Over-exuberant reeds

I've completed the first of the four reed banks, here with a figure, for scale.  The figure is standing where the water will be. The image is clickable.

I'm very pleased with the effect, but they are quite a bit taller than I'd anticipated! I could have cut the feathers smaller, but then I'd have had to waste a lot of material. So these reeds will remain huge: think Nile, or somewhere deep in Darkest Africa...

Reed Banks III

Back from my summer hols, rushing to get my act together for Partizan. Here is a reed bank with bull-rushes and some plastic plants in place:-

...and below I've started to add the "reeds", which are a mix of dyed feathers and bits of a cut-up feather boa. Verdant, neh?

Each feather needs to be cut, trimmed and stuck into place. This is a messy and tricky job, which would have been easier with smaller feathers... but I reckon the end result will make it worthwhile.

Reed banks II

I've primed the 4 mud-bank bases brown, and prepared a lot of "bullrushes"- these latter are green plastic bristles from an old broom, cut to length and with a double thickness of PVA over the top 5mm.  Later I'll paint these tips a reddish brown.   I'm going to raid the loft for aquarium plants.