I bought a nice nursery juniper to practice on about a year and a helf ago, and am only now getting around to it's first repot and styling this spring.
Okay, I'm no expert, but if those wires came with the tree I'd remove them ASAP (cut them into small pieces, don't try to save the wire for reuse or you'll probably damage the tree). For $15, I don't expect that they were put there by some bonsai master and they may already be cutting into the bark. Besides, you'll want to determine which way to bend the branches yourself.
If you've got the room to grow things, whenever you cut off a branch, take cuttings. Last year when I gave mine it's first rough pruning (trying to stimulate back-budding) I took all of the branches and stuck them into the dirt outside, just to see what would happen. One of them actually made it! With a little bit of reading on the subject, you're likely to be able to get about a dozen little junipers growing just from pruning "waste." Not bad for $15!
Also, when removing a branch from the main trunk, leave about 2" on the tree with the intention of using it for a jin later on (or right away if you feel up to it). If you decide against it, the branch won't have thickened any, so it should heal over just the same when you prune it back to the trunk.
As for styling, I could see (from the first two pics) going for a cascading windswept look. I might jin all the branches growing up the left side, maybe bending a few of them to the right to show a failed struggle against constant harsh winds. I'd use the wired branch on the right side of the top photo as the new leader, and keeping all the developing branches & foliage rigorously aligned to show a tree shaped by the wind rather than the typical canopy spreading to reach for the light. The lowest branch on the right I might just remove altogether; perhaps starting a shari at that point that twists up the trunk to the new leader...if you're that ambitious.
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Originally Posted by Vance Wood
First get yourself some rooting hormone and a good planting mix for all of the foliage you will probably remove.
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I must admit that I'm confused about this. How does rooting hormone relate to defoliation, unless you're suggesting drastic root reduction to correspond to severe pruning up top? Even then, are you suggesting a liquid hormone (or something like Superthrive) that could work its way thru the entire root mass?