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This excellent guide to growing bonsai from seed is courtesy of Xavier De Lapeyre of Bonsai Mauritius

Growing Bonsai From Seed: Page 5 of 6

Step 3 : Wiring and sacrificial branches
One of the plants started to lignify, that is, it started to produce true woody structures, and at this stage it is ideal to wire the plant, or the trunk, into a desired shape.
As the plant continues to grow and produce more lignin (thicken up), the plant holds onto the newly wired shape.

In nature, the plant's own leaves, fruits and branches will also bend under their own weight to shape the trees. In addition to that, the plants are shaped by external elements like wind, rain, animals (birds, squirrels, monkeys) or even men.

In the case of a bonsai, the bonsaika ( bonsai artist ) has various appaches to creating/shaping the trunk, some approaches I could take in this case are :
Leave the plant on its own and allow external elements affect it just like in nature.
Place the pot at odd angles and changing the angles every year or so.
Wire the trunk and force a shape on the plant.

With established nursery plants, it can be more difficult to create daring curves and shapes because of the rigidity of the trunk. In the case of a young 1~2 year old sapling, the trunk is soft enough to bend without it breaking.

So at this stage you can :

Give it some basic shape and flow to the trunk (Via wiring or placing the pot at odd angles and letting it grow or other means)

What you should AVOID to do :
Do not start on the ramification process; the plant is still too young to start creating the ramification.
Do not place it into a bonsai pot; the plant needs more room for the roots to develop and to thicken up the trunk.
Use a training pot or if you have enough space, plant it into the ground for 2~3 growth cycles.

Important side note :
DO NOT OVERWORK THE WIRING! Place the wire, give it some shape and LEAVE IT ALONE!
Do not give it a twist in one direction then change your mind and twist it around in the other direction 5 mins later or the next day. Decide a general shape, wire the trunk, shape it and let it be.
The sapling is still young and twisting this way then retwisting another way etc will weaken it, and in the worst case scenario, might well kill the plant altogether.
If you are not satisfied with the shape obtained, leave it alone for the next 2~3 months to allow the tree to recuperate and give signs of new growth before attempting to "correct" the shape.

Stage 3 - Part I : Wiring

The plant at stage 2 : taproot removed and repotted.

After the plant was allowed to grow freely.

The older lower section has started to lignify ( turn into wood ).

Here you can clearly see the older lower lignified trunk
and the upper newer semi-green trunk.

As you move up the trunk it turns from woody, to semi-green to green.

Time to wire

Give some shape : Slowly and carefully give twists and shapes. The tree does not look natural at this stage with such contorted shapes; however, as the trunk thickens over the yers, the twists and turns become tamer and a trunk with great interest and movement is achieved.

>>Growing Bonsai From Seed : Page 6 of 6 >>