When the tree is young, a clear, strong plastic mold in the shape of the desired sculpture is placed around it's lower trunk.
As it grows, it fills in the space and becomes that shape. A beautiful woman's torso, an abstract sculpture, even words.
Once the tree has grown to maturity, the mold is removed and you have a beautiful sculpture tree.
I know they do this with fruit, don't know if it's ever been done with a tree.-- doctorremulac3, Jan 17 2023 This only for real. https://www.thewood...haped-like-a-woman/(I assume this is photoshopped) [doctorremulac3, Jan 17 2023] Assume you can do this with certain trees. https://odditymall.com/fruit-molds [doctorremulac3, Jan 17 2023] Trunk shaping is a thing, but haven't seen the mold idea yet. https://en.wikipedi...g/wiki/Tree_shaping [doctorremulac3, Jan 17 2023] A not good example. https://www.reddit....cal_tree_meme_lore/Simply because it's a cranky old man face, but shows the idea. [doctorremulac3, Jan 17 2023] May well kill the tree https://homeguides....overs-13771630.html [pocmloc, Jan 17 2023] Balance between shaping and keeping it alive. https://www.alamy.c...tml?sortBy=relevant [doctorremulac3, Jan 17 2023] Cubic watermelons https://www.asiaone...termelons-are-grown [Voice, Jan 17 2023] Prior artist https://en.m.wikipe...g/wiki/Gaius_MatiusTopiary invented by a friend of Julius Caesar, who also invented a new recipe for mince, apparently [pertinax, Jan 18 2023] Poc, couple of ways to address that.
1- Constrict only part of the tree allowing the bark to keep the tree alive with a hidden section.
2- Have the mold be of a specific elasticity so to slowly shape over time without sufficient constriction to kill the tree.
Picture trees growing around rocks. (link)-- doctorremulac3, Jan 17 2023 Right but the rock thing is more like the tree shaping thing, making the limbs or trunks bend and curve. Your mould proposal seems to depend on constriction otherwise how is it different-- pocmloc, Jan 17 2023 Well I'm thinking there's some give with respect to the tree growing and accommodating for objects that are in the way, so the challenge would be to strike a balance between directing that growth into a particular shape while keeping the systems, flow of water, nutrients etc unobstructed. Or at least unobstructed enough.
Granted, the watermelon or fruit examples are different because the flow of stuff to the fruit is unobstructed while the bark that's the living part of the tree would be impacted, that's why I came up with the leaving some part un-restricted.-- doctorremulac3, Jan 17 2023 // If you really did girdle the tree all the way around, you'd strangle it.//
Not necessarily, trees have been known to grow around and eventually incorporate existing girdles.
This would work up to a point.The sculptures would differ from the mold itself because of the bark, but would still be cool in an 8-bit resolution kind of way.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jan 18 2023 random, halfbakery