Production of artificial grass. How to make grass, coniferous and deciduous trees on the diorama Artificial grass in the interior

When creating dioramas or a beautiful figurine stand, artificial grass is often used.

I will try to tell and show how I make grass from sanitary flax on a 35th scale. Tools and materials I need:

* Actually the sanitary ware itself. When buying in a hardware store, you should choose the linen that has a uniform structure without large components.

* Supergel. It's supergel, not superglue.

* Acrylic paint in green/grass/, white, brown. I am using ACAN.

* Thinner for paint. I use industrial alcohol. (Smells bad, but dries quickly).

* Airbrush. Here without it, unfortunately, in any way.

* Rubber gloves. So as not to paint your hands when dyeing linen.

* Dental probe. Or a large sewing needle. Just a dentist tool is very easy to use.

* Scissors and tweezers.

* Well, the very base of the diorama/vignette. Here, everyone does it differently. It is important that the supergel securely fixes the linen on the surface of the base.

Linen must be carefully "fluffed up". Otherwise, when painting, everything will stick together.

We paint, preferably from an airbrush, in three or four shades of green. Just add different shades to the base green paint.

We take the dyed flax and cut it with scissors into various lengths, approximately 1.5-2.5 cm long - according to the height of the future grass. We cut all dyed linen in this way ... and undyed linen too!

Stir each bunch of chopped flax. Hands, here you need to spare no effort. Then we “cross” them with each other, gradually adding other shades to the main color. Along the way, we remove such sticky "blades of grass" from the "batch". After obtaining a homogeneous mass, add undyed linen to it. Of course, mixing. We get a haystack.

We take out a bunch of greens from the common pile and align it with scissors on one side. We apply a little supergel to the cut off part of the beam. Now we plant our grass on the ground in small portions. Then we pick up a large sewing needle or something like it. We introduce it one or two millimeters from the base into the grass. And we begin to thin out too dense shoots with movements from the base. We remove the excess. Then, by the way, it can be reused.

We trim what sticks out too much. The photo shows that our grass is very heterogeneous in height. It turns out grass in the yard. On the grass - "for firewood", this is for scale :).

It is better to plant the grass when the idea for which it is here is quite defined, since the grass from the bathroom turns out to be tough. And it will not be possible to press something into it vitally. But, in principle, after landing, you can pull it out in accordance with the plan and the location of what should be in it / on it ...

I will be glad if my vision of the embodiment of grass from sanitary ware in miniature will be of interest to you and will be useful when building a diorama or vignette.

The use of weed made from artificial materials is limitless. This is an excellent ground for creative exploits for both lovers of creating original crafts and novice room designers.

Artificial grass in the interior

As a rule, indoors, such material is usually used for modern original approaches to design. Therefore, artificial decorative grass is most often found in projects where styles like minimalism or Scandinavian modern trends are chosen.

As for the place where this material is used, it is most often small original sculptures or a replacement for traditional textiles. Just imagine that on the balcony you have a soft green lawn instead of bedding. They also decorate children's rooms where you need a soft coating.

There are more original options for using artificial grass for apartment decor. Do not limit yourself to anything and replace the usual textiles and plastic with this material. For example, original pillows made of grass, some even decorate the head of the bed in this way. Moreover, pillows can be small on the sofa or huge as a seating area. It is important that the artificial grass adhesive chosen is suitable for indoor use. As a rule, manufacturers recommend the so-called polyurethane types of adhesive for artificial grass. They are securely fixed and not dangerous to human health.

DIY Artificial Grass

If designer large interior and decor items can cost impressively, then decorating a medium-sized room is quite within the power to make it yourself. For example, high artificial grass for decoration in interesting flowerpots is in itself an excellent decoration for taller shelves in dark corners. And if you use it to create topiaries or just original compositions, it will turn out great.

Artificial decorative grass is perfect for Christmas or Easter compositions with a rabbit, it will become the basis for wall panels, or you can use it for it. Even an ordinary grass wall will look very original. Artificial grass for decoration will best fit into rooms where light shades of natural colors, white, and a lot of glass objects were used. The room will turn out light and spacious, full of air.

Annual grasses are what those who are inexperienced in modeling disparagingly call “weeds”, but we, dear colleagues, understand that not one, even the smallest diorama, can do without grass, it is an integral element of the overall holistic picture, helping to create the illusion of reality.

