A tutorial on how to make your own static grass plus how to make your own DIY static grass applicator.
Later in this page, there are specifics about how you get the materials and use it to make your own static grass.
But first let us compare using homemade static grass to commercial static grass.
In any case we recommend that you use a static grass applicator like this. Prestige Applicator
If you not that interested in a realistic module or scenery and are just interested in something green or simple grass tufts of weeds or reeds, then a DIY approach may be fine.
But if you are interested something realistic, commercial grass has many advantages. Specifically, you can choose from a large number of colors, a selection of lengths and it is extremely time efficient.
On the other hand, you have to dye DIY grass, try to cut it to the lengths that you want, and take all the time and gather all the dyes, pots, drying racks and whatever to make your grass.
Note
One of our visitors submitted this. You might find it useful.
“I was looking for material to make static grass. I had an old sheet of MDF that had been laying out in the weather for about 18 months. The edges were very furry. I cut the fur off and whizzed it up in my little coffee grinder, added a drop of artist’s acrylic, whizzed it again to spread the colour. When it dried I whizzed it again to break it up and I had excellent static grass at no cost except for the small amount of acrylics used. ”
I have not been able to replicate this. If you can, please contact me with details.
Now more.
Homemade static grass does, however, have some advantages over some commercial brands. All too often low quality commercial brands are made from a shiny synthetic. So after you lay the grass you have a shiny field or lawn. To make it look better you have to go over the top of it with some dust or tinting powder. Covering everything to remove the shine can be a little bit difficult.
Homemade grass is natural and lacks that shine. So once you apply it you don’t have to apply any powders.
As far as materials go, we have found that the best materials to use to make your own static grass are human hair and rayon or nylon fibre. For weeds and reeds, sisal fiber that we get from sisal twine. It is the same fiber that we use for bottle brush spruce trees.
You will need long grass for tufts, weeds, reeds, bushes, tree branches. The video on the left shows you how to make your own long grass.
For static grass, you can try any thin filament that responds to a static field. Feedback to us from a website visitor indicates that white rabbit hair works well for him. We have not tried it.
Our preference is to buy a used blonde rayon or human hair wig – look at yard sales. It being blonde, we can dye it whatever color that we wish.
You can also get all the human hair you will ever want, and probably free, at your barber shop
If you going to make DIY static grass, expect to spend a bit of time because you going to have to get the hair, clean it, get an assortment of dyes, dye it, and then cut it.
So if you are going to make it, plan on making a large batch to make it time cost effective.
Once you get the hair that you’re going to use, the first step is to give it a good washing and a good rinsing.
Now you are ready to dye it
You can use hair dyes or, as I do, the regular dyes used to dye wool. Follow their instructions to get the color that you want.
Once it dries, you have to cut that hair to length.
Gather the hair and run a fine comb through it so that it lays flat. Then with some very sharp scissors cut it to the length that you wish.
If you are going to make a trimmed lawn, you will find that if you cut your own static grass the lawn may not be so well trimmed. It is because of that, that we only, and infrequently because of the time involved in making it, use our homemade static grass in fields and around the edges of forests.
For the most realistic scenery, we buy commercial grass which can be blended and worked very easily.
The scene to the left could not be made without commercial grass.
So when it comes down to it, we only use DIY long made of sisal fiber. It is used to make reeds, and bushes.
For static applications, we use a grass made in Czech. It is a favorite among clubs in Europe. Some large companies sell it under their own brand name. You can get it cheaper here.
And we use a DIY static grass applicator that you can in kit form here.