Recently, I've started making terrain. As I've been collecting materials, I've noticed that flock is pretty expensive and usually sold in very small quantities. So, I did some research and found a great tutorial by MiniWarGaming.com that showed how to make your own flock from sawdust.
To get the sawdust, I stopped by Lowe's with an empty gallon-size container and asked if I could have some of their sawdust. They were super nice and even filled it up for me and let me have it for free since they just throw it away. | To make the flock, you mix 1 part paint with 3 parts water, and mix in sawdust until you reach a proportion you're happy with. Keep adding sawdust until it starts getting a little tricky to cover it with the paint mixture. I used about 1oz of paint per 1/4 gallon of sawdust. Your best bet is to mix it until you're happy with the color and consistency. |
I purchased the least expensive acrylic paint, which was $0.49 per 2oz bottle at Walmart. I chose Kelly Green for my darker flock batch. | For the lighter batch of flock, I chose the color Palm Leaf from Apple Barrel Acrylics. I mixed a little bit of the darker green paint (Kelly Green) to darken this batch of flock a little bit. |
I spread each batch of flock out on a piece of aluminum foil to allow it to dry. Keep in mind that the final appearance of the flock will be much more fine after drying and putting it through a sifter.
So, my final cost for about a 1/2 gallon of flock was $0.49 since I only used 2oz of paint (1oz of each color), and the sawdust was free. It only took about 10min to mix up the batches. In the future, it will take even less time since I now more familiar with the process.
So, my final cost for about a 1/2 gallon of flock was $0.49 since I only used 2oz of paint (1oz of each color), and the sawdust was free. It only took about 10min to mix up the batches. In the future, it will take even less time since I now more familiar with the process.