Cattails

[tallghost]

I'm looking for a good source of Cattails (bullrushes) for my bayou bases. I made a few myself with sewing needles and green stuff, but then I got stumped on the leaves, and thought that maybe I don't have to reinvent the wheel here. Anyone have any recommendations?

[SpiralngCadavr]

A pretty simple way is to just cut little wedges out of paper and then blending the base up to match (below). Paper laminated with cheap paint holds up well, though I also tried it with brass, which allows a finer and generally better leaf, but is a real pain to work with so I'd only do it for major pieces.

 

[Omenbringer]

I assume you are asking about the actual "Tail" portion of that plant and not the leaves (the poster above provides a method if you are looking for those). If that is the case, there was a recommendation on another site to use thin wire and thick finger nail polish. Simply cut the wire to size, introduce any curves you want in the final stem, and then dip just a bit of the head in the nail polish. Let dry a bit and repeat the dipping until you get teh thickness "Tail" you are looking for. Once completely dry you can paint over it with a suitable brown or tan.

[tallghost]

Thanks for the thoughts, guys. I was thinking more about pre-made things, but seeing how easy you make the leaves seem, I might give that a try first. The tail part, I've got a handle on with the green stuff and pins.

[Phinn]

Necromancer Tales Miniatures - Tutorial: Plants & Vegetation - Elephant Grass

There are a lot of useful tutorials like Cat Tails, Bamboo and Lilypads, Mushrooms and Advanced Mushrooms, and a lot more.

[snitchythedog]

My suggestion might be a little counter intuitive.  All of the methods above will produce cattails.  My problem is scaling.  The cattails that you create with paper will have very large leaves when scaled next to a model.  My suggestion is to make the head of the cattail as you did before and then to use field grass from woodland scenics for the leaves.  Linkey  My two cents on cattails.  Hope that gives you another option. 

Snitchy sends.

[Omenbringer]

The tail part, I've got a handle on with the green stuff and pins.

Green stuff can definitely work but as Snitchy points out above, might be difficult to get in the right looking scale. Nail polish though, can be built up in small amounts, allowing much more precise control of the final look.

As far as adding the fuzz, well at the typical mini games scale you likely wouldn't be able to discern that feature either.

What ever method you choose though, please post some pictures.

[tallghost]

O.K. sad to say, I've been away from this project for a bit. (The start of the school year slows me down )
But today I had a few moments to fiddle, and while I did not have time to try the nail polish method yet, I did grab my already made green stuff cat tails and take a pic, posed by my Sommer Teeth.
 

[Requirement]

I know I'm late to the game here, but I use these. They are a little pricey I suppose but they take all the hassle out of making them.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c25/DogmaticLaw/Mobile Uploads/IMG_20150818_121827_zps0rl09fpg.jpg

A picture of Lenny with one on his base for scale purposes.

[Nosilloc]

I know I'm late to the game here, but I use these. They are a little pricey I suppose but they take all the hassle out of making them.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c25/DogmaticLaw/Mobile Uploads/IMG_20150818_121827_zps0rl09fpg.jpg

A picture of Lenny with one on his base for scale purposes.

this is what I use and I like them. I got mine at Hobby Lobby. A little short of $10 if I remember right. Well worth it.