After hosing off all the dust and letting dry overnight it was time to "camo" the carved areas to blend in with the rest of the trunk.
If you read my other photo essay "The Challenge"
http://forum.bonsaitalk.com/showthread.php?t=12885
you saw how I use various colors of acrylic enamel "Toll" craft paints and a small amout of lime sulfur to blend the colors almost perfectly. With second coat you can really dial it in. The lime sulfur is just to knock the shine off and give a smokey appearance.
These paints will not wash off outside after drying.
When you see some big "Name" doing this at a convention next year remember you saw it here first!
In "The Challenge" I didn't mention the other part to this disquise since it's an old method of discoloring fresh cuts but it works great in conjunction with the toll paints. It is common for people to rub some dirt on a fresh cut to obscure it a bit. Well, this works great in matching the subtle changes in color of bark when using the paints if the dirt is rubbed in while the paints are still a bit wet it won't wash off. You can do a fantastic match job using your finger and a paint brush and a cup of dirt.
The second picture in this post is probably THE most important in this portion of the essay. It shows a carved large branch with a portion of it painted to disquise and just to the left of that carved area you see one painted, and dried after rubbing some dirt into the paint.
The third picture is from after it was all done and dried. Nice huh?
