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Hi
I have been trying to find how to make jungle plants been to a few sites man they are expensive and I looked at plastic plants at a few stores just didnt look right I seen somebody on here used fish tank plants just am kind of confused anybody have any ideas??
Thanks Lee
This is a very common question Lee, one I have had the privilege to answer a number of times.
I really discourage the use of aquarium plants. They are almost always out of scale and toy-like in appearance.
Here is a great thread on the subject:
Jungle plants Here is a run down on what I know about tropical scenery:
I love to use natural material to produce foliage. I've never touched a piece of Photo-etched foliage or fish tank plants (too large and thick) in my life and don't plan to. It just doesn't give the same realism and quality that nature can. Basically any plant, moss, lichen, leaf etc. that you take from nature will die unless it is preserved. I use two main ways of preservation:
1. The Glycerine method. Glycerine or Glycerol is readily available at the pharmacy of at some supermarkets. Take your plant (moss, fern, leaf etc.) and put it on a piece of tissue paper. In a jar, mix 1 part Glycerine with 10 parts water (1:10 ratio). Put this mixture into a spray bottle and mist your plant. I don't fully understand the scientific jargon, but I believe the Glycerine/water mixture will be absorbed by the plant, the water will evaporate but the glycerine will stay in the plant, preserving it.
2. Pressing. With smaller weeds/leaves, putting them inside a notebook for about a week will sometimes preserve them. Make sure as soon as you take the plant out of the book, you paint it.
If you're making tree trunks or tree stumps, I really encourage you to go natural and use a real twig or tree roots, I mean something off a small bush that you might dig up. They will pretty much remain preserved as long as the wood is dry and dead before you put it into your diorama. You can also make realistic tree trunks and root structures (prominent on most tropical trees) with putty.
Here are a bunch of links involved with making tropical foliage which you may want to include in your diorama:
This one is by far the best result I've seen using the foil method for making palm fronds:
CK Tang's Method Here is my effort using natural leaves found on Ficus Benjamina plants:
Coconut palms A method by Santiago Tre which inspired me:
Santiago's Method One of my feature articles:
Making Small Palms pt. 2 How I make bamboo, a common sight in most tropical areas:
Bamboo How I make tropical trees:
https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/118980#979963 I am yet to make a banana palm but I really like the look of Santiago's:
Banana Palm An interesting way of making plants using aluminium foil, by Algu. I have had a try and can say I'm almost as happy with this technique as I am with using natural options:
Aluminium Foil plants Making scale tropical grass (called kunai in Malaysia and PNG) is quite difficult, especially getting the right look. It is often a lot thicker and longer than Western grass species, therefore, I use REAL grass picked fresh from the lawn. Once picked, I leave it to dry out for a few days before gluing it to the diorama. Once glued, it receives an airbrushing of enamel green paint. I then add a final spray of hairspray to hold the grass in place on the diorama. Here is a picture I saw somewhere of a field in former Indochina, note thick bladed grass.
Feel free to ask me anything else I haven’t covered, otherwise I wish you best of luck with your diorama, let's see some pictures by the way!!
Regards,
Chas
