Growing My Own

Germinated palm trees are on the left, and Halfland's close-up ground set surface, on the right.

Several years ago, I swept fallen palm tree dates into the parkway in front of our house and let them germinate into many baby palm trees : They looked like giant blades of grass. Just what I needed for 1/2L's close-up ground/underground set : I pulled them up by the roots as transitioning from above ground to underground was to be part of the shot : I pressed them for weeks under heavy books and then ironed each one flat when dried : Each blade was handpainted to a living green with multiple shades, below right : The blades that were used to plant up the more extensive over-scale close-up set for the snail's scene (not pictured) were wrapped around toothpicks to install them into the faux ground and keep them upright.

Casual set-up diagram; seen from the side: mini set in front, modular generic greenery piece balanced on boxes to match the height used to fill in the background behind the set. Behind both of these, an illuminated light panel draped with an old shower curtain for diffusion and a hand-painted cloudscape for daylight illusion.

I was having trouble reaching the bug party set in the middle of the entire 1/2L landscape, so I used the small ground/underground set made from a cardboard carton as an alternate mini stage to feature (and reach) a few bugs at a time.

Not everyone would have the time to grow their own oversized blades of grass out of palm tree seedlings. Still, it was better than my failing to replicate nature's unimaginable beauty. Growing my own grass came complete with a convincing vertical ridge texture and having them be able to stand upright permanently while remaining like translucent living things.

It wasn't faster than handmaking my own grasses. Preserving, flattening, and painting each one was hellishly time-consuming. So, while I don't recommend that artists should grow their own sets for stop-motion, I would probably be compelled to do this for Halfland every time.

“The moment one gives close attention to anything, 

       even a blade of grass, 

it becomes a mysterious, 

                   awesome, indescribably magnificent 

                                                                      world in itself.”

                                                                                           --Henry Miller