Last year a did a tree covered hillside using polyfiber trees and was pleased with the overall look. I polyfiber balls with a dark green paint so no white would show through. I found this to be somewhat tedious and wondered if anyone had a technique for quickly coloring large quantities of these.
Are you covering the polyfiber with some ground foam or something? If so, just use black polyfiber, no need to paint it.
Larry
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/ppuser/8745/cat/500
Check this site out. This guy posted yesterday in modelrailroadforums.com in the weekend photo fun section. The link below is his step by step process. Looks pretty good.
Rit fabric dye is available in black, browns and greens. Available at your grocery store. Spray paint and thinned down craft paint work too.
I don’t think the dye will “soak in” to the synthetic fiberfill very well.
I was able to find both black & brown fiberfill at a doll-making web site.
dlm
DM:
As it happens, I was just trying to dye some polyfill with black Rit dye. I dissolved it in hot water and let the pillow stuffing soak overnight, and was able to turn it a sort of ghost gray, but not black. I will probably end up using black spray paint after attaching it to tree armatures.
Maybe I needed hotter water.
Edit: On the other hand, looking at Ian McM’s painted polyfiber, I see that the gray I got isn’t much lighter than the “highlight” color where his black paint didn’t hit quite as hard…so it might work fine after all.
DO NOT USE THE DIE on synthetic fiverfill LOL… Trust me on this.
L:
I trust no one. However, I probably trust you more than Scooter.
The way you posted this makes me think there is an amusing story behind it. Do tell!
Yup, I tried it with the die in the kitchen sink. Used black. Didn’t use gloves. Then dropped it on the floor… Everything was stained EXEPT the dern fiber. If you can buy the colored fiber - why not!!! (unless your doing some winter snow thing…)
…and I’d be willing to bet that the next time you handled the stuff, you got stained all over again! The dye needs to soak into the fiber; that’s why cotton works so well because it absorbs water and the dye. Fiber fill stays pretty dry even after you soak it for a long time. The dye dries on the outside then comes off the next time you handle it with the slightest dampness on your hands.
It’s the same thing as printing on paper and printing on some kind of plastic. If the ink can sink into the paper, you are in pretty good shape. If not, it smears off rather easily.
dlm
That stuff went straight into the trash! I can still amaze myself (and family) at how igneous and stupid I can be all at the same time. I mean, yah, duh, polyester is use for that exact reason – it don’t stain or absorb stuff. But for some reason ( or lack of ) I get a random wild thought. In my limited defence, I had both on hand for other reasons. I didn’t make a special trip to town!!!
Guess the stuff I dyed wasn’t “poly” then cause it worked pretty good. Just some old pillow stuffing.[%-)]