Create a Bonsai from a nursery juniper

Hi, even though I'm a long time DIYer this is my first instructables. I take no credit in this as I got the idea from a youtube video I watched :

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=video&oi=video_result&cad=15085139635229877396&ct=res&cd=1&ved=0CE0QtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D0VkukuEK5JQ&rct=j&q=juniper%20from%20nursery&ei=1_3WS5C1AYSclgfDrcmmBA&usg=AFQjCNHaHGc3j3mUmFWd5pgTpw8kv0pq-g

There are plenty of documentation found online for such a project but I love instructables and thought it might give someone an idea for his/her next project.

Basicaly this will show you how to make your own bonsai tree from a nursery juniper bush. I'm sure that bonsai masters will laugh at my tree but remember that you started somewhere to! Please keep negative comments to yourself as I don't care to read them.

Step 1 The materials

Again, I did not want to invest that much since this is a new hobby I'm trying so I started with the tools I had around.

-Mesh (to prevent dirt from falling through the hole in the pot)
-Shoe goo (not shown) to hold the mesh to the hole
-Wire cutters (to cut the wire)
-Cheap shears (bought for 5$)
-Cisors (didn't realy need to use them)
-Coper wire

Now you have 2 options for coper wire. I went with both to find the best solution for me. You can either buy actual bonsai wire from the bonsai shop or nursery (items in the center of the orange wire). Or you can buy electrical wiring (see orange cable). To be honest, the electrical wire turned out to be the best option, removing the plastic sleeve was annoying but you will save money for sure. One of the wire bundles bought at the nursery cost about 4-5$ (15$ total for the 3) but 4 feet of electrical wire cost about 5$, as you can see in the picture, the wire holds a total of 4 seperate wires of various sizes so you get 4 for 1.

Different sizes of wire are required to shape your tree (will be discussed later)

Comments

[blam72]

Bonsai is something I've always wanted to try.  But I have neither the patience, nor the skills.  Thanks for sharing your project, its inspired me to go ahead and give it a try.  Nicely written.