"Colouring Teddy Bear Fur " Topic

I intend to use Teddy Bear Fur for my wargaming mat (SYW, ACW). I've looked at the various postings in relation to this type of matting and all refer to using Acrylic spray painting as the technique to colour the fur. I have a light tan colour but was intending on dying it a green rather than using a spray paint. Is there a particular reason to not use a dye over using spray paint? I don't want to try using the dye if its going to ruin the look. Has someone had some experience in this area that they could offer some advice on? Is there pictures available for a dye method somewhere to compare to some of the TMP posts for painted versions. Any help would be appreciated.

I would think the dye would actually be better than paint, since it is thinner, so more readily absorbed by the hair.

Adding it from below would be an excellent technique, if it works, since that might permit the dye to be absorbed part way up the hair, but possibly leaving the tips tan, like real grass, if you do it right.

I'd recommend waiting for the input from others though first, unless you have a small, separate piece that you want to experiment with.

I tried using RIT dye on white teddy bear fur and it didnt work. The fur jut repeled the dye.

Chuck

The fibers in most of the "teddy bear fur" are synthetic and "spun" or extruded in the colors that are available. As a result, most dyes will not soak in.

I suggest trying floral spray paints to color them. They do smell very bad, but done outside, will leave a good result (in my experience).

DK

You would need to use dyes designed for the materials the fur is made from – different fibres 'absorb' different types of dye. A wool dye, for instance, won't work on nylon.

Don't waste your time on Teddy Bear Fur.

I think I have discovered the magic even if I have yet to perfect the magic:

picture

Start with Camel colored felt. DO NOT USE BAIZE as some have recommended. Baize is really expensive and does not have a knap.

Using a Wagner Power Spray Paint Gun hit the fabric with paint sprayed at about 4-5 feet. DO NOT cover uniformly. Also don't put it on too thick.

The paint will adhere to the knap and does not penetrate the fabric. This is really great because you can paint one side in a grassy green motif and the other side as desert terrain.

The picture was my first effort -- it's OK but not as good as my second.

Just the same my mat is quite a hit locally.

These are fairly expensive to make. Cost of felt is the least of your worries. I probably put two gallons of acrylic paint in the air -- lord knows how much actually stuck to the mat.

Check the paint sales that's all I can say.

mjc

I tested different types of paint on small patches of fur with poor success. Teddy bear fur either rejected the paint, or went hard, or matted, or only slightly changed colour at the tip.

In the end, I used cheap water based poster paint (watered down) and literally poured it on to absolutely soak the fur. I then rubbed it in with a brush. Really messy. Took days and days to dry out, but it did change from a yellow to a pleasant mottled green.

Main thing I got wrong was I was doing two big sheets of fur – and having got the first sheet to the colour I wanted could not for the life of me remember how I did it. I now have half the table one colour and the half slightly different. Plan to redo it – next summer.

All I can suggest is experiment on little patches – and keep records.

Ive spent some time on this you can see details on my blog puxty.blogspot.com

I used both dye and accrylic paint. I found I had to rub it in with my hands and it took quite some time. It is quite a forgiving material though as log as you dont put too much on!

I would recommend using small pieces of fur like I did and then fixing those patches onto felt. It allows you to make more mistakes and to experiment more.

jon

I could never get the dye thing to work. I finally used a can of Tamiya dark yellow spray paint and lightly sprayed 12" above the fur. I was very happy with the results. Take a look: link

Last year one of the chaps at my club did some fur, the general techique can be found here

link

He used watered down acrylic paint sprayed from a plant sprayer to colour it.

The origins of acrylic paint is that is was initially used to colour fabrics, as at the molecular level, it can penetrate the fabric …. the main reason why you will never get dried acrylic paint out of your clothing.

At a show that I went to last year, teddy bear fabric was in abundance, the 'better' setups had applied paint with a household brush in a sort of drybrushing type of method.

I would imagine that there is a fine line between just enough and too much, from the point of view that too much might take the flexibility out of the cloth and cause creasing when folded.

After rubbing paint in to you have to comb the fur out to keep it from hardening into clumps? or does it maintain its flexibility/furriness?

I am considering this option for my new wargame table, and have a question to those who have already done so. I will have a base table of modules (probably 2' x 4' and 2' x 2') using pink foam on MDF base. How do you fix the fur to the hills etc. Will it have enough flexibility to allow for moulding the fur around the slopes etc. when it is glued down?

