Over the years pre-made grass tufts have become a staple of the miniature painting hobby. They make any base look better, are super easy to use and are available at just about any hobby store. They are produced by a ton of companies from Army Painter to Games Workshop in a wide variety to colors, sizes and styles. My favorite, and most affordable, tufts are from a company called Silfor. These tufts can be purchased in the US from Scenic Express.
While these pre-made tufts work great, I wanted something more. I wanted custom colors, sizes and shapes that just available commercially. So in this article I’m going to show you how to easily make your own grass tufts at home.
Step 1 – Materials and Tools
- Static Grass – I find that 6 mm is a good length for making tufts for 28 mm basing. For smaller scales or for making moss you can use 2 mm grass. You can purchase static grass as a blend or purchase several colors to make your own custom blend. The choice is entirely yours.
- Parchment Paper – This is the same stuff you use on a wet pallet. This is not to be confused with Wax Paper.
- Magnets – Just grab them off your fridge, just be sure to put them back when you’re done.
- Static Grass Applicator – These come in a lot of different sizes and styles. My recommendation is to start off with a inexpensive model and upgrade to a better model down the road if you enjoy it.
- Metal Sheet Pan – Make sure that it’s ferrous so that the magnets stick to it.
- PVA Glue – Elmer’s glue works great.
Step 2 – Cut out a sheet of parchment paper to fit the metal sheet pan and magnetize it to the Metal Sheet Pan
Step 3 – Load your Static Grass Applicator with the color and length of grass of your choice. Ensure that you broken up any clumps to make the grass go through the applicator easier. Also, if doing a custom blend make sure to mix the static grasses thoroughly in a plastic cup using a pop sickle stick.
Step 4 – Place drops of glue onto the parchment paper. I find it best to break up the beads of glue to make them flatter. Also, you can make any shape you want, including lines or even a full “sheet” of grass.
Step 5 – Ground your Static Grass Applicator (follow the manufacturers instructions) and apply the static grass to the wet glue. I find it best to use a side to side shaking motion as close to the glue as possible. To get the fullest tufts I make multiple passes with the applicator to ensure maximum coverage.
Step 6 – Shake off excess static grass and put sheet aside to dry.
Step 7 – Once the glue is dry the tufts can be peeled off, cut into additional sizes and glued to bases or terrain with CA glue. One tip is to write the type of static grass used on the sheet for future reference.
Here are a few examples of the various tufts I recently made using a mix of 2 mm and 6 mm static grasses.
We’ll that’s it. It’s a simple process that easy to replicate with terrific results. If you give it a try I’d love to hear about it!
Thanks for sharing