How do I color and preserve or refresh lichen ?

[dgilmertrains]

Whats the best way to color lichen ? Whats the best way to preserve or refresh lichen ?

 Thanks,David

[mobilman44]

Hi,

About 20 years ago when I was building a previous layout, I had a large bag of old lichen.  I decided to "refresh" it and color.   So I picked up some glycerine to soak it (don't recall the ratio to water) and once dry I dyed batches with Rit dyes.

Well, while I usually do neat work, this turned out to be a major mess!  And to make a long story short, the lichen was still hard and brittle, and the colors were just not natural.  I finally bit the bullet and threw it all away.

Now I'm not saying you can't refresh old lichen, but I am saying it may well prove to be a waste of time/money/effort and leave you with a mess.

 

[dknelson]

The January 1960 issue of MR has a very good article on processing your own raw lichen and if you have the issue, or subscribe to the All Access Pass to MR's digital archive, I suggest reading it.  Raw lichen is brittle and is softened by soaking it in a mix of 1 part glycerin, one part acetone, and two parts alcohol (presumably 90%).   A true drug store has all that stuff.   The article says that after soaking for a time, the mix still has its alcohol and acetone but the glycerin is gone and needs to be replenished for the next batch.  Apart from that the soaking material can be saved and reused.  I would advise using acetone in a ventilated area, perhaps outside or in a garage.

This suggests that commercial lichen which has already been processed once can perhaps be revived and made supple again by soaking it in a mix which is mostly glycerin and has a smaller quantity of alcohol and acetone mixed in.  Indeed perhaps pure glycerin would be all that is needed - I intend to do that someday myself for some older lichen which I can tell has gone brittle in the packaging.

The article says that dyes could be added to the mix to color the lichen green or whatever, but they preferred to paint it afterwards.  I think I'd try putting at least some green dye into the batch to start the process particularly if you are trying to revive and refresh lichen that has already been processed and dyed once.  Use gloves when dealing with dye and/or acetone.

I know some modelers regard lichen as an archaic product which has been superceded by ground foam etc.  But the best lichen looks organic and real because, well, because it is organic, so I think it still has a place in the modeler's bag of tricks.  Lichen has gotten a bad rap because of something Jim Kelly wrote about decades ago in MR: in any given package you pick out the good stuff leaving behind the bad stuff, and each time you return to the package you accept more and more of the bad stuff because it looks better than the worst stuff.  And finally you end up using even the worst stuff instead of just throwing it away.  It is just human nature.

Dave Nelson

 

[Anonymous]

dknelson

some modelers regard lichen as an archaic product which has been superceded by ground foam etc. But the best lichen looks organic and real because, well, because it is organic

I certainly belong to those Dave mentions in his post. Yes, lichen maybe organic, but have you ever smelled at the lichen you´ve just bought? That´s not the smell of lichen, but whatever chemical mixture used to preserve it! There are much better products available than lichen, which does not even faintly resemble bushes and the like.

My recommendation is not to refresh but throw it away!

[SouthPenn]

I use store bought lichen. After it has been on the layout for a while, I give it a refresh by giving it a light spray with warm water.

South Penn

[rrebell]

dknelson

The January 1960 issue of MR has a very good article on processing your own raw lichen and if you have the issue, or subscribe to the All Access Pass to MR's digital archive, I suggest reading it.  Raw lichen is brittle and is softened by soaking it in a mix of 1 part glycerin, one part acetone, and two parts alcohol (presumably 90%).   A true drug store has all that stuff.   The article says that after soaking for a time, the mix still has its alcohol and acetone but the glycerin is gone and needs to be replenished for the next batch.  Apart from that the soaking material can be saved and reused.  I would advise using acetone in a ventilated area, perhaps outside or in a garage.

This suggests that commercial lichen which has already been processed once can perhaps be revived and made supple again by soaking it in a mix which is mostly glycerin and has a smaller quantity of alcohol and acetone mixed in.  Indeed perhaps pure glycerin would be all that is needed - I intend to do that someday myself for some older lichen which I can tell has gone brittle in the packaging.

