Quick home made flock from Sawdust.

 

Quick sawdust flocking.

 

I tend to try to find ways to make my own materials when possible.  This technique is not new as the fist time I saw it was over twenty years ago.  My spin is that you can make small batches quickly to match any colour you want for everything from leaves to flowers. 

 

Materials:

Sawdust (I get mine by asking the local DIY store that cuts lumber on site)

 

Acrylic Paint and inks

 

Zippered plastic bags

Water

Aluminium foil

Paper towels

Paper plates

Microwave

A wire meshed sieve

Oven

 

1.  Sieve enough of the sawdust into a bowl for your project.  This cleans out any foreign materials and larger bits of wood to give you a consistent grain size. 

 

2.  Pour small amounts of paint into the plastic bag and mix by squeezing the bag until it is mixed to the colour you want.  You can add a little bit of water at this point to make sure all the paint is mixed together.

 

3.  Pour your sieved sawdust into the bag and add a little bit more water to help it mix.  Squeeze the bag around to mix well.  Leave for about twenty minutes or microwave the bag on high for 30 seconds to help the paint set in the dust. The consistency should be like a thick paste.

 

4.  Pour more water in until all the particles are completely covered.  Mix some more.  All of the liquid should turn to your base colour. 

 

5.  Over a sink, pour the contents of the bag directly into the centre of the sieve.  This should make a pancaked shaped puddle of coloured sawdust. 

 

6.  Once that has drained most of the liquid out put a piece of paper towel over the top of the sieve and  flip it over so the sawdust pancake drops onto the paper towel.  Put the paper towel on a paper plate and microwave for 2 minutes.  Put a new piece of paper towel over the top of the sawdust and flip again.  Get rid of the old paper towel, and put the new one back on the plate.  Microwave for two minutes again.    

This will remove much of the water in the sawdust.  Do not microwave for four minutes straight as it can cause the material to burn onto the paper towel and ruins portions of the batch. 

 

7.   Pour the sawdust from the paper towel onto some aluminium foil and bake in the oven at 125f/65c for about forty minutes. 

8.  Once the flock has cooled, sieve it again into a container and it is ready to use. 

 

As it is sawdust you can use a variety of adhesives to glue it in place and you will never run out as long as you have sawdust and paint handy.  If you want some natural variation in colours within the batch just add another step.  After microwaving take half the batch put it in a new bag and add a bit either black or dark brown paint and repeat the process.  This will create a slightly darker tint.  It can be baked and sieved at the same time as the initial batch.