Dry Grass

Dry Grass by Woodland

A loose scenic medium for creating the surface of terrain. It is not a finished scenic element but a freely poured material that is applied to finished rough terrain and fixed with glue. The name refers to dry grass, that is to how the surface is meant to read once finished.

The season of a scene is told by the top layer

On a diorama, what orients a viewer above all is the color of the surface. Dry tones move a scene into late summer, into autumn, into a dry season or into long-neglected terrain, and that holds even when exactly the same soil lies underneath as on a spring scene. You therefore do not have to cover the whole area: it is enough to lay dry scatter where the grass would really dry out, that is along the edges of tracks, on the crests of rises, around concrete and paved areas, on south-facing slopes and in the places where people walk and vehicles drive. Leave the rest in a greener position and the scene immediately gains a story.

Application procedure

• It comes into play only after the coarse materials, that is after soil, sand and gravel, as one of the last layers.
• Sprinkle it onto an area coated with glue beforehand, in two or three thin layers rather than one heavy one.
• Blur the transitions between shades with your fingers or a dry brush; a sharp boundary between two scatters looks like a sprayed stencil.
• Finally fix the area with thinned PVA glue dripped over it and let it dry through thoroughly.
• Once dry, tap the material that has not caught onto paper and keep it, because it can be used again.

Who the material is for

For modelers who build dioramas and scenic bases and want to assemble a surface from several shades rather than from a single flat layer. It goes well with darker soil scatters and with grass tufts, which are glued into a finished surface at the end.

The material is supplied as a loose medium; glue, paints and tools are not part of the package, unless stated otherwise.