Broom bristles
Cutting the bristles
The broom bristles are surprisingly hard to cut. The easiest method
I found was to hack them off with a scalpel - watch your fingers, do
this away from your body and grip the broom head on the opposite side
to the direction to your hacking.
To make them look more realistic, cut them to different lengths by
cutting through a clump of misaligned bristles.
Sticking the clumps down
Poke holes in the sand covered foamcard with something sharp and metal.
Then fill the hole by squirting in PVA with the nozzle over the hole
to really force the glue in.This way there will be plenty of glue to
secure the bristles.
Painting
1) First paint the top of the bristles with a pale cream colour. You
can be fairly casual about this, but if you don't do it then the grass
will turn out a bit dark.
2) Once this has dried, the bristles can be coloured. I put a spectrum
of the following colours on a palette.
- Pale Green - 50% GW Camo Green, 50% Oatmeal
- Mid Green - GW Camo Green
- Dark Green - 50% Black, 50% GW Goblin Green
These were then applied to the bristles with the darkest at the bottom
fading to the top. In places the brown of the original bristles was
left to show through.
Dock stalks
Gathering
Docks are a common UK plant. They grow to about 3" high and in
Autumn they go a dark reddish brown. They are covered in tiny seed pods.
The pods can be easily removed by running the clump through your hands,
then cut the stalk tips off with a pair of scissors . The seeds leave
behind clusters of tiny stems on the main stalk, which add pleasing
detail.
Positioning
The dock stalks are fairly brittle, so I tend to glue them to the base
in between the broom bristle clumps for some protection.
Painting
I left these completely unpainted, but you could use a light drybrush
to add definition and weathering.