Any tips gratefully appreciated.

I've been doing teddy bear terrain for a couple of years now, initially I considered dye, but realized that it would be incredibly messy and time consuming. I find that the cheap spray paints from Home Depot or Lowes work fine.
There are some photos of terrain I made on my website at the following links, for anyone interested.
Scroll down to the pictures from Havoc or Fall-In 2009
link
Or these photos from the Magdeburg or Strassenkreuzung games
link

npm

Don't waste your time on Teddy Bear Fur. I think I have discovered the magic even if I have yet to perfect the magic

Looks fine, but it's not really (as far as I can see) very fuzzy. If you're using teddy fur, then I think you're probably going for that tall grass look, which is not really an option with felt.

There are, IIRC, some excellent articles on teddy bear fur applciations in the various model railroading forums.

Doug

Nigel, those terrain pics are spot on… Lovely job! And to think I sometimes feel silly admitting to playing with toy soldiers…and now I have to start investing in teddy bears.

Inkbiz,
Thank you.
When I was a kid I used to pretend I was a barber and as my sisters wouldn't let me cut their hair, I resorted to cutting the fur from their teddy bears. Clearly, now I realize I was merely practicing for skills I'd need later as a adult, whilst indulging yet another another aspect of the hobby ;-)

npm

This is a timely topic for me and the links and suggestions have been great.

I have a few questions:

I have had a hard time finding flat spray paints in the colors I want to use for this.

Would semi-gloss spray paints work ok? I imagine since the paint is only adhering lightly to a fiber surface that you won't notice the semi-gloss sheen, but I want to see what others think.

If you don't recommend spray paint, what is the best method for applying acrylic? I was thinking of watered down natural colors in a spray bottle.

Would "dyeing" the whole mat work if instead of a cloth dye, you used watered down acrylic?

Does drybrushing work?

If you are spraying, is it a good idea to hang the mat from a washline and spray onto it from a distance or to leave it lie flat? What is the optimum distance?

My plan is to make one or two large mats of the same color and I usually place fields and other terrain on top rather than cut the mat and add roads or details permanently.

Thanks for the info, those are some amazing looking tables!

I found that spray paints were a little tricky. The best way I did it was with an airbrush. I was able to make a large batch in a jar and just refil the airbrush when it ran out. I found that you could use a cheap airbrush to do the bulk areas of the fur. Another technique that I found worked well was using gloss medium to brush over the water areas. It took multiple coats to get a nice effect and so far (over a year) it has not cracked at all. I brushed on the base color (light) and then added color to the medium to gradualy darken the water. It came out nice.

the bert fegg game at triples (look up total battle miniatures omn facebook for piccies) used teddy bear fur, treated with a scumble of household emulsion (a mix of INCREDIBLY bright Green and Yellows), applied with a stiff brush and left to dry :-)

and we didn't shave it – we game in 15-28mm and it works as is for all of them.

I have had a hard time finding flat spray paints in the colors I want to use for this.

I used all kinds of paints. Dunno, maybe the combination toned things down.

Would semi-gloss spray paints work ok? I imagine since the paint is only adhering lightly to a fiber surface that you won't notice the semi-gloss sheen, but I want to see what others think.

There is a simple test. Try it on a small area and see if you like it. you can always paint over the area if you exercise a little caution.

If you don't recommend spray paint, what is the best method for applying acrylic? I was thinking of watered down natural colors in a spray bottle.

Takes way too long to do a large area. Plus you do this to teddy bear fur and . . . well I doubt you will like the outcome.

Would "dyeing" the whole mat work if instead of a cloth dye, you used watered down acrylic?

No idea.

Does drybrushing work?

Ever dry brush 6' x 8'? Doubt if this is practical.

If you are spraying, is it a good idea to hang the mat from a washline and spray onto it from a distance or to leave it lie flat? What is the optimum distance?

Yes this is a good idea. I hung my stuff from a scaffold. Vary the distance that you spray from. Closer will concentrate the spray and darken the color. Farther away will disperse the paint more.

My plan is to make one or two large mats of the same color and I usually place fields and other terrain on top rather than cut the mat and add roads or details permanently.

Sounds good. My first go round with the felt was 13' x 20' or 260 square feet. (I later cut the material in half).

I found Teddy Bear Fur to be less than ideal to work with.