Hundreds or even thousands of species of herbs grow on any single section of the steppe virgin lands or on the side of a country road (Fig. 77.78), of course we will not copy all of them. Our task will only be to convey the general impression of the herbs texture, color, volume (Fig. 79.80). And, I must say, the means of expression we have here are rather limited. Let's see what we have? First of all, it makes sense to equip an expedition to the forest or the nearest wasteland for natural material. Moreover, this must be done throughout the summer, or rather from early spring to autumn, throughout the entire process of plant formation. Not the whole plant will go into action, but only some of its elements. One has inflorescences, the other has roots. For example, a panicle of a reed inflorescence, disassembled into elements of three leaves, conveys the impression of bushes of some kind of cereals (Fig. 81).

In the forest, your attention will be attracted by appetizingly pretty mounds of moss. Here, it would seem, ready-made lawns, take and place in a diorama. But after a detailed analysis, you come to the conclusion that the moss is too recognizable and cannot be used without its radical transformation. Having wandered enough through the fields, you understand one thing: few things in nature look like something on the scale we need.

Dry plants are very fragile and crumble to dust when touched. Therefore, the collected and dried natural material must be properly processed, soaked for a day in an aqueous 15-20% glycerin solution. You can add aniline paint of the desired shade to the water (Aniline paints, chemically produced paints, dissolve in water without sediment. Designed for dyeing fabrics, in household chemical stores they are sold packaged in bags in the form of powder or tablets. They are dyed not due to hiding power, but by penetration into the structure of the material, do not have a binder, are diluted with hot water and in glassware and can be stored indefinitely). At the same time, the color of fresh juicy greens is best restored on the plant, in the process of drying it is completely yellowed (or so harvested), and what was green yesterday, dried and soaked in a bright green solution becomes dirty brown.

We will supplement the collected natural materials with some improvised ones. For example, sawdust sifted through a fine sieve and dyed dark green with aniline will depict low-growing grass creeping along the ground - knotweed.

A rope made of natural long-fiber material - sisal, cut into small pieces and dyed with aniline in colors: withered dried grass, young juicy greenery and dark grassy. Dry and finely cut with scissors (1-1.5 mm). We will mix the resulting "palette" in different proportions, getting areas with dried grass and more juicy (Fig. 82).

It would seem that tall grass stalks could also be made from sisal by cutting longer segments, but the fibers are relatively thick and the tips cut at a right angle on a 35 scale will be striking. Therefore, I advise you to use pig bristles here, for example, from a paint flute (Fig. 83). Its advantage is that each bristle becomes thinner towards the end, moreover, it bifurcates and unrolls, which makes it even more like a grass stalk. Bristle, with the help of aniline (already without glycerin), you can also give various vegetable mushrooms. Once again, we remind you that only the upper part of the bristles is used.

Let's start "landing" on the textured soil with a brush, apply droplets of glue (do not use "Moment", it darkens over time). Apply drops randomly in single “patches”, in groups that merge into the lawn and sprinkle with finely cut sisal or sawdust. Sweep away those that are not stuck and use again (Fig. 84-86).

Now we will create, as it were, a second tier of taller vegetation. We cut off the ends of the bristle bundles 5-10 mm long, cover the root end in glue, glue it, and fluff the top in different directions (Fig. 87, 88). Such bushes can be green and “yellowed” for you, and if you really get smarter, then green at the roots and yellow upwards. In the same tier, you can place the bushes, roots, twigs you have collected.

Plants of the same species are often not located on the lawn with the same interval, but are grouped in a kind of area by their closest relatives in the same area. This has its own botanical explanations, this must be taken into account, and this, in turn, corresponds to human ideas about aesthetics.

Now a tier of high growing grass. Long bristles can be glued individually, orienting their bend in one direction and thus creating the illusion of a breeze. The species diversity of plants can be somewhat expanded by smearing some of the bristles with glue and sprinkling with sawdust to simulate inflorescences.

Plants with lamellar leaves burdock, bear's ear, budyak, etc. are made in the same way as described in the chapter on deciduous trees.

