a natural branch that was an ‘eye-poking’ branch which
I had removed. This left a very round spot which did not suit me [the proverbial ‘bulls eye’ look]. I drilled
this through and using a small dremel bud tip, shaped it to take away the roundness, making it a feature rather than a problem.
The area on the lowest [right] branch where the heartwood was visible was left without ‘lime sulfur’, and after
it has had a chance to naturally weather some will be preserved with ‘Minwax Wood Hardener’ if needed.
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| The juniper branches secured the image starts taking shape |
I most likely have enough ‘Ashe juniper’ wood on hand to
have used that for all of the deadwood on this tree, but my goal was to use several different types of juniper. As in the
story of Dr. Friedrich von Frankenstein who took the parts from many different sources and created his "Monster", I too have
taken parts from many different sources, and created either a ‘monster’ or a ‘potential bonsai’. Time
will tell. I have no doubt, a tree such as this will never be accepted by some as a ‘bonsai’, but I consider that
to be their loss not mine. In the meantime I will enjoy my "Franken-juniper". I would like to add at this point, this tree
is the only one in my collection that has been given a name. Thank you Ms. Victrina Ensor for dubbing this tree as "Frankie".
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| "FRANKIE" |
At this point I found it necessary to balance
between two desires. Firstly, I felt it was to the trees advantage to retain as much foliage as possible to achieve maximum
growth and callous of the lower trunk [the portion attached to the deadwood] over the next season or two. This could be enhanced
even more by planting the tree in the ground for a couple years, and indeed depending on progress this may well happen in
the future. Secondly, was my desire to use this tree for our club’s annual ‘Christmas bonsai decorating’
the first week of December. The foliage was much to unsightly and far too much of it for this, and I would need to pot the
tree into a bonsai pot late November. I also did not particularly want to look at the tree daily in my garden as it looked.
I made the decision to wire and shape the branches that I would
likely be retaining in the final design, and to also wire and shape the upper part of the tree [which will likely later be
removed] to have a pleasing look yet allow as much light as possible to penetrate to the foliage without removing branches.
This photo was taken September 22, 2005, after the initial wiring and
shaping. I did as expected lose a few needle clusters later because of the wiring, but what you see on the soil surface was
the only portion of the foliage removed at this time.
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| The decision to wire and shape the branches |
A few days after this photo was taken one of the members of
our club who is a nationally acclaimed sculptor visited my garden and saw the tree. She was scheduled to provide the program
for the November club meeting discussing “Art and bonsai”, and ask if she could use this tree to help illustrate
her program. The tree made its’ first public appearance November 2, 2005 in much the same condition as this photo, with
a few adjustments to the branches and a few secondary branches wired and shaped.
Concerning the appearance of the ‘deadwood branches’ grafted
to the ‘deadwood trunk’, here are a few ‘close-up detail’ photos. As stated earlier, after gluing
the branches into place I used ‘QuikWood’ epoxy at the base of the branches to make the transition as natural
as possible. In the case of the lowest Shimpaku/San Jose branch in this photo, I also used the ‘QuikWood’ epoxy
to create an area between the ‘live veins’ and below the branch to fill a void that caused a reverse taper effect
when viewed from my chosen front.
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| A smooth transition is made |
This area (Figure 13), more visible in this photo from the back side of the first branch,
was inspired by a section of deadwood on a ‘Hollywood juniper’ that I found quite interesting.
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| Figure 13 |
This next photo (Figure 14) shows the other two ‘deadwood
branches’ from the left side of the tree.
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| Figure 14 |
On November 26, 2005, I potted the tree into a pot that was only slightly too
large visually for the tree, but due to the fact that it is a ‘phoenix graft’ the roots of the tree are actually
much smaller than one would normally find on a tree this size. This pot was obtained for $20 USD from the family of a club
member which passed away. I worked many hours removing very thick lime scale, but to me it was well worth the time to be able
to put the pot back into use. I did no pruning or disturbing of the root system, other than rinsing with a hose on shower
setting. I am wanting to have as much growth as possible over the next season or two, however because of the small root system
I decided to use some ‘ashe juniper’ blocks cut to the proper height for the deadwood to sit on and allow me to
firmly secure it in the pot.
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| The phoenix graft is slip potted in to its new home |
These would also take up some of the excess room in the pot.
I believe that most trees and particularly conifers should not be severely over potted for best health. By having too much
soil in a pot that is not colonized with roots it allows the soil to remain too wet and can promote ‘root rot’.
I placed two screw eyes in the bottom of the
‘ash juniper’ trunk to aid in securing the tree in the pot.
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| Screw eyes are placed in the bottom of the ash juniper trunk |
A tie-down wire was then passed through the eyes
and twisted to draw the trunk down firmly on the blocks that were placed in the pot for height and to take up extra space.
The next two photos show the tree wired into
the pot sitting on top of the blocks that were cut. You can also see in these photos and the one with the screw eyes, the
coating of ‘QuickWood’ that was applied below soil level areas to help delay rotting of the wood.
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| A coating was applied below soil level to protect the wood |
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| A dry secure foundation |
After the potting was finished a did take a few photos, and will share a couple of
them. It was late afternoon on a partly cloudy day and the sun would sometimes be shining and sometimes be behind the clouds.
This first photo was taken with the sun behind the clouds, and is a more appropriate ‘bonsai’ photo.
The second photo is certainly not a good bonsai photo with the shadows
and over-exposure, however the way the sun shown for a moment and my good fortune at having the right camera setting for the
shot and the backdrop too close produced what I consider one of the better ‘artistic photos’ of bonsai I have
shot. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
This process is new to me and untested for durability.
I have no idea how long this will last or how often I will find it necessary to re-do or repair these areas. This may be like
cleaning the pot, applying lime sulfur, dressing the soil, applying moss, cleaning a juniper trunk, etc., and be a necessary
part of preparing the tree for show. I know there are areas that the carving will need refinement after the tree has a chance
to form the callous at the attachment site, and I have already noticed other areas in the carving that I want to change later.
This like any other bonsai will always be in the process of change and development. The base of the attached branches will
most likely also fall into this same fate of change and development.
The tree will still have several years development
before it will be what I consider 'show able', if indeed it ever is. My plan is to severely reduce the foliage in the future,
and re-develop the canopy structure. Like all of our trees this will always be a work in progress. The cost of this tree was
$10.00 for the live tree, $20.00 for the used pot, and an estimated $5.00 worth of ‘gorilla glue’, brass screws,
lime sulfur, and QuickWood. Total cost about $35.00 plus approximately 280 hours of labor, but the value in experience and
satisfaction of telling people about the seven varieties of juniper used to make it is indeed priceless.
The phoenix graft process is one method whereby
one may create a bonsai to be proud of using less expensive or even 'landscape nursery' material. It does indeed require a
considerable amount of time to do it right, however this could amount to much less time than many other methods of creating
bonsai. At my age and health this is a very important consideration. I would certainly not recommend everyone attempt to create
a bonsai in this manor, but I do believe if only a few people manage to read this and find even one small idea or technique
which will allow them to improve their own bonsai or experience, the time I have invested in writing and photographing this
process has been worthwhile. This has most assuredly been a good experience for me personally, and I have learned many things
in this effort.
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