Making Cheap foliage for Trees

[Anonymous]

One very cheap method of making foliage is to use shredded latex foam. Plastic foam does work also, but latex makes for a finer finish.
I phoned up a local mattress factory and asked if they had any bits and pieces I could use to experiment with. The receptionist said she'd call me when they had a bag full for me. About 20 minutes later, she called and asked if half a bag would do. I said OK and excitedly set off for the factory.
To my surprise and great delight, she had been talking about the plastic bags used to cover full-size mattresses! I could barely lift the damn thing!
When I got home I put small pieces of the cream coloured foam latex into a blender and switched on. No results - everything just spun around!
I added some water and, hey presto! - cool looking shredded latex with rough lumps and fine pieces all mixed up.
After making a couple of batches, I put some PVA glue, water and a generous squirt of green acrylic paint (one of those cheap $3 tubes from a discount art store[) into a stainless steel bowl, donned a pair of plastic gloves and happily squished the latex into the blend. After it appeared to be fully soaked in the coloured mix, I laid it on a baking tray and dried it in the sun (a warm oven works OK, too).
I made some tree armatures from copper welding wire and solder, covered them with brown caulk and when that dried, painted them with a mixture of buff suede paint and a dash of grey/green matt acrylic.
Then I stuck clumps of the coloured latex onto the 'branches' with a tacky glue from the craft shop (PVA works, too - it's just a little slower to set). Loose patches I fixed with el cheapo Superglue which visually disappears when dry.
The trees look superb and I was delighted by the complimentary comments from other modellers in the Club I have just joined.
Although very cheap to make, the trees do take a little time to construct. I made some hideous armatures at the beginning, but now I am beginning to master the art of a 'proper' tree shape.
By the way, I tried colouring the cream latex with a leaf green dye(Dylon brand). It looked great in the simmering pot, but turned out spruce blue when it dried. No matter, the acrylic paint and PVA mix soon fixed that!
PS. I used a hand held blender with the attachment bowl for coffee grinding etc. I am going to see if I can find an old meat grinder at the second-hand markets and try that to see if I can grind down to really fine particles like in the Woodland Scenics range - which is horrendously expensive here in Australia.

[Anonymous]

Haven't tried making my own ground foam yet, but the time's coming soon to start re-creating the dense Adirondack forest so a lower cost method is an issue.

My last layout had acres of forest represented by puffs of polyester fiber used for pillow or doll stuffing. Dyed it green, gave it a light spray of cheap Hunter green paint & rolled it around in expensive ground foam. Foreground trees got trunks but most puffs were simply glued to the sculptamold mountainside to form a dense hardwood forest.

This time I need to model large tracts of pine & hemlock so furnace filters & homemade ground foam may be the answer to creating the thousands of trees necessary.

Thanks for your timely post. Hope you can post some pictures.

Wayne

[Anonymous]

TO:Northern Studio.
I have also thought of using the polyester fibre filling, but understood that it would not take normal clothing dyes used for cotton and wool fabrics.
What type of dye did you use - I don't mean just the brand name, as it probably won't be available in Oz.
Was it a special type of dye for polyester fabrics, or what?

[Anonymous]

You can also put small chunks in an old blender and use a little water and latex paint right in the mix. After blending to the desired size, the latex paint is easily cleaned from the blender with soap and water.
Tim

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bilby2k

TO:Northern Studio.
I have also thought of using the polyester fibre filling, but understood that it would not take normal clothing dyes used for cotton and wool fabrics.
What type of dye did you use - I don't mean just the brand name, as it probably won't be available in Oz.
Was it a special type of dye for polyester fabrics, or what?

No, just dark green RIT fabric dye. Only used it to take the edge off the white fiber. Turned it a dingy gray-green which was fine. The spritz of green paint & ground foam finished it off.

Wayne

[Anonymous]

Thanks Wayne, I'll give the RIT a go - I have loads of polyester fibre from some old pillows!