Static Grass.

Is now all over the flat... I’m chasing after myself with the hoover before I get told off!

A short update today with some work in progress. I wanted to share some photo’s of my first attempt at serious landscapin’... I’ve gone for my own take on Simon George’s method of static grass application (thanks MW for the links!) and I think it works rather well! See Simon’s Heaton Lodge Junction thread here, where I found much inspiration:

As all of this first board is either road, farm track, grass or mud, the entire surface was painted in an earthy brown acrylic (my mix is 1 part each white, black, raw sienna and burnt umber). Note there is no initial layer of ground cover over everything, just papermache and cork underlay painted brown. The exception is the dusty footpaths and dry mud under the tree which is brown grout from B&Q, which goes down before I start any grassing.

I work in small patches at a time, no more than 20cm sq. PVA is liberally painted on, then an initial layer of static grass scattered over using my peco precision applicator. While the glue is still wet, I use the handheld vacuum with a pop sock  on the end to take off the excess fibres and get it standing up a bit more. This also blows it about a bit which is good.

I’m going for a summery Somerset look, using a smorgasbord of cheap bags of Woodland Scenics products. I have used three lengths of static grass in three colours: 2mm Medium Green, 4mm Light Green, and 7mm Straw.  The initial layers were a mix of two lengths, 4mm & 7mm for the embankment, 2mm & 4mm for the field.

Next, for the more overgrown or weedy areas, a liberal amount of Crystal Clear Matt Coat is sprayed over and a second layer of grass is applied, usually just 7mm Straw, sometimes with 4mm mixed in as well.

Finally, more Crystal Clear is sprayed in specific areas. Fine and course turf is scattered in patches to represent weeds; I found that fine burnt grass really looks like nettles, fine green grass like brambles, and a mix of medium / dark green coarse turf like the general melee of scrub undergrowth you find at the edges of fields, besides bridges & hedgerows, etc.

Crystal Clear Matt Coat is my new favourite aerosol, although I fear my lungs may now be 90% Matt varnish... use a mask, people. 

The fencing is all made from matchsticks and tooth picks, with 0.25mm Polyamide thread for the wiring.

I’ve also tried a couple of trees à la Luke Towan; twisted wire, coated in latex rubber, with static grass added before spray painting, brush painting, and finally dipping in coarse turf. When it’s dry, I simply pushed the roots into a layer of wet grout to fix in place.

Bob with his barrow, note that the darker brown is just painted cork, not any sort of ground scatter.

Fencing team at work. There were ideas of having a boggy pond in the middle of the field, but I thought better of it. The sheep would get stuck.

I really like the way the fine turf sticks to the grass, I do think it looks like nettles.

The paths are just brown grout from B&Q. Before anything else, PVA is painted where the path should be, then grout scattered over the glue. Water & IPA mix is dropped over the top to make a paste, and finally a dusting of extra grout is applied to the wet stuff using a small brush.

Tree trunk needs a touch-up, fingers covered in Crystal Clear took off some paint. The tree is just pushed into a wet layer of grout, I will clean up the tops of the roots with a wet brush now the grout is dry. Rough hedgerows not stuck down yet, but give an idea.

Bit of extra fencing yet to go in next to the stile, perhaps a dog gate and footpath sign?

Overview of work so far. Plenty more details to add, dirt to tidy, fencing to install and weeds to grow, but it’s a start!