Alternative to dyed carpet felt

[Highlandman]

My apologies if you have already read this in the hints and tips forum but I also thought that it needed to be put onto the scenery section as well. ADMIN - It's not normally convenient to have duplicate topics running with replies being posted in one or other on an ad hoc basis, so the other one has been deleted.

 

I was having a look around my local Homebase the other day and came across a product I thought might be a useful replacement for carpet underfelt.

 

It was in the gardening section and is called Sisal Moss by Tenax. They call the bag extra large and it is a replacement for natural moss to line hanging baskets with. A bag costs appx £4.99.

 

Here are some pictures for you to make your own mind up with.

 

Sisal Moss Bag

 

 

Sisal Moss bleached for about 30 minutes

 

 

Sisal Moss bleached on the left and the original on the right

 

I think this could be a time saver in that you will not have to strip the strands from the felt backing and there is probably not as much wastage.

 

All the best

 

Andy M

[Brinkly]

It could look good if used for long grass, almost like a dressing. Thanks for the tip.

 

Regards,

 

Nick

[Campaman]

I got two bags of this stuff from Wilkinsons last year for 99p each on sale. Worth a look!

[Highlandman]

I have been playing around with this Sisal Moss basket liner recently.

 

Having bleached two bundles for different times I was able to get two different shades of yellow beige grass that I mixed together before sticking it on to the sample landscape I made.

 

Usual method used was a thick coating of PVA and small clumps of the moss pushed into the glue until the embankment was covered. It was all left to dry overnight.

The following day I plucked the long grass from the model, saving it for later use. The cutting was then trimmed with a pair of scissors until I got something I thought was right.

 

The cutting side still needs painting, but I wanted to see what sort of effect this Sisal Moss would give compared to carpet felt underlay.

 

Check out the pictures and see what you thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will put up some more pictures when I have painted the cutting. All comments are welcome.

[Highlandman]

I'm still not sure about using Sisal Moss as a substitute for carpet felt. When I look at it more and more all I can see are swirls of sisal clumped together. Not the tall straight embankment grass I am after. I have cut it short and teased it up with a nail brush. I was wondering if I should card it first, abit like wool to seperate the strands and try to straighten them a little before sticking them to the board. Any suggestions would be welcome.

[Campaman]

When I got this stuff from Wilkinsons my first idea was to use it to represent clumps of taller grass by gluing it in bunches and glueing.

 

As you have said you need to get rid of the swirls but apart from that I think it looks good, suppose it would be a slow job but by cutting small clumps and gluing it in on end would give very good results.

 

I hadn't thought of bleaching it like you had, I had thought about painting it afterwards, what concentrate of bleach to water did you use?

 

I will be trying some bleaching out this weekend.

 

Cheers

[Sir Madog]

There is still the old basket liner, made out of coconut fibers. A fairly inexpensive material and I have seen it applied with good looking results. It comes in brown or green colour.

 

But - if you happen to have one of those dearly expensive Noch Grassmasters (or can rent one) - the results when using the long fibers are amazing.

[Highlandman]

 

I hadn't thought of bleaching it like you had, I had thought about painting it afterwards, what concentrate of bleach to water did you use?

 

I will be trying some bleaching out this weekend.

 

 

Hi Campaman

 

Not very scientific, but all I did was pour what I thought was a fair amount of bleach into a bowl of water and added the Sisal moss. The darker batch you can see was left in for about 30mins and then rinsed thoroughly in running water. The lighter batch was left overnight in a diluted bleach mix and then rinsed. I dried it out by using the oven on a very low setting and spreading it onto a baking tray. Keeping the tray to the front of the oven and away from the gas. (Note to self: " Do not let the wife see you use the best baking tray.") I did try to untangle some of the swirls by teasing apart the strands. I am thinking that this idea needs some more work and refining. I'd be interested to see how you get on.

 

All the best

 

Andy

[Campaman]

Hi Andy

 

Great thanks, will be giving it a go at the weekend, I also have a pack of the other type of coconut husk hanging basket liner, so will also have a go at bleaching that.

 

When i have made my own flocks by dyeing sawdust i have had good quick results at drying it by laying it out on a glass shelf in my greenhouse, so will probably try that for drying so I don't get in trouble for abusing the oven.

 

My thinking is that with sisal type we need to come up with some idea to get it to stand upright, similar to the way the Noch grassmaster thingy does.

 

Mind you the swirls could be crop circles ;-)

 

Cheers

 

Andy

[Greengiant]

Good tip, thanks for sharing.

[Campaman]

Ok I have tried the bleaching on both the coconut matting type and the sisal.

 

I now have 6 disticntly different shades in each type, I put two goo dglugs of ASDA thick bleach in about half a bucket of water, and the longest I left it was about 20 minutes to get a pale faded yellow shade.

 

Just got to have an experiment now with sticking it down, so have built a small diorama for a Airfix Churchill Tank i have just built, so will be trying it as grass tonight or tomorrow.

 

Definatley going to be usefull for long clups around posts or bottom of buildings etc.

[Highlandman]

I look forward to seeing the pictures Campaman. Just had a thought, as you do at this time in the morning, might try and get two wire pet hairbrushes and running the sisal between them to get a more uniform bundle of sisal. Obviously the twist is inherited from when the sisal was made as string. Damn those string makers .

 

Andy

[Andy C]

Im not sure at all about this stuff at all, it looks far too thick to give a reasonable representation of grass, more like a bundle of twigs!! It looks like it to me as well that you cant get good clumps out of it for the very reason of the thickness, and possibly the rigidity of the sisal - compare :

 

 

 

 

I know carpet underfelt is difficult to get hold of these days, luckily I had the presence of mind many years ago when replacing a carpet at home to keep enough to last a lifetime!

[Campaman]

Andy C. Yeah you are right about the thickness, but it does vary within the pack. I have used it in the past when making wire frame trees, after I have made the frame I paint the wire with pva and sprinkle on sawdust, and repeat until I get the thikness I require, them I dab pva over the ends of the smaller branches and then sprinkly the sisal that I have cut into small lengths to act as the very small twigs of the tree before apply the foliage.

 

I did an experiment last night by teasing the sisal out into a bunch of straight lengths, then using my sharp scissors I cut it into small lengths of around 2-3mm, then I painted on PVA and then I pinched up small bunches of the sisal and pushed it into the PVA, after drying I teased it up with a stiff brush, this gave me a reasonable result similar to static grass.

 

I then used some of the coconut liner in the normal way by glueing it down and then peeling off the backing, then I dabbed that with PVA, sprinkled on some sisal and thenturned the small board upside down and tapped off the excess, this gave good static grass appearance.

 

Will post some pictures when I get a chance.