…or get smaller, to be more accurate.

When we style a juniper, very often the live vein changes in size. It’s normally an adjustment to foliage loss, or branch loss, both of which tend to happen during styling.

Most commonly, the sides of the vein will shrink, so that the vein will become narrower. Except on the very youngest of trees, a vein will never become wider. (This reluctance to cover a wound is why we don’t cut off a large branch cleanly to the trunk, as one might on a pine or maple, expecting it to callus and close up. A juniper won’t do that, so we make a jin).

Although it won’t widen, over time the live vein will grow more bulbous, growing out from the trunk. The top of this juniper shows an old live vein that has a rounded character to it. This is a very…