Felt is cheap, the paint sticks to the knap and single figures don't fall over (which they do on the Teddy Bear Fur -- unless you shave it but then . . . you might as well use felt).

My picture really doesn't do justice to the felt mat. Overhead light is very bright.

Jovian has seen the mat. He can tell you it looks a lot better than represented in the photo.

mjc

Cool, thanks Mike. I need to pick up some materials soon and start experimenting.

Ok, yeah, drybrushing would be a giant pain with that in mind.

Good idea on varying spray distance. I want some variety but not too much, i Just have to give it a try.

I'm thinking dyeing the thing is just going to be more of a mess than is worth it.

I might go halfway between teddy bear fur and felt as I have found a material that is fuzzy, but with a very short hair (about halfway between teddy fur and the GW mat length grass).

Thanks guys for all the responses. There is some very useful information and some great pictures for comparison. It looks like I'm going to have to do some trials. It appears to me that each person has a method that works for them each with its own variation. I did trail watering down some acrylic paint into a bucket and soaking a smaller piece in that and drying out. The paint didn't seem to penetrate into the bottom of the pile and took a long time to dry. I also found that once dry some of the green would come off onto my fingers, hence why I originally queried the use of spray paints. I had already purchased some dye for polyester so may give that a go anyway. Whatever the outcome I'll be sure to post some pics so others can see what works and what doesn't.
Daniel

Regarding obtaining the teddy bear fur; do the bears put up much of a fight, or do you poison their scones at the tea party first?

Or..err..I assume a local crafts store would work? Are there certain types/qualities to look for or avoid?

Nice How-To here, btw:

link

Cheers

Ditto site, but table sized How-To:

link

I am sickened by the lack of feeling shown in this thread ! I cannot believe my eyes !

I have informed PETA (Ethical Treatment of Animals) and am awaiting their response I expect more from people posting on this forum .

They will expect a full explanation as to the source of the fur , if its proven any Teddy Bears Picnics have been interrupted by hunters in disguise you must expect a massive gathering of protest.

All the Bears that ever there was will gather there to protest because today's the day the teddy bears go get the hunters :)

Agincourt;

You do realize that by involving PETA, you run the risk of a naked Hollywood starlet or supermodel showing up to protest every wargame featuring Teddy Bear Fur? I can see it now, there will be entire conventions and shows dedicated to Teddy Bear Fur and the ladies we love to see protesting it! It would be like Wargamer's Valhalla; excellent terrain and scenery, and the stuff on the table as well ;-)

Bill
Sir William the Aged
warsoflouisxiv.blogspot.com

Ditto site, but table sized How-To:

That is rather amazing. Seriously.

It definitely gives me some ideas for a few variations I'd like to try once I find a local source for the fur.

I assumed this was about EUREKA teddy bear soldier ranges…

Inkbiz,
I get my fur through mail order, I use a store in the States called C&R Crafts, who specialize in all things Teddy Bear. I have not been able to fine the same sort of material from any local fabric store. The material comes about 5' wide and I order by the yard – so a 6 x 10 table is four yards of material.
It's essential to brush the fur well before working with it, and I'll typically brush our a shopping bag full of loose fibers before I mark out the roads and streams with a marker pen, before moving onto trimming the fibers down.
I use a Wahl beard trimmer to cut in the roads and streams, and to trim the 'fields' – it doesn't bother me that these features are then fixed, because I vary the nature of the terrain by adjusting the styrofoam hills placed under the mat, and the position of trees, hedges, walls and buildings, which are placed on top of the mat.
I use both ultra flat camouflage spray paints, and satin colors in equal measure to color the fields. My first attempts were a little too bright, particularly the yellows, and I've since toned these down. I tend to use a base color, and then highlight by lighting spraying another color over the top of the base color, sort of like crop dusting.
I tend to work in my garage when doing the painting, making sure that I have the doors open and I definitely wear a painters mask.

Neither PETA nor the Teddy Bear Protection League have so far not knocked on my door, but providing they show up accompanied by the requisite Hollywood starlet, they're very welcome… although my wife might have another opinion.

npm

I have done lots of TBF terrain--The tecnique I use is a mix of cheap paint in a washing up bowl, then apply liberally with a stiff broom and leave to dry outside…The uneveness makes it look better…The trick is to get brown TBF rather than white, pink or red!!!

AppleMak 24 Jun 2010 6:41 a.m. PST Wrote:
..How do you fix the fur to the hills etc. Will it have enough flexibility to allow for moulding the fur around the slopes etc. when it is glued down?

