Static grass any ideas

[Barney]

Any one had good results or can recommend  using these static grass and grass battery powered applicators I notice you can make one cheaply  and the grass fibres are widely available Never tried it before
Barney

[Lawrence@NZFinescale]

I got one of the Noch ones when they first came out (well over 20 years ago).  The reservoir was far too large and it was underpowered. I've used various home made ones since and know others who have as well. Currently I'm using a WWS unit, which I'm relatively happy with. My main driver in buying this was that the borrowed home made unit that I had was wired and that was inconvenient. A self contained unit is a lot more useful. I would have been happy with home made, but you can waste a lot of time looking around for the bits.

You can certainly build your own from the entrails of a photocopier or a Chinese negative ion generator. Performance of these can be extremely good.  Even too good as the energy levels can be (literally) shocking if you get a bit casual. Probably not dangerously so to a healthy person, but certainly attention grabbing. I suspect that commercial units err on the side of caution when it comes to shocks, so a DIY unit may give you something with a higher static charge and thus make the static fibres more lively.

Up to a point lower static voltage can be overcome by reducing the working distance.

My thoughts:

• Something like the WWS is quite good, known performance and not that expensive
• If you have the time, interest or specific needs then DIY is well documented and can work very well
• It's a tool you use intensely, but seldom. If you have peers that own them then borrowing one is low hassle all around

Good results come not so much from how erect the grass is as using the right fibres/colours, layering and so on.  WWS has some good YouTube videos with some ideas you might not think of.

[finescalerr]

That was a good mini-tutorial. Thanks. -- Russ

[Barney]

Thanks  - as Russ says a very nice simple understanding of the static grass application and the tools to use
Just asking around had a few offers of applicators to borrow  - one of them being a WWS version
Has any one any thoughts of what the finished job looked like "the grass that is" does it stand upright for long or does it lay down if you get my drift ?
Barney 

[Lawrence@NZFinescale]

The stand up effect is long term provided you use the right and sufficient adhesive. Which isn't hard. I've used PVA, matt medium and the WWS adhesives with varying levels of care and had no issues with any of them. If you lean on the grass then it's going to go flat, but it can largely be fluffed up to vertical again with a brush or fingers. It depends how tricky you get though.  If you start doing seed heads, flowers and the like then it won't take the abuse quite so well.

As with any new technique it pays to do some practice pieces. If nothing else that provides confidence. If you practice on non-stick baking paper you'll likely be able to peel it off and use it like those expensive manufactured sheets.

[Barney]

Many thanks for the info all sorted now and all the bits on the way for me to have a dabble with
Barney

[Carlo]

What is "WWS"? a commercial applicator?
Carlo

[Barney]

Its a Static grass applicator  WWS I have never seen before but its all "new stuff" to me but they appear to be one of the market leaders in this static grass game
Prices range from £40 and upwards depending if it includes the grass
Barney