Carving a pomegranate part two

Hello all, it's been awhile but between being extremely busy and then 21 days over 100 degrees and 8 of them over 110 I haven't had the time or opportunity to do too much extensive work on the bonsai's. It's cooled down into the low and mid 90's now.

Today's post is going to show the next phase of work on the carved pomegranate.

Here is where we left off at the end of the last post-

 This work was done about 2-3 weeks after the initial carving. The wait allowed some of the newly created deadwood to dry out and harden some which is important for the detail carving.

Using a variety of smaller bits and tools, some more texture and detail has been added.

Here are the tools and bits used in this phase of the work.

The main tool in these steps is the Dremel  type rotary tool.( the two tools on the right) It can be used with a wide variety of 1/8th inch shaft bits. Being able to use various cutters similar to what we use on the Makita die grinder, only smaller, to rotary wire brushes and sanding flaps the Dremel not only removes and shapes the wood but can also be used to remove the marks left by the bigger tools.

Using the straight cutter I was able to undercut around some of the edges of the larger cuts creating more depth and layers of texture.

Before using the straight cutter-

After- notice the shadow caused by undercutting the edge,. This adds more texture and depth and helps to further enhance the hollowing of the trunk.

Using some small triangular bits, the straight cutter and a carbide flame bit more depth and texture is created. 

Some of the hollowed areas where deepened and enlarged-

Using wire brushes and sanding flaps the surface was smoothed out and major tool marks were removed.

Lime sulphur with a bit of India ink to tone it down was applied to all exposed deadwood. The India ink helps give the wood a grayish tone rather then the white that straight lime sulphur gives. The white works with conifers but on deciduous trees the deadwood looks more natural with gray tones. It still looks yellow when applied but turns gray as it dries.

For now the carving is done. It will still need a little more detail work but I'll do that next year after the wood has had a chance to be exposed to the elements for awhile.

Now the tree needs to be left alone for awhile. The branches need to thicken so I won't be cutting them at all this year. I will Use some wire to position the branches and get  some movement at their bases as well as remove any unnecessary branches and maybe reduce the apex. For the most part I'll use the clip and grow technique to develop the branches. With our long growing seasons I think I can develop decent branching on this in 4-5 years. In the meanwhile I'll feed, clip and grow and clip some more. Next spring I may put it into a oversized bonsai pot.

I hope that this post was enjoyable. As always I welcome any thoughts, questions or suggestions. Be well and stay cool.