If you really want to work with willow: Make sure the first branch on the trunk is going in a direction that makes it conducive to the design. When the trunk is as thick as you want it to be, chop it off just above the first branch. Wait until the first branch, your new leader, is 1/2 as thick as the trunk, and chop it again, making sure you have another branch in mind for the new leader.

Here is a $10 larch I'm preparing for a chop:
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The trunk will be chopped off a little above the wire. The wired branch coming off the trunk and moving to the left will be the new leader. When it is half as thick as the lower trunk, I will chop it off like the first chop. Notice that I already have the third leader, that very thin branch, wired into place. The wired branch coming off the trunk horizontally and moving right, will be the main branch. See how that works?

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The top of the tree is still feeding and thickening the trunk, but will be removed in spring, or after the foliage falls. The branches were removed from the middle of the trunk because they were shading the branches that will be part of the composition.

Al

Al, you paid only $10 for that?! I would love love love to have a Larch but we can't buy them around here unfortunately.

Anyway, sorry for the hijack, I just got a bit excited.

You're too warm there for larch. They'll weaken slowly over a few years & just die. Menard's had a bunch of them on sale for half off last June ..... like I needed another one. ;o)

Al

Excellent pics!

Josh