And the final reliable look of your herbs will be given by several piece-made plants with a “portrait” similarity. For example, among the general golden-green background of a mass of grasses, red-brown panicles of horse sorrel stand out with contrasting strokes. Let's try to make his mini-portrait. We dip the ends of the bristles in glue and sprinkle with small sawdust of the corresponding color. Cut off and glue on the "stem" with a whisk. We supplement with several narrow oblong leaves (Fig. 89).

deciduous trees

Each type of tree has its own external distinctive features, a silhouette. Before starting work, decide which tree you will choose, so that it is not some kind of abstract tree in general, but something specific poplar, maple, chestnut, etc. Having chosen, carefully look at the original, sketch, photograph. In this case, we will describe the method using the example of making a “model” of oak.

Based on your sketches, select a suitable branch for the trunk. It is desirable that it somehow resembles your prototype, but does not necessarily have a developed system of branches; we will glue the missing ones and form the crown of the main skeletal branches (Fig. 90, a).

Put the trunk on the table, try on how the branch will be located in space, adjust it in place, cut off the tip at an angle, dip it in PVA glue and put it in place, fix the branch in space by attaching a support. After the glue dries, spill PVA a couple of times over the place of gluing. This process is not laborious, but long in time. Attach the next branch after the previous one has completely dried.

No matter how your branch looks like a real trunk, we clean it from the bark, which on an adult tree should be covered with a network of cracks. We will imitate this by using the smallest number of engraver (linoleum engraving cutter) or make such a tool specially. We cut the grooves, guided by a photograph or sketches (Fig. 90. b).

Cracks should not be geometrically correct, like a mesh pattern on women's stockings, allow some artistic cement without order, randomness (Fig. 90. c).

Growths, influxes of the bark can be imitated using putty (Fig. 90. d). Places where the main large branches depart from the trunk can also be puttied and then ring-shaped grooves can be applied.

We paint the trunk and the main large branches before gluing small branches and foliage. We carefully paint over the grooves with dark brown, almost black paint, which can be based on ink. After drying, with tempera, dark gray, lighter than the previous one, with a semi-dry brush, paint the "scales" of food, trying not to fall into cracks (Fig. 90, e, 97).

We glue smaller ones to the main skeletal branches, which will give the silhouette of the tree an openwork (Fig. 90. f). For them, you can use the stems of annual herbaceous plants, selecting suitable similar ones, i.e. having many branches. This may be a difference in inflorescence, so it is better to harvest them in the spring, when the plants are formed, to dry and preserve them, lower them for about a day in an aqueous 5-10% solution of glycerin. Glue them as described above. If they differ in color, then the already finished crown can be blown out of the azrograph with tempera.

Leaves until now were considered the most difficult stage. Trees, instead of foliage, were proposed to be dressed in foam rubber or paper cut with scissors. But the diorama is designed to be viewed from a close distance, and any falseness and obvious props are immediately evident. Meanwhile, everything ingenious is simple and the solution to the problem hung over our heads all the way - the leaves already exist and always have been. You just need to reduce them to the desired size. This does not require any complex fixtures and all the necessary equipment can be made in 10-15 minutes.

For the purity of the experiment, let's take the most complex configuration of all oak leaves. Pick up a thin-walled brass tube, slightly larger in diameter than the linear dimensions of the sheet (the circumference of the tube should correspond to the perimeter of the sheet, taking into account all its bends). We sharpen the edge and bend the wave inward-outward; like a bottle cap (Fig. 91). Make sure that the cut is symmetrical about the axis and slightly elongated.

We check if we have damaged the cutting edge, if necessary, correct it - the tool is ready! Timed out? And it’s not worth talking about such “trifles” as birch, poplar, linden leaves. I picked up the tube in diameter, sharpened it, squeezed it with a “boat”, “heart” - you're done! And trees, and shrubs, and herbaceous annual plants of burdock, budyaki, bear's ear and mother and stepmother, from now on, nothing will hold back the flight of your imagination (Fig. 92).

We harvest leaves in bulk. We take, of course, "fresh" thin, not pubescent leaves, preferably from trees (for example, cherry). We must put a piece of rubber on the floor of the sheet (mat, tire or special cutting mat), cut it down with our tool. To facilitate work and to avoid the danger of injuring your hands, you can put a cap on shampoo or cosmetics on the non-working end of the tube. If you cut leaves out of paper, then you would have to knock on the tube with a hammer and the cutting edge would constantly become dull, but here the applied efforts are insignificant, just a slight pressure of the hand is enough.

