100 Days: Gay Blades

I've started manufacturing tufts of grass blades out of crepe paper for the main set landscape.

I picked up several shades of green Korean crepe paper at a big craft supply shop downtown just to see what it would do in comparison to plain tissue and colored art paper I was planning on uses. Turns out there is no comparison. The unique texture of the crepe paper twists the individual blades realistically, stands up on its own, is easy to fringe, has the right amount of translucency, is inexpensive enough to mow a lawn, if you know what I mean. It's so fantastic. One style even has an ombre blend of greens giving even more natural color variation for good effect.

This has to be QUICK so I slice off a rough blade high length, roll it up, chomp off the end in an uneven way so the blades won't all be the same length, fringe cut slices, not too precisely. I pick a few strands in each color, roll up the bundle and twist the bottom edge tightly to form a tuft of grass.

When I get a bunch made, I pierce the set floor with an awl and "plant" the tufts where I want them to grow, securing with a drop of hot glue. I twist a few of the blades once cool to vary the state of growth.

Using paper is a new idea for this. I bought expensive synthetic grass swatches for this purpose years ago, but it seems the film is happier being more obviously handmade vs. approximating reality.

The grass-making cuttings make a lot of little pieces that won't waste either. Using Paul J. McConnochie's tutorial from a year ago, only on a larger scale, I daubed fast grabbing white glue onto bare twig branches and sprinkled on the grass clippings to make quickie leaves.

These branches can make up part of the landscape that is less detailed than the Answer Tree, yet still more 3D realistic than the 2D-style paper trees at the scene edges.