Greener Grass

[d phipps]

I did some more work on my grass mat with a combination of fabric sprays, dyes, and inks. I am much happier with it now, and here are a couple pics from the games we played over the weekend --






THANKS!

[warrenss2]

That is COOL!!!!!!! 

Kept looking for a crouching lion.

[Wirelizard]

Oh, that looks fantastic.

Teddy bear fur, I'm guessing?

I really must get to one of the big fabric stores here in town and knock some teddy bears over the head!

[tonykapolka]

Looks great!  Where are the Moai from?

[nb246]

WOW!!!
GREAT job

[Operator5]

That is fantastic. You did a great job creating that savannah look.

[d phipps]

Teddy bear fur, I'm guessing?

I don't really know if it would qualify as 'teddy-bear fur'.   I'm too cheap to spring for the expensive Mohair fabrics, so I only paid $9 for a 5'x6' piece of 'artificial fur' at a nearby fabric store. The original color was a golden tan, and I spent about $20 on various fabric sprays, dyes, and inks. Getting the poly fibers to take and hold color was a real pain.

Where are the Moai from?

All of the stone heads, including the two fallen moai, are from Armorcast. I really like some of their stuff.


Thanks all!

[Doctor Merkury]

The grass looks like it turned out great.  I've never had a lot of luck with dyeing fur.

Doc

[Chuckaroobob]

That looks fabulous!

[Mr.Dodo]

That looks spot on, and seems to be stable- the figures aren't lurching at odd angles! Great.

[warrenss2]

How about some more details on the materials and technique used?

[d phipps]

Well, the technique I used was a little something I call – “Hope Something Works”. 

1.   First I just tried fabric dye. I mixed up the dye and hot water in a 5 gallon plastic tub, using twice the recommended amount. I stirred the cloth around for about 30 minutes, then left it to soak in the dye overnight. In the morning I laid the cloth out to dry on the grass in my back yard. This ended up giving me a sickly dead grass green, not unlike my own grass, but not the color I was really going for. I used this mat for probably 20 or more games but was never really happy with how it looked. So eventually I had another go…

2.   I sprayed the cloth using fabric spray (shown below). I used the brown and tan quite sparingly, just to add a little subtle color variance. The green was applied a little heavier but still going for more of an over-lay, rather than trying to completely cover the fabric. As it was, I barely had enough to do the cloth. I wish I’d have picked up another can of the green, but such is the price of being a penny-pincher. I left this over-night to dry and it made a significant improvement. Not the sort to leave well enough alone, I moved on to my next idea…

3.   Using precise measurements of “what-looks-about-right” I mixed a concoction of water, india ink, and fabric dye in a plastic spray bottle. Stretching the cloth out flat on the floor, I sprayed it down with the green mixture and then let it air out for several days.

Considering I had no idea what I was doing, I feel pretty lucky with how it all turned out. And during play, the pile is low and soft enough that figures almost never tilt at odd angles. So far we have only used this cloth in three games, but I am confident the color will hold for quite awhile. Here is a pic of the products I used --

[warrenss2]

What type of cloth is that stuff?

BTW - I love the added touch of the dino peeking out around the bottle. 

[d phipps]

I don't really know how best to describe it. I just picked this cloth because it was on half-price DISCOUNT! 

Here is a link to fabric that looks like the stuff I bought (the tan one) --

http://www.distinctivefabric.com/fabric.php?product=SLDSHTFUR