Position the tool along the veins of the leaf so that it runs exactly along the axial line (Fig. 93). Thus, we kill one more rabbit and gain unexpected benefits, because. our leaves are similar to natural ones - along the axis of symmetry they have a vein passing into the stalk, and all this in one operation!

In a row, you can cut down 10-15 pieces, and then push them out of the tube with a rod from the opposite side. Dry the harvested leaves during the day. We have received a semi-finished product so far, they cannot be used in this form. They are fragile, deformed and lost color. You can restore their freshness and elasticity by placing them in an aqueous solution of glycerin (5-10%) for a day. In this case, it is advisable to immediately tint the water with green aniline paint in the color of foliage. The water that was previously in the leaves is replaced by glycerin, they will straighten out, the paint will give them a fresh, natural look. After soaking, strain through cheesecloth and, without wringing, lay out on several layers of toilet paper to dry.

Aniline dye is used for home dyeing of cotton or woolen fabrics (the type of fabric, in this case, does not matter).

If you need to make autumn leaves, then look for yellow ones, because. green you cannot repaint with aniline. Autumn leaves also need to be tinted with paint when wetting.

It is better if the leaves are not all the same size, but at least two - “main” and “slightly smaller”.

You can stick leaves on a tree like this: grease each branch with diluted PVA glue and sprinkle with leaves. And you can do it this way: dip the stalk of each leaf in glue and stick it to the branch, arranging them naturally the way they grow in nature, which is probably preferable (Fig. 94). Still, you have already done a colossal job, it’s a pity to spoil it with leaves glued somehow, at random, but it’s more reasonable to combine both methods and glue “sprinkling” inside the crown, and around the perimeter and, especially, in the foreground, “leaf-like "(Fig. 95. 96). In addition, for the convenience of work, some of the small branches can be equipped with leaves before gluing to the tree.

As you know, the oak sheds its leaves last of all and it turns yellow in the fall, not because chlorophyll decays, but because it dries on the tree. Moreover, in early autumn, the leaves at first seem to be browned on the top of the crown (Fig. 98.99). It is this period of autumn that I will try to convey by blowing the top of the tree tangentially with golden tempera from an airbrush. Keep in mind that after drying, the leaves will decrease slightly in size.

The ground under the tree should be strewn with "fallen" leaves (Fig. 100).

Coniferous trees

This is perhaps the only case of using moss in modeling, but in this case it fits perfectly and "anatomically" with the structure of the "legs", and the texture is very reminiscent of needles.

So, again there is a reason to go to the forest. Harvest fluffy moss, with long "spread" stems. Dry it well, and contrary to the recommendations of pharmacists for the preparation of medicinal plants, fry in the sun, spreading it on the windowsill until the moss turns yellow, the better it will then restore its natural color when soaked in an aqueous solution of glycerin and aniline.

We disassemble the "cap" into separate branches (Fig. 101) and place it in the solution. Since moss absorbs moisture very well, 5-6 hours will be enough.

Lay the material on several layers of toilet paper and dry for at least a day.

We used the old "grandfather" method of making artificial Christmas trees, when tiers of branches and cylinders of trunk segments are strung alternately on a steel needle.

Let's sort the "paws" by size, 5-6 longest ones - the lower tier, the same number of shorter ones, etc., according to the number of tiers on the future Christmas tree. We glue the branches of the same size together in the form of an "asterisk". Why do we dip each tip into Moment glue and, after drying it a little, we connect it (Fig. 102). In order for the "tiers" to acquire an orientation mainly in the horizontal plane, they can be placed under a small press for a day (put 1-2 magazines on top).

Let's make a stem. We wind several turns of thin paper onto a piece of thin copper wire, fixing the last turn with glue. Moreover, the thinner the paper, the easier it is to wind it tightly, the less the joint will be noticeable and the thinner the trunk can be made at the top (Fig. 103). Such tubes must be made in three different diameters: the minimum thin apical part, the thicker one - the middle part of the trunk, and the basal part even thicker.

