For many years desert dwellers have relied upon this beautiful succulent barrel cactus for direction, as it has been known to always point Southward, however, this is not allways the case, as sometimes it will be shadowed by other objects etc., so it will bend to actually find the strongest part of the sun, or so I'm told. Who knows for sure, I did NOT use any frisket except for the outer edge of the needles. Very time consuming! Argh, glad it's done. Too, one should note, that not all barrell cacti are this green, I wanted however, to make a statement with it, to add a bit more vibrancy to it!