So I'm thinking of redoing all of my Lorien bases to make them look unique and tie them to Lothlorien. I'm not entirely sure what to add to the bases to make them look as though they're in Lorien. I was thinking of leaves and flowers, fallen detritus, branches and so on. How can I create a base that represents this? For example: Where can I get or how can I make leaves to a suitable size?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks

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I started to walk around without shoes...

It sort of then became a Hobbit

Birch seeds are the answer! Check out this very nice article by Reaper Miniatures:
http://www.reapermini.com/Thecraft/24

For Lothlorien, you can paint the leaves gold to represent fallen Mallorn leaves, very characteristic! I would advice to not just paint them gold though, but add some red, brown and/or green to the mix.

Furthermore, sculpting branches, roots and underground from GreenStuff (or any modelling putty) should also look good. Sand is something you might want to avoid, as forests are rarely very sandy.

You could also add long grass, and flowers. Flowers are pretty easy to make. You can see some results in my WIP thread here: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=24486&start=40
To make flowers, first add long grass to the base and let the glue dry. Then, make a mixture of paint and some fine flock. Make sure the mixture is a bit dry, but not too dry. Then, apply this randomly to the tops of the high grass. You might need to repaint some pieces of the grass green. You can obviously make different colours, but I think white should be prominent for Lothlorien (wasn't there a quote about white flowers in Lothlorien?).
The technique described above is very easy, just play around a bit with the amount of paint to add and it will work out.

Hope this will give you some ideas.

Both white (Niphredil) and yellow (Elanor) flowers are mentioned in Lothlórien, so you can vary a bit.
Being a bit more lazy, I got myself some pre-painted sand here: http://www.hfminis.co.uk/shop?category= ... asing-sand. Dip long grass in some PVA glue and subsequently in some coloured sand, and done! Note: 10g is probably enough to last several armies...
For those even more lazy: ready made tufts are available as well on ebay etc.

Technically, birch seed pods aren't ideal for Mallorn leaves, as these are described as being like those of a beech, but bigger. Beech leaves are reasonably boring oval shapes, so unlike the funky ones birches can provide you with. Generally speaking, those things are excellent for miniature leaves though!

Ah, yes of course, how could I forget the Elanor?

And yes, you are absolutely right about the Mallorn leaves! To make oval leaves, I would try to do something like in this article: http://www.reapermini.com/TheCraft/30
but then press the rolled 'rope' on one side. This way, when you cut it, the shape should be oval. Actual, I will try this sometime, but I reckon it should work. Note that the exact size of the leaves is not so important as it is for money, in fact quite the contrary.

Ah, cool. Thanks guys. I'm gonna try these on a few test bases

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I started to walk around without shoes...

It sort of then became a Hobbit

Great! Keep us up to date please, I'm looking forward to seeing this progress.

Bizarrely enough I found a bag from the sadly now de-funct Model-Zone (silent tear rolls down cheek!) with various Wild Flower and assorted foliage that is available from Woodland Sceneics!

However, Feanor I love your advice on using Birch Seed leaves.

That birch seed idea is great. Gonna have to get my hands on some.

For Galadriel I used army painter meadow flowers. You get both white and yellow in the pack.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l62 ... f3c3d2.png

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Instagram @abbmodels

Wow, that really is effective! II am going to give it a try

I would try Lustrian Undergrowth, washed with Biel-Tan Green and drybrushed with Hellion Green.

These are what I use, I collected a tub of them this autumn and have created several colours, yellow, brown, reddy and two shade if green!
I use a dab of glue to hold them in place - they look very good!

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Leonardis
Army blog:Http://www.thewarofthering.blogspot.co.uk/

Do the Birch seed parts go hard (and bend) given time?

Also, what is people's experience with using sawdust. I'm looking for Amon Hen bases, which are similar enough to Lorien really.

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My trade thread
http://www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=25957&p=325932#p325932

Yes, they do. They also become pretty fragile as soon as they dry out. In my experience they can try out in even 1 day after getting them from a tree and having them inside the house.
They have a tip in the Reaper article on how to overcome the leaves curling up. They advice to bake them at 150 F for 15 minutes in an oven to dry them out, but I have not personally tried this. So, my leaves are a bit curled up, but I'm not too bothered by it.

(Link to the article: http://www.reapermini.com/Thecraft/24 )