Look for a food processor,it can do anything a blender can and more.They are basically the same machine but the processor has more toys to play with.
gmpullman Go to your local flea-market or junk store and get an old electric blender. Gather leaves from outdoors, in the fall of course. Bake the leaves in an oven at the lowest setting, to make sure they're very dry and all the tiny critters look like Crunch them up as much as you can and put them into the blender. Pulse the machine until you have a consistency like, well, tea leaves or smaller. Sift it through a series of screens and sort out the screenings to get the desired sizes you want. I did this a few years back and made quite a good supply. I'm nearly out so I'll have to make some more soon. I bought some kind of "forest floor" stuff from Scenic Express but it was way too corse for HO. Maybe I'll get a chance to post some photos soon... I really like this stuff for scenery under trees and shrubbery. Have Fun! Ed
Go to your local flea-market or junk store and get an old electric blender.
Gather leaves from outdoors, in the fall of course.
Bake the leaves in an oven at the lowest setting, to make sure they're very dry and all the tiny critters look like
Crunch them up as much as you can and put them into the blender. Pulse the machine until you have a consistency like, well, tea leaves or smaller.
Sift it through a series of screens and sort out the screenings to get the desired sizes you want. I did this a few years back and made quite a good supply. I'm nearly out so I'll have to make some more soon.
I bought some kind of "forest floor" stuff from Scenic Express but it was way too corse for HO.
Maybe I'll get a chance to post some photos soon... I really like this stuff for scenery under trees and shrubbery.
Have Fun! Ed
I have done this before, however, I add water to the blender before I turn on the blender. Then I use an old - emphasis on old - towel to wring them out, spread them on an old - again emphasis on old - cookie sheet and then dry them out in a 250 degree oven. After they are dry, I sift them through a strainer and end up with two different sizes of leaves. They look great.
There's never time to do it right, but always time to do it over.....
Not all tree leafs are the same colour,and neither are tea leafs.With the different types of tea we drink there are several shapes of brown,and my wife drinks one type where the leafs are actually a pale green in colour.
Further to my slightly tongue in cheek first reply here's how my stockpile of dried tea leaves looks at the present time. Without knowing the exact ratio, there is more green than brown tea bag leaves. It may change.
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Catt
So your leaves are all one color or do you sprinkler other colors in ? If so how do you do that ?
Thanks
YGW
I use the tea leafs just like they come from the bag.The few tarps I've done started with opening up the empty bag cut it it to size glueing it in place and once that is dry soaking it it with white glue.Once that is dry I paint it the colour I want.I use craft acrylics to colour the tarps.Depending on the scale I am working in I will use thread to make hold down straps usully painting the ends a rusty brown colour.
Dried leaves in the blender is what I have done. It looks amazing when sprinkled on the layout.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Do you color any of the tea or do you find varieties of browns that you use. How do you use the bag itself as a tarp ? Just cut it to the desired shape ? Do you try to stiffen the bags to mold into a certain shape ?
I've used the tea leafs for forrest floors in both N and Z scale.Different types of tea have different colour leafs so you can get a variety of of colours for your forrests.They can also add a little detail to any open areas like back lots or along the curbs in residential areas.
As for using theb tea bag itself for tarps I've known about that for a long time.Trouble is I always remember it just after the trash has gone out.
A couple of suggestions: 1)take a pair of scissors, cut the tea bags open and save the leaves in a separate comtainer. I dust them into my ballast glue mix to make garden mulch and forest litter.No matter what brand or type of tea you choose,the tea leaves will work for HO and larger scales without fussing with it. If you crush the tea leaveswith your fingers into very tiny bits, the crushed leaves make great roadside litter.
2) If you have been clever enough to save the bags that you emptied for their tea leaf contents, you now have material to make tarps from. Stretch the tea bag paper out on a sheet of aluminum foil and paint it with a 50/50 mix of matte medium and your prefered shade of water based acrylic craft paint and allow to dry.The tarps can then be wrapped around blocks that have interesting shapes for flat car loads. Weather to suit your taste before shipping!
Don H.
Note: if you wish to have a great variety of colors, herbal teas come in an array of greens and browns that can compliment just about anything--just be brave and experiment to suit your preference.
As suggested above, the leaves are used for the forrest floor, not on the trees, though I suppose you could them on a few limbs of a late fall tree.
Hadn't heard of tea bags for tarps before. I had a thread on tarps some time ago, that wasn't mentioned. Got side tracked so hadn't tried all the methods. However, tea bags sound like a good possibility for old tan canvas tarps. Not sure how to color them up for newer blue, green or whatever. Guess a little experimentation with paint on one is in order.
Have fun,
Richard
Try making a 50/50 mixture of white glue and water, then dunking the bag in it, or brush the mixture onto the bag. I've used this technique on Kleenex with good results. The weight of the water gives it a realistic sag, and when the glue dries it stays in that position.
Steve S
Another article in the NMRA is a discussion for using tea bags to make dead leaves and tarps. How would one color the tea to make it look like colored leaves and how is the tea bag used make tarps ?