Hedera helix

Hedera helix also known as Common Ivy or English Ivy is today's topic.

It's a nice detail to your terrain piece. And not that hard to make. There is rather large selection of products to buy out there. But today we will be looking on how to make it your self.

The first you have too do is finding a birch tree. When you have found your tree you have to revisit it at the end of summer. The Catkins will bear seeds. You want to pick them before they start to drop but not to early, they need to develop their shape and start to separate and preferably dry up a bit.

Here are some Catkins encircled in blue. I dried up the Catkins a bit in the oven since I accidentally left the pot I've been collecting in out in the rain. In red the seeds, we do not want these. In green the bits that holds the seeds, we want these. Not to worry better pictures of these come a bit further down.








Unzoomed.

 I put the lot in a bin and took the scrap I could easy sort out in a separate bin.

Then with a paper napkin dragging over the unsorted bin the miniature Ivy leaves gets caught any eventual seeds are easily removed.

A the plastic lid also works with statics so the "leaves" and seeds lifts up out of the bin.













You can either glue these leaves directly to the terrain and then paint them in place or put a bunch in a bin with some paint and shake it. Unpainted they are perfect for autumn/fallen leaves for terrain or bases.