My technique for hills is to make them for the scenario separate and cover with felt a one shade different then the base. I cover the entire board with a felt underlay and liberally cover with a mix of Woodland Scenics, coffee grounds, spices, any materials I can find all mixed together. The slight shading is not dramatic but does high light the area enough to indicate different terrain types.

I find I can get cheap felt everywhere on sale and have tons from various projects. I paint the hills first flat latex and then spray 3M or other contact spray lay the felt over the hills layers and cut to size. I use the center part over as I cut the hills in layers and only cover about 1/3 of the way as the next layer will cover what is not covered with felt. I can use then remainder for the third or so layer of the hills. More work but the end product is very nice.
VR
James Mattes

Ligniere, Out of interest, which of the furs from CRs Crafts do you use? I see they have quite a range and of varying types.

Does the fur work well with 25mm figs?

"Does the fur work well with 25mm figs?"…Yes extreamly well…Less so with 6-15mm as they are too short!!

link

See above for our game at Crusade this year 25mm AWI with teddy bear fur…

I read in a different posting that the best device to cut the fur was with beard trimmers rather than hair clippers. I tried the hair clippers we had at home and these didn't work very well. What's the major difference with the beard trimmers that would make them better to use? Do they have finer or wider cutter blades?

Hmmm Pet Clippers, very similar in size to hair trimmers, may be cheaper. Do not know about the fineness of hair etc.

Is the Paint Colored Fur Stiff when dry? or still flexible/compressable when figure stands are put on it?

TMP link

That is a club game done with TBF….Yes if you are using 25mm/1-72nd figs on bases then it is ok…As long as you let the TBF dry and don't use too much paint it will be pretty flexible…

Also I don't clip it as my TBF is generic therefore I don't want short patches in the wrong places!!!!!

Inkbiz,
Sorry, I've been away from the computer over the weekend.
The faux fur I use is, Teddy Bear Fur in Honey (Bone) an Acrylic/Modacrylic blend with a 7/8" – 1 1/6" pile height. 58" – 60" wide and sold by the yard (1 yard = 36" by full width of the fabric).
I tried to use a standard hair clipper [Conair], but it didn't have the power to cut through the fibers, so I use a beard trimmer [Wahl]. Pet hair trimmers from my experience are far more expensive when compared to beard trimmers.
Using paint will stiffen the fibers somewhat but it's never been an issue that the figures won't settle into them once painted. However, not so sure about singly mounted figures, their weight might not be sufficient, in this case you might have to push the figure down into the material.
You can get shorter pile height materials, which might be a start for 15-18 mm figures – but wouldn't guarantee that recommendation, as my experience is only with 25-28 mm figures. For smaller figures I'd recommend staying with felts.

npm

Few thoughts to add. Having made a large mat.

There are two basic type of fur. You want proper faux fur which is more expensive than cheap craft fur fabric but the results are so much better. I used a colour called pampas.

I tried various hair trimers and found them all useless as none really cut the fur. I'm told a high quality pet trimer may work but I ended up using long bladed hair dressing scissors (cheap ones). It took me ages and ages to trim down but left nice irregular clumpy look that looks realistic to me. I left tall grass areas for more irregularity.

For colouring I found using household emulsion paint mixed to the right colours is perfect. Dark greens look awful IMHO. Its worth getting outside and looking at what grass meadows etc really look like. I applied it rubbing a little thinned paint in with my finger tips. You need very, very little paint and you must work carefully and gently to just touch the fur. You need to avoid it getting wet for the best results. The natural colour shows through at the roots just like the real thing. With very little paint on it the fur is not clogged, it hasn't gone hard etc and retains its flexibility. Your finger tips are more sensitive than dry brushing with a brush. Air brush should work but at the time I didn't have one.

I've experimented with adding more texture using Woodland scenics materials to represent weeds and points of neat acrylic paint for wild flowers – it looks great but I don't think its worth the bother over 50 – 60 square feet of grass area.

I base all my figures on thin steel. Even 15mm figures mounted in threes on steel are heavy enough to push down the fur and bed in. That's why its important not to mess up the fur with too much paint.

If you are looking for large quantities of inexpensive paint, go to your local Home Depot or Lowes and look for the rack in the paint department for mis-mixed gallons of paint. They usually run you just a few dollars, and are a great deal if you aren't too picky about the color of paint you need.