• Foliage Material
  • For this article/project I used Woodland Scenics Bushes. These run about $3.00(USD) per bag, and I recomend 2 bags of different colors, for some variety.
• Base Material
  
  • I used Balsa Wood, but cardboard, or you favorite other basing material will work, I'm sure (foamcore etc).
• PVA/White/Elmers Glue.
• Moderate guage wire.
  • Thinner than bailing wire, thicker than florist wire. Anything easy to bend, but with enough tensile strength to hold its shape.
• Your Favorite Flocking Material.
  • I use sand in this demo, as it matches the texture of my other terrain features.
• Needle Nose Pliers, Scissors, Knife.
• Paint

1. Cut your hedge bases. Mine are scaled to work with 28/25mm figures. I use sections 2cm (3/4") wide, and lengths of 7, 10, &15cm (2-3/4, 4, & 6"). Varying the lengths gives you some versatility in arrangement for play.

2. Pull out a length of wire roughly twice the length of you base. Wrap a looped foot at one end with the pliers. Then bend the wire in a roughly saw-toothed pattern, with the peaks slightly lower than the intended hedge height. When you reach the other end of the base in length, make another loop. These loops will be the anchor points for the armature.

3. Attach the armatures to your bases.

4. Now cover the base with glue, and add your flock. Since I'm using sand, At this point I painted all my bases, so I wouldn't have to paint around the bushes later. If you dont paint your flocking material, dont worry about it. You will want to paint the armatures though. I reccomend dark brown. Not much usually shows through, so drybrushing is sort of unneccesary, but its nice to have a realistic color under there incase you do end up with any patchy spots.

5. Once your base is done, and the armature ready, you are ready to add the foliage material. I used Light Green and Olive Green, which are similar shades, but when mixed together give just a little hint of variety to add a touch of realism, and not be too boring.

6. Coat your armature in PVA glue, and put a line of glue on the ground under the armature as well. You'll also want to squirt a pool of it out on a piece of paper.

7. Pinching pieces of foliage in your fingertips, squeeze them onto the glue-laden armature, and the line of glue beneath it. The stuff is springy, and some of it rebounds, but most of it sticks quite well in one go. I did 5 pieces at once, so by the time I got through #5, #1 was set up a bit. I then took smaller pieces of foliage, and dipped them in the pool of glue, placing them to fill any gaping spots in the hedge.

8. Let em dry and you're done!

As you can see I also made a piece with a small balsa fence in it. Butting hedges up along both ends of it, allows it to fit into any hedgerow. Consider adding trees, boulders or other objects into your hedges for variety.

All in all these pieces total about 60cm (2') and took me about an hour to make- and that includes 2-3 coats of drybrushing on my bases. If you use unpainted flock, it takes even less time. I'm quite pleased with how they look, and the materials cost about $10.00 total. I have enough left to make probably another 180cm worth, easily. Plus some extra for some bushes on my river banks.

A picture for scale:

I hope this helps if anyone is looking for an easy way to make hedges. Tactically they are fun to use, and they look quite nice on the table. A great, cheap, quick, addition to any terrain collection.