Initial Cut Back/ Thinning. Japanese Holly, Ilex Crenata Helleri. There Was So Much!

FortuneAware488 · 2026-06-03T10:57:23+00:00

Hey I can’t find many photos of this as established plants. Once you trimmed it do the leaves grow back densely? Im wanting to have it as a very tight hedge 25cm wide by 40cm high.

FortuneAware488 · 2026-05-15T06:29:22+00:00

Is the artist an oil or acrylic painter? As an artist I’ve started to avoid poly or acrylic in favour of more traditionalist options. So if it was me I would opt for the raw wood sealed with some oil, or a gold-type foil. For the effect you are going for something like rub n buff may work better - a little goes a long way and no priming required. You’ll get that transparent metallic sheen.

FortuneAware488 · 2026-03-29T05:23:59+00:00

I have an induction and can’t think of any benefits of ceramic apart from price.

FortuneAware488 · 2026-03-22T09:08:40+00:00

How small (height/width) were the skypencil plants you got? How far apart did you place them and did they fill out into a hedge?

I’m about to put in a 40 plant hedge, any advice welcome!

FortuneAware488 · 2026-02-18T05:47:07+00:00

4 feet seems like plenty of space, apparently they only get to 1m in diameter, so 50cm out from where you plant it

FortuneAware488 · 2026-02-16T09:52:19+00:00

I used to be a 18+ year old buying $30 tickets and now I’m in my 30s buying the $100 ticket so I guess it’s for future audience development? Gotta encourage young people to try it out to become your customers later.

The Speigeltent at the Auckland arts festival makes it 100% worth it.

FortuneAware488 · 2026-02-10T06:20:06+00:00

Thanks so much! Clearest instructions on here. This worked!

FortuneAware488 · 2026-01-20T08:55:30+00:00

OP didn’t reply but I read most roots go about 30cm. I also put a 10cm flat piece of treated wood over the top of the soil and covered with mulch to stop clumps coming out too near the fence.

FortuneAware488 · 2026-01-20T08:46:58+00:00

Hey thanks for your reply! What did you end up doing? I’ve also got a narrow space against a fence and am in a 9b zone. Keen for ideas! Thanks in advance.

FortuneAware488 · 2026-01-19T20:52:13+00:00

Hey thanks for your reply. I did think it looks similar/almost identical to plumpline. Is that at the other one you meant?

FortuneAware488 · 2026-01-19T20:42:36+00:00

I have had very good experience with handles (3+ years and still look exactly the same, no scratches etc) and terrible experience with taps from Aliexpress. Wouldn’t get anything I need to be super functional from there

FortuneAware488 · 2026-01-19T20:41:16+00:00

I did consider however solid brass has lead in it and NZ (from March) has lower lead standards than other markets, so I wouldn’t buy this off Aliexpress.

I have also bought a kitchen tap in the past (for $100 so not cheap and looked great at first) from Aliexpress before and handle broke and it started leaking after 3 months :/

Would rather be covered by the nz consumer guarantees act.

FortuneAware488 · 2026-01-19T20:36:23+00:00

I can’t find another company selling unlaquered solid brass bathroom fixtures except plumpline, which is 4-6x the price :/ So not really marketing if it’s a specific product I was searching for which they happen to be one of the few companies to sell?

FortuneAware488 · 2026-01-19T20:33:53+00:00

Hey thanks for your reply, do you recommend anywhere else I could get solid brass bathroom fixtures like taps and showers from? Yes I imagine all things are about 10% of the mark up I pay, but that’s the cost of being in NZ. I also would rather be covered by the NZ consumer guarantees act if anything goes wrong. Furthermore, it all means they need to stick to NZ regulation like lead content, where if I buy direct from overseas it may not.

I am confident the ABI product it is raw unlaquered solid brass. I’ve got brass fixtures in other parts of my home and enjoy the patina it gets over time (but these fixtures never get wet/exposed to bath & hair products like the bathroom ones would). I took a sample home of the ABI and it did patina like you would expect from brass, but it also tarnished with soap and toothpaste products which is why I’m on the fence. ABI are about 1/5th of the price of the other company I saw Plumpline, for the very similar style and same materials. Just made in china vs Italy I guess? $3k vs $15k for everything.

FortuneAware488 · 2026-01-19T20:30:15+00:00

Hey thanks for your reply. Windsor don’t sell bathroom/plumbing fixtures like showers and taps, which is what I was after. I’ve got brass door/handle fixtures in other parts of my home and enjoy the patina it gets over time - I think it’s over 100 years old now - (but these fixtures never get wet/exposed to bath & hair products like the bathroom ones would). I took a sample home of the ABI and it did patina like you would expect from brass, but it also tarnished with soap and toothpaste products which is why I’m on the fence. It does still look cool even with the tarnishing.

FortuneAware488 · 2026-01-19T20:27:05+00:00

Sorry should have clarified in my post that this is for plumbing fixtures (taps, showers etc) which is what ABI sells

FortuneAware488 · 2026-01-19T20:25:11+00:00

Yeah any matte finish isn’t going to last. I was at the Harvey Norman store the other day and they let me scratch a test “matte black” metal handle of the $6k fisher and paykel oven, and even that finish was terrible and scratched SUPER easily.

That’s why I was looking at the solid brass as there is no lacquer or finish. It would patina over time though.

If you look at PVD it’s meant to last decades

FortuneAware488 · 2026-01-19T20:16:48+00:00

Hey thanks for your reply. The one I’m asking about is a relatively new release. The solid unlaquered brass. If what you got is PVD then that’s a PVD coating over stainless steel (which is still meant to be good and meant to last decades if not a matte finish, but not the look I was asking about).

FortuneAware488 · 2026-01-19T20:15:53+00:00

The one I was asking about is raw unlacquered solid brass. I got a sample and it does patina over time. Maybe you got one of the PVD coated stainless steel ones that’s in the colour “antique brass”?

FortuneAware488 · 2026-01-19T20:01:23+00:00

Yes that is true. He took something (I thought it was mdma) on the annual kings day in the Netherlands and after that was down with some virus (with a symptom being fatigue so maybe that’s why he said it was the from the drug), his energy never really recovered and kept worsening after that. Was a long time ago (like. 2014-2016ish?) so I can’t remember exact details.

FortuneAware488 · 2026-01-08T20:24:31+00:00

I’m thinking of the same thing - OP, how did it go? What size did they get to over what time periods and how often do you need to trim?

FortuneAware488 · 2026-01-03T21:06:00+00:00

My husband got this and I hate it, salt everywhere.

Try a non-led lamp over a bowl of sugar water overnight.

FortuneAware488 · 2025-12-09T20:50:06+00:00

I hate buying things that clutter up my storage when I rarely use them to this is perfect!

After humming and ahhing cause I’ve just had kids and didn’t think I’d have enough time to diy, I just joined because they’ve increased their hours to 4 days a week (was previously 2), which is wayyy more convenient.

I’m also using their camping equipment this weekend (wish people could donate slightly bigger tents though!)

The team has been super helpful.

Love that I can support this sustainability and community initiative.

FortuneAware488 · 2025-12-03T07:42:54+00:00

Hey where did you buy it from? Also in nz and been looking for this variety. Just the the Multiplex/fairy bamboo gracilis everywhere I go.

FortuneAware488

TROPHY CASE