Poor man's flocked material for miniatures

[KelE]

As I get poorer, I seem to come up with new techniques on the cheap.
I hate making hats, because I want a felty surface and you can't really do that in miniature unless you get it flocked--which is too much work for me.
Well, I experimented with using tissue paper--especially thin paper towel--and wetting it and painting it to see if I can make it look more genuine.
Right now I am trying an approach where I painted the surface and then apply wet paper towel, iron out the wrinkles--and if if I need a section added (in this case I needed to insert a piece to cover a gap) and then see how it works. Tearing the towel into a jagged edged section seems to work better than cutting in straight lines for blending purposes.

Once it completely dries it may be what I want--although I am not sure how delicate it is yet.
This would also be good for doing miniature clothes and horses---because after it dries the tiny fibers in the tissue show up and it looks pretty cool.

[KelE]

It works but it is is a lot of work.
I hate making hats.

[AZ]

Very interesting. Let us know more as your technique shows promise. Thanks for sharing.

[KelE]

It works but it is time consuming. I think you would have to cut the paper tissue material into the actual pattern for the clothes and then apply it in sections. For a hat it's a problem because it has no seams--and I think flocking it may be smarter. I got some flocking material actually just to explore it.
It is better to paint the surface and apply the tissue over it--it looks better. The other way around--I notice the tissue gets a little glossy--maybe the pigment saturates it to much--it's not uniform looking if you do it over the surface instead of under.
I need to get paper towel with zero texture on it. It works ok with the texture in the towel if you smooth it out when wet to eliminate the designs in the paper but it's an extra step. Actually though, there's another possibility--you can wet the towel and apply it over a texture of your choosing and then after it is dry---you can then apply it to a statue for an unique clothing texture.
I haven't tried it but it should work.
It's a way of getting extra in scale detail without relying on paint alone.

[angarles]

How do you get the hat shape? Are you sculpting it? Great idea using the tissue paper for the finish!

I ask because I am trying to work out the best way to make a top hat for my comic Horizon Penguin 1:8 kit.

[KelE]

It's hard.
I think using tissue paper over paint works for a texture but i can't get a good way of making the hat shape.
I am thinking of trying construction paper--the kid stuff--and see if I can wet it and apply it over a hat shape.

It's driving me crazy.
There was a company that sold Gi Joe doll accessories and they made some cool flocked hats-which I could order some in 1/4th scale because I hate making hats.