Styling Competition Basics

Tips and Tricks

Rob shares his ideas on how to compete in a styling competition:

1. Commit to the design.  
2. Don’t need to use every branch
3. Follow the basic rules, 
   • Left branch, then right or back branch – at least for the first 3 branches
   • Place first branch on left and right and have them come toward the front
   • Make the height of the tree match the trunk thickness
   • Place thicker branches down low
   • Select branches so they are closer together as you get to the apex
   • Make the spacing between branches gets closer as you approach the apex
   • Direct the apex so it points on same direction as the number one branch (usually)
   • Create a scalene triangle with the overall silhouette with the long leg going   with the number 1 branch 
4. Show your skills so the judges can see what you can do 
   • Thin the foliage to the ends so you can make little upright pads
   • Make some dead branches (jins) that fit the design 
   • Place a dead strip along the trunk (shari)
   • Use good wiring technique on every branch
   • Use raffia to bend a heavy branch
   • Use a small torch to remove fuzzies on the dead wood (use a piece of wood or something to protect the live foliage form the heat)
   • Consider the planting angle – tweak it a bit
   • Try to avoid guy wires
5. Practice, practice, practice wiring – this will be one of the big discriminators along with the design.