Fred Cartwright | 21 Nov 2015 9:24 a.m. PST |
I'm interested in how you use tea leaves to do foliage, having seen it mentioned several times. What's the process? Are the leaves soaked or dry? How do you stop them going rotten? |
Lion in the Stars | 21 Nov 2015 9:44 a.m. PST |
Start with a used tea bag. Let it dry normally before cutting it open. then spread out all the tea leaves to dry further. You may want to bake the leaves at ~200degF/~90degC to completely dry them. Don't cook them too hot, they will burn. once completely dry, you can sprinkle the leaves onto scenery glue. once the glue dries, seal with varnish. |
Gaz0045 | 21 Nov 2015 9:45 a.m. PST |
I've used them as 'camo netting' on vehicles……dried them out, glued on with PVA, painted accordingly (acrylics) and the sealed with matt varnish spray………. |
Kropotkin303 | 21 Nov 2015 9:55 a.m. PST |
I use them straight from new. I tend to use them as a basing material though, but I would like to see how they look on 1/300th AFVs when used as camo netting.Like this effect, but this is on a Roco Marder:
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Lee Brilleaux | 21 Nov 2015 9:56 a.m. PST |
I use the fine chopped tea from tea bags, dried, as an addition to my 'dirt' mix. Larger leaves work as forest mulch. |
Gaz0045 | 21 Nov 2015 10:05 a.m. PST |
I only use brewed tea leaves…..sacrilige to break open a tea bag!! |
DyeHard | 21 Nov 2015 11:56 a.m. PST |
I also always use brewed tea "leftovers". Why waste the tea? Also once brewed it is actually better to work with. Here is my old page promoting its use: link Bags provide a mush finer cut of leaf. Using a sieve (or even a basic kitchen strainer) link to separate by size. Drying can be tricky dependent on climate. I put them in a wire rack on the wall behind/above a gas stove-top. Normal activity dries them well for me 95% of the time. If they go bad, into the compost. |
ROUWetPatchBehindTheSofa | 21 Nov 2015 2:55 p.m. PST |
I've used them for ages in basing – just painted and varnished as normal. Used to dry the used tea bags on the radiator – built up quite stockpile so haven't bothered in long awhile (like since before I was married – not sure how the other-half would take to me doing that these days). It's a pretty old-school technique – I picked it up off my Dad's dad who used it when he made model railway scenery. My Dad just used manufactured flock on his railway. |
French Wargame Holidays | 21 Nov 2015 5:08 p.m. PST |
I use leaf tea, after brewing a nice tea I save up my leaves then put them on a tray with baking paper underneath in a low oven for 20-30 mins, remove then sift them only keeping the larger leaves. To apply to a vehicle I use a gauze bandage cut up into a desired shape, soak with pva mix around 60/40 with water so its is runny, and place on the vehicle, then I add the tea leaves an let dry, I then apply a second coat of pva to set them, then paint in a dark green, then highlight with a lighter green. Works a treat
Cheers Matt
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miniMo | 21 Nov 2015 8:04 p.m. PST |
I have a plastic tub filled with recycled tea leaves. I ran them through the microwave to sterilise and prevent them becoming compost. Take a bit of trial and error to check the power setting for our machine. I put the leaves in a small pile on a paper towel in the nuke. If you run it too long, the paper will start smouldering, don't run it that long again ^,^ My tub has a blend of from several different tea types that I enjoy for a very varied blend of colours. And I went heavy on drinking Bigelow's Cinnamon tea when I was filling up my tub, that added a very nice mix. |