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Had supplies come in so figured I would practice some pruning and wiring on a juniper I got, and got the little guy into some new soil

Pruning, wiring and repotting at the same moment is an excellent way to kill a tree. Plus these things are normally done on specific, different moments in the year.
Most people that start with bonsai want to do too much with a tree, and end up with a dead one as a result. There is no such thing as an instant bonsai, it takes decades in most cases to create a good bonsai.
In your case, your juniper, does it look like an old tree now? It doesn’t, not by far. You cut off al the side branches and left some foliage at the end, and wired the branches in an incoherent way , so the whole thing looks very unnatural. What you should have done is leave it alone for a year, water and fertilise it, and look at it a thousand times to decide what to do with it.
But you did what you did, nothing you can change about it anymore. Now leave the tree alone for at least a year if it survives. Place it outside, water it when necessary and fertilise only when ( if) you see new growth.

But a lot of practice done thou

Oh yeah, I pruned and wired the juniper so I could get a feel, didn't repot it and don't plan on it any time soon. I did repot the elm so I can have a more free draining soil but left some old stuff on the root ball. Not touching that for a long time outside of basic care. Also thought any pruning for juniper was done in spring and fall? I used to grow orchids so I have the patients.

I'm a beginner as well and didn't felt bad for practicing. I bought a lot of trees that I repotted, pruned, and wired just to get better at it. I had trees that died, I have trees that are going well. You can't get good at something if you don't begin by being bad at it.

One thing I realized is that a lot of people have a different conception of what a bonsai should be, I personally like to stick with the straight definition: "tree planted in a container". So to me, if it has a trunk and it's in a pot, it's a bonsai. Now it can become a better bonsai with a better pot and a better shape.

The second thing I realized is that it's a never-ending story, I expect that at some point, my tree will have a decent shape, but they are never done.

So, just because sometimes someone needs encouragement, I think you did well. I really like the shape of your juniper personally. It might die, yes, but at least you had a chance to practice. And if it dies, hopefully the next one won't. Keep it up, and I wanna see your next attempts if you do.

Juniper is looking like it's perking up.

Still going strong. . . Won't freak out about the elm dropping its leaves this year haha

Interesting bark on that elm. I have seen smooth and Cork bark but never these kind of pimple bark. Do you know if that have a variety name?

This was the tag it came with

Update on the juniper