I had been struggling to find a way to apply clump foliage to a steep hillside. I found a way which seems to be working well. First, I painted the hillside with laytex paint to cover the foam and plaster. Next, I used vinyl floor adhesive from Lowes. Just slap it on with an old paintbrush and clean the brush with soap and water before it dries (if you don’t you either toss the brush or use mineral spirits to clean it). The adhesive is less than $5 per quart and $13 per gallon. It is also already an earth tone color and dries clear on the foam so it won’t leave a lot of residue on the foliage, if you get some on the outside. Here’s a link to it:
note that some vinyl adhesive is white and may leave a residue. This stuff seems to work perfectly. Lastly, I use 1/2" square chicken wire to hold the foliage in place while the adhesive dries. I just bend a lip on the bottom and use a staple gun to attach it to the plywood base. When everything is dry just pull the staples and move on. Here’s pictures of it drying:
I just picked up a roll of chicken wire that was 24" wide (approx $5) and cut to size with tin snips. If a piece comes off or you miss a spot, just put some glue on the foliage and stick it in place. The vinyl adhesive is thick enough to hold some pieces on its own. You can also lean a piece of wood against the chicken wire to ensure it presses against the hillside evenly.
Home Depot calls it poultry wire. Must be a politically correct name for chicken wire. We wouldn’t want to offend the chickens before we steal their eggs and then eat them…
That is a great idea. Down here I know this welded galvanized mesh as bird wire and it comes in different wire gauges. We use it in exhaust ducts and behind louvers to stop birds entering but I have used it for a bird avairy and over fish ponds to thwart the local fishing birds and to keep my dogs out. I always have some about so I will use it next time I am trying to hold scenery in position while the adhesive dries.
I apply the clump foliage using a hot glue gun, working from the bottom up. The hot glue sets up quickly; you do have some “spiders” to contend with, but these are easily cleaned away after you have finished the area.
Timely topic for me, I’m just starting with clump foliage. I’m not covering as vertical an area as the original poster, nor am I covering the area as completely, as I’m trying to give the impression of scattered shrubs. But I do have a question that hopefully one of you can help with.
I’m currently just using white glue to stick the pieces in place (on top of the ground foam ground cover, previously applied). But the clump foliage chunks seem to break apart very easily (I’m using the “underbrush” grind). So although the base of the clump is probably fastened okay, I’m wondering if I’ll have problems with the upper parts coming loose. Do I need to go back and wet the clumps and drizzle on a thin mix of glue/water?
Probably, Ed. I hand-placed all my bushes last time, and dipped one side of them in full-strength carpenter glue before sticking them where I wanted them. This was mostly on flat foam painted with latex, but the glue should work full strength on hillsides. You may get good results by using a toothpick to place a small blob of the glue where you will want the bushes, do something else for 10 minutes while the glue dries a bit, and then return to place the bush clumps.
Crandell, thanks but I’m still not clear. The original gluing is okay. Up to now I’m dealing with mostly flat or only slightly inclined surfaces, so getting the base of the stuff to stick initially isn’t my problem. Did you go back and rewet the stuff after it was glued, and dribble on some water/glue mix to fix the upper parts of the clumps? I’m just wondering if I’m going to start having little pieces coming loose.
I’m not sure what the underbrush grind is. My foliage is woodland scenics clump foliage. As much as I try, I cant.t keep my kids off of it. It holds up remarkably will with just the base glued down.
The woodland scenic clump foliage (which is what I’m using too) comes in two “grinds”, “underbrush” and “bushes”. The bush grind seems to be larger lumps, or at least more solid. The underbrush grind seems to be (at least in the stuff I have) more broken down, so that when you pick up a bit it seems to fall apart more.
Thanks for relating that. Glad to hear that it can hold up okay. I was not looking forward to going back over all that stuff again.
I am using the Clump foilage like FC182 and FC183, also foliage clusters like FC57 and FC58. The foliage clusters are more dense and tightly clumped. I end up tearning them into pieces and gluing them. I have been mixing and matching to try and obtain a more natural look. I am overspraying with a mixture of glue and water but not looking to soak them. I have found that the vinyl adhesive is working well. The challenge with regular white glue was not having much surface area to glue the foliage with due to its makeup. The vinyl adhesive is more of a paste and you can ma***he foliage into it for great holding power.
Great tip. Fred
