Creating woody bushes.

Following on from the blog about starting to add vegetation and creating gum trees, here is a method of creating woody bushes that I have found works effectively and uses discarded material

You will need:

Drill some holes in offcuts of 9mm or similar mdf. Note the used basket liner on tray.

• a well used hanging basked liner that has been in the sun for a while and has past its use by date.
• coloured no more gaps
• flat black or dark colored spray paint
• spray adhesive
• various grades of scatter material or ground foams eg woodland scenics.

Here is the process in photos. As always click on the picture for a larger version.

Grap a little bunch of material and twist in fingers. Then apply some no more gaps and twist the base nice and tight.

Pull the twisted base through the hole in the mdf as far as you can and then splay the tops out an then trim to shape with scissors.

I also tried adding some extra twigs to create some sturdier branches. The tuck in nicely in the twisted fibers of the trunk.

I then added a light spray of matt black to add a bit of depth and under story shadow.

Here I am adding scatter material over the bush armature using various grades of home made and bought material. I fix using a shot of spray adhesive.

Finished product.

A closer shot of the finished product. Nice and twiggy and airy.

And for some thing different...Here is the Platform for the Small Fuel Depot which is a Plaster of Paris Casting I made and the concrete stairs sculpted using this darwa modelling clay available from the new MASTERS chain of stores. It's easy to use and good to work with.