Mike, most brands of matte medium are about the same the only real difference I've found is the thickness some are thinner then others.
Claude - The foliage in the front is a mix of static grass, Silfloor brand in 4,5 and 6mm size, late summer and autumn colors, the weedy look is from cheap china brushes cut different lengths and put in in strands not clumps (after the static grass dries its almost like a pin cushion so its easy to stick the strands in with tweezers (ends dipped in a little full strength matte medium. When that's dry its brushed with diluted light brown acrylics then I spray a diluted earth color mix over all of it lightly - with my airbrush to blend it together without altering the colors.
(low pressure from a distance, foreground only) I used LifeColor UA 405 Brown Service Shirt!
The brush bristles without a little coloring don't look good they have a shine, nor if their clumped.

Thanks for the detailed reply.
Nothing special in there regarding materials but your painting do make them look really good.

Claude

I only watched the one hour link posted above. It makes me curious about two things:

1) What is the tree bark? Whatever it is, the Spruce feel is unmistakable.
2) There are several small bowls of several kinds of ground-work, which appear from off to the left. It would be interesting to see all of the bowls lined up alongside each other for a comprehensive view of all the material sources of this fine work…and some close up photography of each texture. Most of the textures look the same on the video.

Thank-you for sharing your work process with us here. I learn best by watching and not so much by reading. I am impressed the way you use liquid medium to soak through all the layers. Had I not seen this, I would always be inclined to blow off the un-secured filaments after each layer dried, before commencing with the next layer.

I am also impressed with this comment, from above, about inserting brush bristles through the 'sponginess' of the static grass:

"The foliage in the front is a mix of static grass, Silfloor brand in 4,5 and 6mm size, late summer and autumn colors, the weedy look is from cheap china brushes cut different lengths and put in in strands not clumps (after the static grass dries its almost like a pin cushion so its easy to stick the strands in with tweezers...The brush bristles without a little coloring don't look good they have a shine, nor if their clumped."

Thanks Rick,
The bark is made from a bark texture powder I have on the store website, there is also a tutorial on applying the texture powder. I apologize because I mumbled on occasion during the video when stating what I was applying, the 2 larger glass bowls were the 2 different groundcovers and twig/stick material, the jars were leaf litter, pine needles and wood chips, all of which have close up photos on the store site.
I don't blow anything off because I continually layer, I like to have the different textures blend, in the video I go back and fourth. There will be a part 2 video to this soon as well as a much larger diorama that will show in video more detail work as its being done. ( I'm working on my video editing skills)
- John

Thanks, John. This forest is fine work. I will look at your store site soon.

@Rick

I don't blow the unsecured bits either in my works.
Asked the other way around:
What do you risk in leaving them? That a piece falls off during transport? No big deal as your groundwork is still well covered.

The advantage of course is to have a more lifelike vegetation, not something you are able to discern from distance that it is glued on.

Greets
Claude

Pics 2 posts down

Schwimmwagen update, still needs to be blended into the diorama. Weather timeline
Got cold (enough to freeze)
Then light snowfall
Schwimm drove thru mud and then slushy freezing mud then onto field thru light snowfall.

Part 2 of the video will be set within a week or less
I'm also going to show how I make broken up ice on the muddy road.

Okay pics didn't work right , I'll try that again

WOW!!!!!!!!
COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes!!! That is cool. I am working on a halftrack with much the same kind of dirt and foliage on it. Very effective. Any ideas on how to get the ferns to curve without breaking? I tried soaking them and that didn't work.
J

Jerry if they are out of the regular package they should bend almost in half without breaking - no water, water will re-hydrate them, I dry them after preserving them to remove the water and leave only glycerin in them.
- John

Wow, that, sir, is an impressive schwimmwagen.