The article says that dyes could be added to the mix to color the lichen green or whatever, but they preferred to paint it afterwards.  I think I'd try putting at least some green dye into the batch to start the process particularly if you are trying to revive and refresh lichen that has already been processed and dyed once.  Use gloves when dealing with dye and/or acetone.

I know some modelers regard lichen as an archaic product which has been superceded by ground foam etc.  But the best lichen looks organic and real because, well, because it is organic, so I think it still has a place in the modeler's bag of tricks.  Lichen has gotten a bad rap because of something Jim Kelly wrote about decades ago in MR: in any given package you pick out the good stuff leaving behind the bad stuff, and each time you return to the package you accept more and more of the bad stuff because it looks better than the worst stuff.  And finally you end up using even the worst stuff instead of just throwing it away.  It is just human nature.

Dave Nelson

 

 

Still use lichen on occasion but I spray it first with glue and ground foam it, great fir when you need extra bulk in an area. Doing your own lichen is a why, do that, as you can buy it cheap in floral sections of even grocery stores. As far as getting old, I had some I got rid of that was still suptill after 40+ years.

[GT Mills]

 

I've found several articles on lichen preservation on the web recently.  One describes a solution of 1 part glycerin to 3 parts water, bring it to a boil, immerse the lichen, squeeze like a sponge and let dry.  As you run through the solution, keep adding glycerin. 

 

Other recipes call for 1:2 or 1:3 parts to water.  Temps of near 100C or about 200F are all required.

 

I found nothing about ACETONE which someone else mentioned finding in a recipe somewhere, that sounds ridiculous as it is far too aggressive and completely unnecessary.

 

Here's the best one I really like, and as chemist I am going for it this weekend. 

 

2 parts glycerin to 1 part denatured alcohol.  No cooking, no heating.  Just immerse the lichen and soak for 10 minutes, squeeze out the excess liquid and let it air dry for a few days on paper.  Just about any type of alcohol should be fine, for all that matters you could douse it in Vodka so far as I am concerned.  Campstove gas is denatured ethanol so If ya got any of that in the garage and don’t ever expect to use it go for it.  You buy alcohol by the gallon at the hardware store.    

 

When you are starting out with fresh, natural lichens, you will spray them with water first so they are soft and spongy and won't crumble while handling.  It's been 50 years or more since I have handled MRR lichens prepped and purchased from the hobby shop, so I can't tell you if they will soften first with a water spritz for soaking in glycerin or not, but I don't see why they wouldn't.

 

I've read a ton of complaints about the high cost of glycerin on lichen prep blogs.  Times have changed though, and I found a gallon on Amazon (I am a Prime member so shipping was free) for $15.50 this week.  Not bad, considering a lousy little quart bag of lichen from Woodlands Scenic is $12.00!!! No wonder Lichen got a bad rep. 

 

I live in SC and GA these days, and all the lichen I could ever want abounds at the edges of the roads down here.  I just stop along a quiet spot where I won't be spotted out as some kinda nut job by passersby, and start picking the choicest "land sponges" I see after a recent rain and toss 'em into a small garbage bag to contain the little bitty critters caught up in my harvest, put on a twisty-tie, and in the back of the beautiful M-Go BLue Durango they go to be heisted away to my secret train room of doom (doom only to the poor springy lichens - or, as I called them when I was 9 and just getting into geeky train stuff, "litchen", which rhymes with kitchen.  Mom cracked up when she heard me say that.  Mom was mean.  Dad was worse.  Always makin fun o me.  jes kiddin.)

 

I'll let ya'll know how it goes.  The way I figgur it, I can pick and choose the very finest texture, coolest-looking growths since I literally have 25 tons of the stuff around here, within a 30 minute drive, to choose from.  Lichen heaven.  Rah, Rah, Sis Boom Bah.  Go-o-o-o-o-o- LICHEN!

