I like to use both, especially for background scenes. Of course, once you place the camera directly on the layout, the background can suddenly become foreground. [:-^][swg]
Wayne
Super trees, homemade bottle brush trees, lichen trees with ground foam, real dead twigs and one pileated woodpecker.
Mix materials when you can. And you CAN preserve or restore lichen by soaking for a few days in a (initially) hot water and glycerin mix. Add dye if you like. As an experiment I restored a bunch that was dry as dust (30 yrs in a hot attic) and what didn’t crumble from initial handling came out very supple.
Don’t fear experimentation.
Karl
Well the dog took the picture and thinks it’s funny. She’s probably glad I don’t use dog fur. [bow]
Hi 3rd rail: This is what I use: Various colors and textures of WS foam, foliage, and polyfiber, Pot Topper grass, Silfor, Super Trees, bottle brush conifers, and weathered mulch. Not a liken in sight.
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Thanks Jeff, I just try to model what I’ve observed over a 60+ year time period.
I covered lichen with Woodland Scenics Foliage, not the clump but the type with netting, for background trees:
Visit:
http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/4x8/backdrop_foliage/
Thank you if you visit
Harold
As Harold points out above, as well as a number of other previous posters have, most of those employing lichen today do so only as an armature for one form of modern ground foam product or another…virtually never in its “raw” straight-out-of-the-bag state, which I believe more closely addresses the O/P’s original question.
I would point out that, in such situations, or when using minute clippings of lichen spread around to provide texture to the groundcover of a scene, the lichen itself is virtually invisible to the viewer. As such, it is only of peripheral importance and most any structurally complex, or branching, natural material (small bits of actual dried plant life, for instance) could easily be used in its place…many examples at no expense to the modeler. Quite often, the clippings from creating modeled trees works very effectively and results in more realistic-looking bushes, scrub and texture then does lichen.
CNJ831