Scrub Pad Hedges

This tutorial will walk you through the process of making hedges for your war gaming table out of common scrub pads.

Materials

This is the basic building block for homemade hedges.  These are just your basic green scrub pads.  Each of these bags cost $1 and they are available at most dollar stores.  Be sure to avoid any of the pads that have any chemicals impregnated in them.  I also recommend only using green scrub pads unless you are planning on painting them.

 

Metal ruler, hobby knife and a self healing cutting mat to cut the scrub pads to size.  A pair of scissors would also work just fine.

 Hot glue gun to glue the scrub pads together to form the hedge.  Be sure to have a something to glue over to avoid making a mess.  A paper plate works great.

Set of super cheap plastic clothes pins (wooden clothes pins will also work).  I found a bag of these for $1 at the Dollar Store.  These will hold the assembled scrub pads in place giving the glue time to set up.

 Instructions

Step One:  Cut the scrub pads in half along the longest edge.  The picture shows a full scrub pad (right) and a cut pad (left).

 

Step Two:  Fold the cut piece of scrub pad along the longest edge.  

Step Three:  Open up the piece of scrub pad and glue one half with hot glue as shown.

Step Four:  Fold the piece of scrub pad making sure the two ends line up so that the "bottom" of the hedge is flat.  The fold will form the top of the hedge.  Secure the hedge with 3 to 4 clips evenly spaced along it's length.

 

Step 5:  Remove the clips after the glue has set up and you have one completed basic hedge.  If you are careful when making the fold the bottom of the hedge should be relatively flat and the hedges should stand up on their own.  For $2 I made all of the hedges seen in the bottom picture.  You can also vary the length and height of the pieces to add size variation into your hedge collection.

Step 6:  Round over the top and end of the hedges with a pair of scissors.

Step 7:  Paint the hedges.  After a dark green base coast I dry brushed the hedges in a couple of lighter shades of green. 

 

 Step 8:  Mount the hedge to a piece of MDF.  If you want the hedges to connect together make the MDF base flush with the end of the hedge.  Texture and paint the MDF base to match your other terrain.  A bit of static grass will add the final touch.

Here are some pix of what the final pieces should look like.