Let's paint the tubes in a grayish-brown color and, over the wet paint, sprinkle a little with small sawdust to create a "prickly" texture. Now you can start assembling the tree. We will cut the stem blanks into cylinders 5-6 mm long (Fig. 104) and we will string pieces of the trunk alternately onto a piece of wire, starting with a thick one and tiers of branches (Fig. 105). Before stringing the branches at the gluing point, they must be pricked with an awl (Fig. 106). We string the last upper cylinder a little longer than the remaining tip of the wire, and glue a short twig-top into the resulting hole.

Of course, this is true only in the general case, but in reality such regular pyramidal Christmas trees grow only near the city administration building (Fig. 107). In the forest, they are all sorts, both young and old, and some of their branches are without needles, especially the lower ones. Intertwined, they create a kind of delicacy, which can be imitated by dried dill leaves between the pages of a book (Fig. 108).

Being engaged in modeling, many eventually come to the conclusion that the overall quality of work depends on the little things. I fully agree with them. Moreover, I will have the courage to say that it depends only on the careful study of all the small things that are on the stand with your work, how it will be perceived by the audience - as a piece of real life, or as a bright (even if very high-quality painted) toy.

It's no secret that VIM originally began to exist as the creation of voluminous illustrations for reference books on military history. And that is why many of those who are seriously involved in this hobby attach such importance in their works to the most accurate correspondence to historical realities.
But here, in my opinion, there is a certain pitfall that many fall into. Any miniature, made even as authentically as possible, but standing on a simple smooth stand, loses a lot in visual perception.
This is what it's about:
If, for example, the figurine is assembled and painted with only one purpose - to serve as a kind of technical aid that can be viewed literally from all sides, and the main goal is the maximum historical correspondence to the prototype, then such work can indeed be left on a very primitive "conditional" stand.
But, if, in addition to the above, a lot of work has been done with the miniature to “revive” it (tinting, pollution, dusting, etc.), if the author is trying to convey certain emotions to us, then there is already the absence of the same carefully designed and logically justified stand, looks, in my opinion, as a lack of something very important.

And vice versa - if the surrounding entourage is carefully thought out and meticulously executed, then the miniature itself will look completely different in it.

Now let's move on to a more practical conversation, which, I hope, will be of interest not only to beginners, but also to those who have long taken their first steps in modeling.

There are several ways to make miniature flora. Suitable for this:
- ready-made sets of various companies,

Dried fragments of real flowers and plants,
- made by hand from improvised means (paper, foil, tow, pile, etc.).

But, from my own experience, I’ll say that the stand on which a combination of these three methods was used has the most realistic and high-quality look.

Another very important point - here, as nowhere else, the principle is relevant: "It happens either quickly or well." Therefore, do not rush to cover the ground with a thick layer of monotonously identical "railroad" grass, eerie cut foam rubber, or plant it with thick tufts of equally trimmed bristles. Believe me, such vegetation is similar to real nature only in your own imagination.

"Planting" your thickets, it is better to do it slowly and very thoughtfully, literally on a blade of grass. At the same time, you need to constantly evaluate the entire composition “as a whole”, both in terms of its color scheme, and in terms of the variety of texture and size of your “seedlings”.
"Planting" grass should take place in a certain order, as if in tiers - from the highest to the lowest. And the order of work is from the center of the stand to its edges (if another option is not specified by the plot).
The order "from the center - to the edges" can still be violated if there are any buildings or structures on the stand. In this case, the tallest and largest plants are best placed next to these objects.

And one more obligatory rule - "accents" are necessary.
Many of you have probably noticed that, for example, the same grass on the street looks monotonous only at a cursory glance (in height and color). But it is worth taking a closer look, as it becomes clearly visible that taller and larger individual individuals are necessarily distinguished in the total mass. And the color of green vegetation is also not so monotonous as it seems to us.
All this must be done in your work. Only then will it look not like a dyed cut bristle, but like a piece of real nature.
And as such "accents" can be:
- separate tall blades of grass,
- clearly “readable” leaves of individual plants in the total mass,
- separately growing flowers,
- fragments of the landscape that differ in color (more withered, more "juicy", etc.)

