Processing lichen for long-term scenery use
As a bonus, any old, dried-out com- mercial lichen that you have that has not been crushed can be thrown into the solution; it will come out as good as the collected lichen. Someone gave me a bag of lichen from the 1970’s that was hard as a rock. I threw it in the so- lution at the end of a processing ses- sion, and it came out as good as mine.
Using the lichen I primarily use this lichen for
Once the lichen has been processed and allowed to air dry, it can be sprayed with glue (above). The next step is to pick up the lichen with tweezers and set it in some ground foam. Using a work glove to keep the glue and foam off your skin, flatten the sprayed lichen with the back of your hand (below). Remove the lichen and shake off excess foam (bottom).
brush. I need a lot of brush for four reasons. The first is that I model an eastern railroad located in central Maryland. I grew up on the old B&O mainline and can tell you that brush predominates the areas adjacent to the right-of-way. Second, my railroad is designed for operation. I replace trees with brush wherever operators need access for handling rolling stock. As much as they might try to work around trees, I’ve seen too many broken off during operating sessions. Brush is a good substitute in these areas. The third reason is cost. I could not afford to use store-bought clump foliage for all my brush. In- cluding the cost of all materials, foam-covered lichen brush costs about less than ten percent of the purchased brush. The last reason is that brush made with foam-covered lichen looks so good on the layout. See the materials list for the needed supplies, then choose a place to work. I use a homemade spray booth or work outside if the weather is good. (Since you will be using spray glue and paint you need good ventilation.) Break apart the lichen into the size pieces you want and use an old pair of shears or scissors to cut it to the thick- ness desired, if necessary. For HO scale you can get at least two and sometimes three pieces of brush out of one thick
lichen on a screen to dry. I add about a half pint of fresh glycerin to the solution and repeat the boiling to do another batch. Repeat this process until you run out of lichen, solution, or just get tired of doing it. Add less and less glycerin each time you refresh the solution. I do not add any dye during this step, which gives a variation of tones. If you have any solution left, you can save it in a jar until a later date. I usually keep pro- cessing until I’m out of the solution. Allow the lichen to completely air dry. A week is not too long for this step. If you forget about it, don’t worry. It is now preserved. I bag it in plastic gallon bags by color tone and put it away until I need it. I have some that has been that way for 25 years, and I’m using it now on a new layout. It is as good as ever.
74 MAY 2012
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