VEGETATION
BRAMBLES
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I think one of the best materials for making brambles is old felt carpet underlay. You firstly need to pull off some clumps and tease out the fibres. I then used acrylic paints - mix of black and brown and dabbed the paint onto the fibres in my hand. This is a bit messy but you can control the amount of paint being applied - you want to avoid a soggy mess. I then teased out the fibres again and allowed it to dry. It doesn't matter I don't think if some fibres join - this just looks like thicker branches. It can then be teased out again when dry and shaped. I as not entirely happy with the colour of some of the fibres so lightened it a little with additional paint. I then sprayed the fibres with fixer and sprinkled on flock from Woodland Scenics. Some final tweeking and its ready to go on to the layout. Again there will be more shaping until you are happy with the result. |
TREES
My larger trees are based on old tree roots. A walk in the Pennines led to the discovery of some old trees that had been cut down. The roots were quite fibrous and looked just like small trees. Some trimming here are there and the basic trunk and branches looks very realistic. At this stage you can drill a hole in the base of the trunk and add some twisted wire to act as an anchor (or root - no pun intended) for the tree. I then added pieces of sea moss to look like finer branches, these were attached with PVA. Woodland Scenics Foliage (Medium Green) was then added in varying sized clumps. You will notice gaps between the clumps of foliage - real trees have gaps under and around branches - it is often possible to see right through trees - how much depends on the species. The finished tree was sprayed with Fixer. Smaller pieces of root were used to represent exposed roots on the bank.
Larger trees
Smaller
Smaller trees were made using the bent wire method. Up to about 9 strands (more for slightly larger trees) of fine wire were twisted and bent into an appropriate shape. The trees were coated with a mix of PVA and acrylic paint. This covers up the individual wires and can be moved around and more layers added until the tree takes shape. Leave about a centimetre or so of bare wire to push into the hillside (or wherever you are placing the tree). The rest of the process is as above using sea moss for smaller branches and flock for the leaves.
All of the trees have been air brushed. This softens the brightness of the green flock and can also be used to produce different shades of green - even on the same tree - as in nature.
GRASS
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I struggled for a while to get the grassed areas to look realistic. I eventually settled on a Woodland Scenics product - Natural Straw. It is much finer than the name suggests - about as fine as human hair. I take sections and paint it with acrylics (mix of green and brown so that it is not too vivid). Different shades help to make the area more natural. I have used static grass around the edges and between clumps. Smaller plants are mixed in with the grasses. These are made with wire or small pieces of sea moss and then different flocks attached with PVA. Examination of any bank or area of rough ground will usually reveal a wide range of plants - trying to imitate this results in a more realistic scene. This area is not finished yet! |
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BUDDLEIA
I had a spot where I planned to put a buddleia bush. They seem to colonise most bits of rough ground and are common near railway sidings etc.
This was to be a tricky plant as the usual foliage materials are too small or the wrong shape. I decided to make the branches with thin wire. This was taken from some spare cable and the individual strands twisted and shaped as shown in photo (left). These separate sections were then painted with a mix of PVA and acrylic paint (the basic frame is shown in middle photo). The PVA shines a bit when dry so it is necessary to touch up areas where this shows.
The flower heads were made with small pieces of fine sponge. They were shaped first with fine, sharp scissors then painted with acrylic paint. I am pleased with these as they seem particularly realistic. Now for the leaves - I wished I hadn't embarked on this!! I decided to cut these individually from green paper. The green was tested against a real buddleia leaf. I think I cut about two hundred or so leaves - varying sizes - stuck on with PVA. The smaller leaves are towards the end of the branches. I added some different shades of green with a fine paint brush as no shrub in nature has leaves all exactly the same colour. I am generally pleased with the finished bush (photo right). It certainly looks like a buddleia and I think it is the general impression that is important.
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