Where do you get your props?

[zirliz]

Where do people get their props from some of you have bushes and trees , flowers etc where can I get some?

Think it's a good idea to make a thread and list them and of course if you make them turtorial please.

[EG]

Doll's house stockists are your friends! Try ebay or search for 'doll's house *whatever*' and you'll find some good items.

It just so happens that I've made a post about making and finding props on my blog. I don't know if it's quite what you're after but it might be of use to someone.

lastalliancestudios.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/finding-vs-making-props.html

[Tashie]

There are so many things in that blog that I never would have thought about!


I use pulses/rice for my feeds (thankfully dad made me a feed bin!) and toy plastic mugs as scoops.
I also have made some furniture from cardboard prints off the internet but for the life of me I can't remember what site.
My jumps are odds and ends but mainly pieces of dowel for poles and then pipe will holes drilled in them or the cardboard centres from rolls of ribbon as stands. Sometimes I get fancy like for my wall jump and glued pieces of wood together and then carefully painted each individual brick!
For my arenas, I begged to take over the path outside, laid down brick walls out of loose bricks and put down a bed of woodchip as a surface.
Electric fencing I used a sewing spool and wrapped a shoelace around it (which is a bit thick) and for standards I have dowel sunk into little containers of concrete.

[zirliz]

Thanks but still bushes and stuff how do I make those? Or where can I buy?

Thanks

[mumbleswan]

I use moss from the woods! You just have to shake it lots so you don't accidentally take home any creepy crawlies and then wait for it to dry out. For trees I just use sticks, cut the end flat and surround with moss so it disguises the lack of roots.
Grass is trickier… I don't like the super bright green most ready made grass mats come in so I'm working on a piece of card at the moment and using different coloured grass scatter and a textured 'mud' basing paint from games workshop. This one: www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat800008a&prodId=prod1500286a
Grass scatter in realistic shade: www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod1390188a

[george]

I managed to find some grass mat in a different colour, it's called 'autumn mix' and has a darker green & some shades of brown in, it looks much nicer than the pale ones.

[elli]

Feb 15, 2014 18:06:31 GMT zirliz said:

Thanks but still bushes and stuff how do I make those? Or where can I buy?

Thanks

If finding/drying real moss isn't practical then you can buy rubbery-feeling moss that's quite good - dolls house shops might have it in the garden section, or it's sold for model railway scenery, or somewhere like Utterly Horses would stock it. The stuff I'm thinking of isn't really solid but you can pile it in the background to look like bushes, drape bits of it over logs to look like moss, etc. You can get fluffier dry fake moss too, it's hard to describe! Loose scatter is good for adding texture to ground surfaces, and you can get some fluffy scatter that you could glue onto a base if you wanted more solid bushes. Again, railway props places are worth a look for that sort of thing.

[EG]

I think you mean 'reindeer moss' or lichen:

www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/reindeer-moss

[elli]

That's my preferred sort The other stuff I mean is more dry and like fibres in clumps, it's less practical because it doesn't stay in one piece but you can control it with a bit of glue if you want to attach it to logs or bases.

[thelonehick]

As others have suggested, train and other mini hobby shops are a great place to go for realistic, scale props. The big craft stores like Michael's and Hobby Lobby (in the States--I don't know what the equivalent would be overseas) often have a small selection of doll and diorama supplies. They also have the village set-ups around holidays--usually Halloween and Christmas--that can provide some neat props. I've seen some really interesting scenery at gaming stores, though it's usually more expensive than elsewhere.

I live in an apartment, so gathering natural supplies isn't as viable for me either. There's a lot you can do with bits from around the house, though, like turning used caps into supplement containers.

[Tashie]

What about where does everyone get their backgrounds from? Do you paint them yourselves or Ebay?

[elli]

Feb 16, 2014 21:13:30 GMT Tashie said:

What about where does everyone get their backgrounds from? Do you paint them yourselves or Ebay?

There were some quite popular ones a few years ago now that someone painted themselves and then sold prints of on eBay. Taking photos outside is ideal but obviously quite weather dependent, but you could always take a good photograph of whatever scenery you wanted (a field, a blue sky, an outdoor school, etc.) and get it printed yourself. If you don't have access to a printer then photo developing companies are a good place to try - they do all different sizes of enlargement prints and posters, you can order online. I've not used this for backgrounds personally (I tend to go for taking photos outside, taking photos in front of stable blocks or other actual Julip props, or [c] taking photos inside and trying to disguise the fact that they're inside a bit by avoiding taking photos of Julips on carpet or in front of the toaster, etc. ) but in a matte finish it might be suitable? 

[Manda]

I'm a regular at model railway fairs. You can get some nice scenic supplies there. Just for 'wow' factor has anyone seen this lady's work? www.ceynix.co.uk/index.html She is often at railway fairs and her trees a re beautiful, she makes them in all kinds of scales. 'Dollshouse' scale would work with Julips- or dolls houses for those of us that have them!
They are pricey however.