Another thing worth mentioning is that, with the help of “grass” alone, it is very difficult to get away from some monotony and monotony on a stand. The introduction of additional "filling" will help us to defeat this. To do this, sticks, large stones and fallen leaves should appear on the ground.
All the same rules must be observed here - do not rush during installation and constantly evaluate the general appearance, harmony and logic of the depicted landscape.
Also, do not forget here about the arrangement of "accents". And if sticks and large stones are already such accents in themselves, then you need to work with fallen leaves. In its general, rather shapeless mass, individual leaves of the form familiar to us, with clearly defined edges, should stand out well.

As an example, I would like to cite one of my old works (54 mm).

Step by step it looked like this:
1. Installation of a pre-painted fence on a stand (metal, from the set of the figure itself).
2. Soil imitation (earth and sand of various fractions + PVA).
3. Making a stone (milliput molding + painting).
4. We paint and tint the ground according to the chosen plot, landscape and season.
5. "Planting" and painting grass (a mixture of artificial materials and dried natural "herbarium").
6. Glue fallen leaves (plant seeds, chopped dry grass, ready-made paper leaves from Kamizukuri).

As you can see, here I tried to follow all the rules listed above. As a result, it seems to me, it turned out quite realistically. And in any case, it’s better than just flat ground, or a plain carpet of neatly trimmed bristles.

And a few more words about technology ...
If a figurine or some large object interferes with “planting” vegetation, then you can do this (in this case, 1:35):
We fix the grass on separate pieces of cardboard, process it there, and paint it, and after that we place the finished fragments on a common stand, in pre-prepared places.
The same is done with large plants.

........................................ ..........

And another strong argument that micro-gardening is the right thing to do.
If the figurine is made very well, then the carefully crafted vegetation around it will perfectly complement the overall picture of high-quality work.
And if the miniature didn’t work out very well, then the surrounding landscape will gently disguise these shortcomings, drawing some of the viewer’s attention to itself.

This is all to the fact that in my opinion there are no minor trifles in modeling!
Because none of the spectators are looking at our miniatures from afar. After the first "covering" look, everyone strives to immediately approach the "smell distance". And here it will immediately be clear what is actually standing on a stand - a beautiful doll on green tow, or a small living person on real grass.

(photos from the site are used in the text)

I will try to tell and show how I make grass from sanitary flax on a 35th scale. Tools and materials I need:

Actually the plumbing itself. When buying in a hardware store, you should choose the linen that has a uniform structure without large components.
Supergel. It's supergel, not superglue.
Acrylic paint green/grass/, white, brown. I am using ACAN.
Thinner for paint. I use industrial alcohol. (Smells bad, but dries quickly).
Airbrush. Here without it, unfortunately, in any way.
Rubber gloves. So as not to paint your hands when dyeing linen.
Dental probe. Or a large sewing needle. Just a dentist tool is very easy to use.
Scissors and tweezers.
Well, the very base of the diorama / vignette. Here, everyone does it differently. It is important that the supergel securely fixes the linen on the surface of the base.

Linen must be carefully "fluffed up". Otherwise, when painting, everything will stick together (). We paint from an airbrush in three or four shades of green. Just add different shades to the base green paint ().

We take the dyed flax and cut it with scissors into various lengths, approximately 1.5-2.5 cm long - along the height of the future grass (). We cut all dyed linen in this way ... and undyed linen too! ().

Stir each bunch of chopped flax. Hands (). Then we “cross” them with each other, gradually adding other shades to the main color (). Along the way, we remove such sticky "blades of grass" from the "batch" (). After obtaining a homogeneous mass, add undyed linen to it. Of course, mixing (). We get such a haystack ().

We take out a bunch of greenery from the common pile and align it with scissors on one side (). We apply a little supergel to the cut off part of the beam (). Now we plant our grass on the ground in small portions (). Then we pick up a large sewing needle or something like it. We introduce it one or two millimeters from the base into the grass (). And we begin to thin out too dense shoots with movements from the base (). We remove the excess. Then, by the way, it can be reused ().

We cut what sticks out too much (). The photo shows that our grass is very heterogeneous in height (). It turns out grass in the yard. On the grass - "in firewood", this is for scale :) ().

I will be glad if my vision of the embodiment of grass from sanitary ware in miniature will be of interest to you and will be useful when building a diorama or vignette.