Jin and shari without killing the tree

Carved deadwood is the most attractive technique in bonsai and the easiest one to ruin a tree with, because every cut is irreversible.

Find the live vein first

Before any tool touches the trunk, establish where the living tissue runs. On a collected juniper it is often a narrow strip feeding a specific branch. Cut through it and you kill everything above it — not immediately, which is what makes the mistake so common.

Follow the wood, do not impose on it

The convincing shapes are already in the trunk as checks, splits and old wounds. Deadwood that looks invented usually is.

Work in stages

Rough out, then leave it a season. You will see it differently after months of looking at it, and there is no way to put wood back.

Lime sulphur, thinned

Full-strength lime sulphur on a tropical bench dries chalk-white and reads as fake within weeks. Thin it, apply in the shade, and repeat rather than laying it on heavily. Some practitioners add a trace of ink to knock the brightness back.

Keep foliage off it

Open the pads around any deadwood you want read. Crowded deadwood does no work.