Saturday we have a study group meeting, hoping to get some quality work done on it.  I'll have to be careful with this one, the 'branches' are still pretty brittle (yet very bendable) and I have very fat fingers! 

Would you guys suggest rubbing off the buds that I will not be incorporating with the styling?  This year, it seems to have about 500 buds on the trunk compared to last year when it just had a few pop up here and there every few days.  I'd imagine that is why it is so hard to find a barberry with taper or a single trunk, the darn things turn themselves into lollipops or forests in one season.  I did remove a few that were suckering from the base already... never ending battle.

Barberry - slow to ramify, painful to touch.  Some people clip the thorns off before wiring, but that seems like a lot of work.  Mine are in a Turface/Pumice/Akadama mix at 70/20/10 proportion.  Water every day, do not let dry out.  A dry barberry in a pot can be a dead one.  I would rub those buds off the trunk, but save some, your tree looks like it could use a few extra branches.  I feed organic mostly - the leaves don't seem to like a lot of chemical fertilizer.  Full sun.  I will post a few pics of my berberis when I get a chance, thanks.

Here is an update after the work I did yesterday.  Ended up repotting it a bit higher than I had it previously, which shows a bit of a taper issue.  I don't believe it will be a huge problem in the future though.  Wiring is basically an air wire because the branches are so flexible.  I left the majority of the buds on the trunk for now to get a few more branches.  Ideally, one of the bottom two branches will be replaced by one with better positioning.

First picture is the back, second is the front.

Yes, there are two great progressions on Harry's site with Barberry.  Good luck with yours!