bonsaigotchi.
A BONSAI OF YOUR OWN

Grow your own bonsai.

With great pruning comes great ramification.

01 / 06Year 0 to 2

First, do nothing.

Every bonsai starts as a stick with opinions. This one is ours for the next thirty years.

  1. Meet the cutting

    A few leaves on a trunk the size of a pencil lead. Put the scissors down: there is nothing here to cut yet.

  2. Let it run

    Advance time and watch. Growth follows the calendar: a rush in spring, a stroll in summer, very little in the cold months.

    In the workshop

    Next month
    Grows the tree for one month.
    Next season
    Grows it until the next season begins.

  3. Height now, shape later

    The trunk thickens as the tree grows above it. Cut early and you keep a thin trunk for years. Boredom is a technique.

    In the workshop

    Next season
    Grows it until the next season begins.
A ficus cutting in its pot: a thin straight stem with a handful of leaves.
The same ficus a year later, taller, with its first side shoots.
The ficus at two years: a straight, thicker trunk carrying several short branches.

02 / 06Year 2 to 4

Wire first. Then bend.

A straight trunk is a broom handle with ambitions.

  1. Trace the wire

    Click near the base, then near the tip. The wire wraps the wood in between. No pliers, no swearing.

    In the workshop

    Wire
    Click where the wire starts, then where it ends.
    Place wire
    Wraps the wire between the two points.

  2. Bend, gently

    Drag the wired wood into an S. Young wood follows; old wood argues, and turns red when you push your luck.

    In the workshop

    Bend
    Drag wired wood to curve it.
    Confirm bend
    Keeps the new curve.

  3. Then take it off

    The bend sets while the tree grows. Leave the wire on too long and it bites the bark. The engine keeps the scars. So will you.

    In the workshop

    Next season
    Grows it until the next season begins.
The straight young ficus with copper wire coiled up its trunk.
The same ficus, its wired trunk now bent into a gentle S.
Two years later: the wire is gone, the trunk keeps its curve and the tree has become bushy.

03 / 06Year 4 to 6

Keep few. Place them well.

A healthy young tree grows branches everywhere. Most of them are wrong.

  1. Read the wood

    Analysis hides the leaves and colours the wood: grey trunk, blue branches, orange twigs. Suddenly you can see who is in the way.

    In the workshop

    Analysis
    Hides the leaves and colours the wood by branch order.

  2. Cut at the base

    The shoot racing the leader, the branch crossing the trunk, the one inside a curve. Click, read the preview, confirm.

    In the workshop

    Cut
    Click a branch to preview the cut, then confirm it.

  3. Let the rest take over

    What stays sits on the outside of the bends: one right, one left, one to the back. Two years later the gaps look deliberate.

    In the workshop

    Next season
    Grows it until the next season begins.
The ficus in the Analysis view, leafless, its trunk grey, branches blue and twigs orange.
The same ficus after three cuts: fewer branches, the curved trunk clearly visible.
The ficus at six years: longer branches alternating on either side of the trunk.

04 / 06Year 14

Think tree. Not postcard.

A bonsai that only works from one side is a sticker.

  1. It looks fine from here

    From the front everything lines up: lowest branch to the right, the next one left, apex back over the roots.

    In the workshop

    Select
    Drag to turn around the tree.

  2. Walk around it

    Drag to orbit. Some branches must reach towards the back, or the tree goes flat the moment you turn it.

    In the workshop

    Select
    Drag to turn around the tree.

  3. Look down, then choose

    From above, the branches should fan out like spokes. Then save the best face: portraits and the community always show that one.

    In the workshop

    Set front
    Saves the current view as the tree's front.
Front view of the fourteen-year-old ficus: a thick curved trunk and layered branches.
The same ficus turned on its stand, showing branches reaching to the back.
The ficus seen from above: branches spreading around the trunk in every direction.

05 / 06Year 20

Cut. Grow. Branch again.

Ramification is patience, with scissors.

  1. Spot the long shoots

    Get close to a branch. Long shoots with leaves only at the tips: plenty of reach, no detail.

    In the workshop

    Zoom in
    Brings the camera closer.

  2. Shorten them

    Cut each shoot back to two nodes, just above a live bud. The bud is the plan. Everything past it was a draft.

    In the workshop

    Cut
    Click a branch to preview the cut, then confirm it.

  3. Let the tree answer

    One season on, the buds behind each cut have opened: several twigs where there was one. Repeat until the tree looks old, or you do.

    In the workshop

    Next season
    Grows it until the next season begins.
Close-up of the lowest branch: long shoots bearing leaves at their tips.
The same branch after pruning: short stubs where the shoots were.
The same branch one season later, dense with pale new shoots.

06 / 06Year 28 to 30

Make room for the sky.

The gaps are part of the tree. Possibly the best part.

  1. Spot the crowd

    All that ramification worked a little too well. The crown now hides the trunk, the branches, and twenty-eight years of careful decisions.

    In the workshop

    Analysis
    Hides the leaves and colours the wood by branch order.

  2. Open the pads

    Small cuts between the layers until each branch carries its own cloud. The old rule: a bird should be able to fly through.

    In the workshop

    Cut
    Click a branch to preview the cut, then confirm it.

  3. Step back

    A curved trunk, clear layers, sky in between. Thirty years in real time, or one long afternoon in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

The ficus at twenty-eight years, its crown a dense mass of leaves hiding the branches.
The same ficus thinned into separate foliage pads with space between them.
The finished informal upright ficus on its stand: a curved, tapered trunk and layered foliage pads.

Yours starts as a stick, too.

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