 

Hey, I turn 65 this June and gotta get excited ‘bout SOMEthing, right?  May as well be lichen.    

 

[BigDaddy]

I had no idea that lichen was a southern thing.  The only time I recall seeing it in the wild, was a caribou hunt in northern Quebec, where it was the predominant ground cover.

While I haven't used it in years, once it's preserved, how do you keep it from looking like lichen?

[riogrande5761]

BigDaddy

I had no idea that lichen was a southern thing.

 

I used to spend a lot of times walking in the woods for a job I had related to oil well plugging in southwestern NY state, northeast PA and northern WV.  I never saw any licken at all. Zip.

Now years prior in the mid-1990's I was working with drillers in the Florida panhandle and there was lots of lichen on the ground near the drill site.  I picked up a large box full and took it home.  It sat for years and of course became brittle.  I planned to revive it with glycerin as recommended, but at some point during subsquent moves, the box of lichen went missing.  So for me it's moot now. 

While I haven't used it in years, once it's preserved, how do you keep it from looking like lichen? 

As others here will point out, you have to do something to it, such as coat it with ground foam or some other technique.  But lichen in it's native form generally doesn't look very realistic if you pay attention.  It's been used a lot in the past because it sort of looks like bushes and trees from a distance.  Since I lost my big box of it, I don't intend on buying more as there are other techniques to get realistic foliage with out it.

[mbinsewi]

I used to get it in the woods in N. WI., I did the glycerin, alcohol thing.  I didn't use any on my current lay out.  All I had "stashed" got pitched, as it was from the 90's.

I did see tons of it in SC when we would go visit the son at Ft. Bragg.  I refrained from gathering any.

I use other methods.  Lichen looked good from a distance, with other stuff added to it, but actually taking a close look, it doesn't look like any type of bush or ground cover that I see.

I even used to grind up nerf toys, and foam foot balls and such to make ground foam, then dye it different shades of green.

I gave that up to.

Mike.

[Harrison]

BigDaddy

I had no idea that lichen was a southern thing.  

I live on the edge of the Adirondack park, and within walking distance is more lichen than I will ever need in my entire life. It seems to grow in patches. I mostly only use it to make trees because painted lichen looks like, well, painted lichen.

[tommymr]

Michaels, the craft supply store sells it.  They call it reindeer moss. Pretty big bag for around 8 bucks, but they always have pretty good % off coupons available.

[rrbuff1960]

I have been a PA resident all my life (nearly 60 years).  While deer hunting some 25 years ago, I saw some lichen growing and decided to harvest it.  It did dry out quickly and crumble to powder after just one season on the Christmas layout.  I found a recipe using glycerine and water.  Being a chemist, getting chemicals was never difficult.  The glycerine and water requires heating to allow the non-volatile glycerine to more quickly penetrate the lichen fibers.  It is messy and I put my cured and dyed lichen between pads of newspaper for drying.  I also used mixtures of RIT dyes to duplicate the colors of 1960's vintage Life Like lichen.  Yes, lichen always had a characteristic odor, but I always associated that with Christmas and the trains.  Both very happy memories.  When curing the lichen this way, the smell was duplicated.  For me that was a bonus.  

I came back on the web looking for a refresher on how to do this since it has been so long.  The acetone and alcohol are very volatile and flammable and are used likely in lieu of heating.  If using these two solvents, I recommend rubber gloves.  Denatured alcohol has methanol in it (5%) and can cause blindness if ingested.  I don't like having it around.  If you want to use alcohol with glycerin, 91% isopropyl will work fine.  It is often available at the grocery store.  I use this for track cleaning as well.  

[Mark R.]

BigDaddy

I had no idea that lichen was a southern thing.  The only time I recall seeing it in the wild, was a caribou hunt in northern Quebec, where it was the predominant ground cover.

 

It's not .... Northern Ontario is covered with the stuff !

Mark.