Omega: three years of deadwood

Every visitor asks about the same tree, so here is the history.

It came in as raw material with a trunk that was already hollow on one side and a live vein that had survived whatever caused the damage. The temptation with that kind of stock is to carve immediately. The correct move is to wait until you can see where the vein actually wants to run.

Season one

No carving at all. Wire, and a hard look at which front to commit to. The answer turned out to be neither of the obvious ones.

Season two

First shaping of the shari, taken back only as far as the existing dead tissue. Nothing living was cut. Lime sulphur once, thinned, because full strength on a tropical bench goes chalky and false within a month.

Season three

The sweep that turns back on itself — the shape that named the tree — was cut this year. It follows a check that was already in the wood; it was found rather than invented, which is why it does not look designed.

Pads are kept deliberately open. Deadwood that is crowded by foliage may as well not be there.