Ingredients
A - Iron wool
B - Spray repositionable glue (the one used to fix puzzles on cardboard)
C - dried herbs (stolen form the kitchen)

How to

Step 1
With your hands, break the iron wool and work it until you get the desired shape for your bush


The bushes frames are ready

Step 2
Paint the bushes frames with brown paint (in this case I airbrushed them with an acrylic flat brown)


The bush frames are painted

Step 3
Spray the glue on the frames

Step 4
Sprinkle the dried herbs on the frames until you're happy with the result. I suggest to use different kinds of herbs different in size, shape and colour for a better effect.


The frames have been sprinkled with a kind of herbs...


... then with another one

Step 5
Paint the bush with one or more base tone for the leaves of your choice (I went for a couple of shades of green )


The painted bushes

Step 6
Dry-brush the bushes with various shades of colors to mach the leaves base colour (I went for two green and a yellow shade)


The bushes are now ready

Conclusions
I think this is an easy, quick and cheap way to realize our bushes and the final result is quite convincing too, an ideal complement to the basic groundwork I do for my AFV models.

Happy modeling everybody!!!

Fabio

Another Fantastic feature you made.. Great Job

Would it not be a good idea to bundle all your tips and tricks to a apart feature section just as the Digital diamonds from Keith Magee I`m sure a lot of People will appreciate it and I know you have really a big amount of good Features in your possesion (as I seen them on other sites) maybe this is something to think about it for you I think it will be a hit

Faust, thanks for your kind words. It's not up to me to decide if setting up or not a new "feature" series, anyway if I'll be asked to set it up and maintaining it I'll be more than happy to do it.
Ciao

wow

thats a really good idea i had heard of iron wool being used but never knew about the herbs part thats great !!!

Thanks, I am sure that I will use that! That is so easy and simple its brilliant!

~Chip :-)

Good idea...gonna have to try this one out

tnx

Definitely MUST try this! It's so simple, I think, even I could do it.
Thanks for the idea!!!!!

It's so simple, a child could do it. Now if I can just borrow the child next door.

Great idea Fabio, thanks for sharing.

Be sure to seal the bush with dullcote. I did a "demo-rama" of different trees for my IPMS group. Didn't have time to seal everything. So, a few weeks later, my trees turned brown, just like Autumn. Cool, what?

Sealhead (Kansas sunflower)

anyone done it with pics to show?

I like the idea of using a diffferent material for the backing of the bush (twigs, etc.). So far my experiments in making ground cover and bushes ends up looking like exactly what it is: lichen and poured flock. This is a neat idea that I am going to try in 1:72.

Stephen

Great idea Scoccia I was going to add the benefit that your diorama/model will also smell better :-) , but based on Sealhead's experience, spraying on dullcoat probably greatly reduces that benefit Even so, keep coming with those ideas

How would you attach it to the groundwork?
CA glue?

Yes!!!
Cao

oh, its really easy...
but i got a big problem with the herbs..my mum will kill me if she finds out i stole those herbs from her kitchen... :-)

Fabio,

A great idea from you!!! Thanks for sharing it!!!

Nick

Brilliant idea! Thanks!

Thanks for sharing this...I'll be trying it ou.

Eddie