Saturday 12 January 2013

Making Haystacks whilst the sun shines.


Following on from last week, I am going to show you how I make Haystacks, the main item you need is a doormat and plenty of sunshine.

HAYSTACKS.
Cut two pieces of doormat to the size you want the height of the haystack to be. Glue them back to back with white glue and then glue onto a suitable base with white glue.

Then you cover the base in glue and sand and paint this and the rubber backing of the doormat in dark brown or whatever dark colour you use for your first layer of basing.


You then drybrush the base a lighter shade of earth colour and use the same colour to lighten the rubber backing on the mat.

You will need to cut a pile of mat away from the rubber backing.The way I do this is by cutting the mat into very thin strips with a craft knife and then hold the strips over a tray and cut as close to the rubber as you can with a pair of scissors to 'make hay'. (If the strips are too thick you will find they are difficult to cut.)


You then cover the whole mat in watered down white glue and then cover with your hay cuttings. When dry I gave the haystack another layer of glue and cuttings.


When fully dry I paint the haystack by drybrushing a couple of lighter colours. I used household paint, dark yellow and then a lighter brush over with mid yellow. (I use this colour for all my wheat fields)

Having experimented making these, I think you could make them a lot quicker by not bothering to even paint the base, as the haystack ends up more or less covering the whole thing.

Cheers,

Pat.



  

28 comments:

  1. Sweet idea, i'll have to make myself some of these. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Splendid tutorial Pat !

    best regards Michael

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  3. As one terrain builder to another? I like that. Neat idea.

    (And yes, I caught the one about making hay while the sun shines. Even if no-one else did :D)

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  4. Thanks Chaps.
    Mike, it was a bit corny though.
    Pat.

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  5. Simple but effective thanks for sharing Pat!

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  6. Just about to make some myself so glad to see this! Cheers for sharing Pat

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  7. Very, very nice! Thanks for sharing!
    Phil.

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  8. Thanks Pat. I am going to have to do this. What are the colours called that you use on the hay?

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    1. Roger, I used the little testor pots.
      CROWN ULTIMATE. yellow dark
      CROWN ULTIMATE. yellow mid
      Down to personal taste but I wouldn't go to heavy on the drybrushing as you want some of the original colour to still show through and only a very light brush with the yellow mid. I guess it depends how long it has been in the sun and how close to harvesting?

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    2. Thanks Pat. I will see if I can match something up. I really like the colours that you have used. Expect to see some copies of your haystacks and wheatfields!

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  9. What a fabulous idea Pat; brilliant job!

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  10. Excellent haystacks Pat and a great lesson on making them.

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  11. Good idea and very helpful tutorial. An idea definitely worth stealing, thanks for it.
    Cheers,
    Mike

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  12. Thanks Chaps, If I start seeing a few of these in your backdrops, then I know it was a success.
    Cheers,
    Pat.

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  13. Great little tutorial and nice looking haystacks Pat

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  14. Gret stuff, Pat. Very helpful.

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  15. Fantastic idea, Pat. That's really effective. Far easier than any other way I've seen - excellent stuff!

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  16. Excellent tutorial. Thank you. I have always had these in the back of my mind as a round to it project but had no ideas on how to make them.

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  17. These are some excellent ideas!

    Christopher

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  18. Looking real good! I think I am just kicking myself for throwing away a cut up doormat some time ago! :-/

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  19. LOVE this tutorial. Gonna make some of these haystacks myself!

    Checkout my blog here: http://blog.cjsutherland.co.uk

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  20. Love this tutorial. Thanks!

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  21. Hi Pat,

    Thanks for this post - image googled 28mm haystacks and yours came up as second pic. I like simple, and they look very simple. I even have the materials to hand.

    Excellent post - I'm on it, haystacks coming soon.

    Best Regards and thanks again for the tips,

    James Roach (aka Olicanalad)

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    Replies
    1. Your welcome James, I am glad it is still getting viewed after all these years.
      Cheers,
      Pat.

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  22. Great idea - Mark Bretherton from the Tactical Painter shared the link on his blog.

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