The tree was taken to a one-to-one workshop with Dan Barton. I had envisaged a short dumpy design for the tree due to the squat thick nature of the trunk. The thicker heavy branches were cut back to stubs for later carving and the remaining main leader branch and apex branch were wrapped in raffia and wired parallel with the branch, more raffia was then applied and finally the branches wired in the traditional 45 degree manner.

Close up view of the heavy branches stripped of bark ready for future carving. There is also an area marked with chalk that will also be included in the carved area at a later date when the tree has settled down.

The carving to the deadwood element of the tree was carried out in 1998 along with the removal of some of the wiring which had started to bite in. 1999 was a slow year for the tree with not a great deal of growth in the foliage. All the wiring to the secondary smaller branches was removed leaving only the main branch line still bound in raffia and wire.