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How to use Creepers & Vine Stems

(Images too follow)

'Vine Stems' and 'Dungeon Creepers' can both be used in the same fashion and are coloured so that they do not require any painting. To a large extent they are totally interchangeable and their titles are only as a guide to their usage, "Vine Stems" can make just as good "dead dungeon creepers" as the actual Dungeon Creepers.
Remember that both products are designed to be used after you have finished painting your model/diorama, if you attach them first and then try to paint around them you may have difficulty getting a realistic effect.

Application of both products is best achieved in the following manner and for ease of typing we will use the term "Creepers" for both products.:

When you first get the bags open up the seal on the bags and let fresh air get to them, this will allow them to expand back to their natural size if they have been compressed in transit. If you are in a hot/dry climate then please be aware that leaving them open to the air for long periods of time will desiccate them and make it far harder to use them. Indeed prolonged exposure to very dry air may permanently damage them by making them brittle, this, however, isn't likely to be a problem to those in Britian and we mention it mainly for our overseas customers.

Before applying the creepers first pull out a "string" of them gently from the rest of the bunch. Don't worry too much about breaking off sections as it is easy (and often required) to cut the sections down and glue them invisibly together afterwards. Once you have a "string" or two of creepers sorted out, roughly work out how you want to apply them to the floor, wall or ceiling of your model.
At this stage it is best to try to find a "string" that is reasonably close to he shape of the creepers that you want to achieve on the model; if you want multiple branching sections then pull out a few short strings of creepers and lay them down into the pattern you want to lay them onto your model.

Once you are happy with the rough layout of the creepers now is the time to start trimming them down so that they fit more precisely. This is best done by laying them down flat onto a cutting mat, then trimming off the branches on the creepers that you want. Be sure to keep all offcuts and pretty much all of the plant can be used (even the smallest off-cuts can come in handy at times).
Where you want extra branches just trim a section/length off another piece of creeper and lay it alongside your main "branch/stem". Don't worry too much about stray stems/branches waiving about: the process of gluing them will flatten them out onto the wall/ceiling/floor, or you can leave them literally "waiving about" as this can also look natural and good depending on the look you want to achieve.

You should now have multiple length of creeper that are laid out roughly in the manner you wish to have them on your wall/ceiling/floor. Starting from the "root" of the creeper push the strings apart so that you can clearly differentiate one section from the next, but still have them in the shape you want them to be on your model.

Now turn all of the sections of creeper over.

Starting with the first section (the "root" or "trunk") start to apply a "Tacky Glue" to the stems and branches of the first section only (remeber that you are gluing what will be the back of the creeper that attaches to the wall - this is why we turned them all over).
The glue is best applied using a "pin-point syringe" (see our tools section if you don't have one of these) but can be done very carefully by hand. The ideal application of the glue is so that it lies on the creeper but does not flow around it; so that when it is fixed onto the wall the glue should be totally hidden by the stem. Using too much glue can spoil the effect by leaving shiny patches of dried glue which can be seen around the creeper itself..
As we are using "Tacky Glue" (and we do very very strongly advise using tacky glue) we will now wait for about 60-180 second until the glue starts drying out and becomes both really "tacky" to the touch, but also so that it doesn't come away from the creeper.

The best way to judge this "drying time" is to use a small sample section of creeper about 2 inches long and dab some tacky glue onto it - now lightly touch your finger to the stem in the centre of the section, when the glue is just right it should adhere to your finger strongly enough for you to lift up the entire 2 inch section without it coming away. Another way to judge this time is to watch how the glue will change colour from white to a semi-translucent colour along its edges. In either case for easy and proper application of the creepers it is essential that the "tacky glue" is very tacky as this requires you to use the least amount of glue as possible.

Once you are happy with the tackiness of your glue take the stem and place the end of it against your wall (or floor or ceiling) and firmly press it against the surface. holding the root end in place now gently work your way up along the length of the creeper pressing it firmly into place where ever it touches the surface. If you have the tackiness of the glue just right then it should instantly adhere and also be strong enough for you to shape the stems into the exact shapes you want it to follow. This can include twisting the stems, overlaying them on even bridging gaps.

Once this first piece is done you now repeat the process for the remaining sections until you have built up you creepers into the pattern you want. Once that is done leave the tacky glue to fully set by leaving it overnight to completely set.
The creepers themselves are very strong and you can hang substantial weights off them, so don't be frightened of using them to bridge big gaps, hang scale bricks off them and so on and so forth.
Also do not be afraid of cutting the creepers down into quite short lengths: so long as you glue carefully you can join many pieces of the creepers together without any visible sign, this is especially true if you are then going to add leaves to them for ivy or other climbing plants as you can cover any "dubious" joins with a leaf (try our small packs of ivy leaves as an ideal accompaniment to the stems/creepers).

The key to successful use of the creepers is really in the pre-arrangement of your stems and then the accuracy of your gluing. Once you get used to the gluing process (application through a pin-point syringe makes this far easier) and then exactly judging your drying time, you can soon skip the arranging section and just start gluing the creepers directly onto your model.
To do this we advise that you still work using the "root first" approach, indeed what we do here is to firmly attach the "root" of a stem by attaching it with super glue. Once that is done and set firmly, we then apply glue to the stem in lengths of about 2-6 inches, leave the creeper hanging until the glue gets tacky enough and then firmly press it onto the wall as desired, if the glue is right it will adhere firmly enough for you to shape it the way you want to without much effort and no mess (if your glue isn't set enough it wont adhere and can get messy).
If you have more creeper still to do on the same length you may need to keep the end you laid last firmly pressed to the wall for a few minutes, either use your fingers or a small low-pressure modeling clamp. Alternatively just cut off the remainder of the creeper with scissors and place it down somewhere where you can remember where it is supposed to go back onto the wall (and in the right shape) and attach it later.

Experimentation with the creepers before using on your model/diorama is advised as getting used to the gluing process is vital to success. SImilarly you need to get used to the toughness of the creepers and how they can sometimes put up surprising resistance to being shaped the way you want them to be! We have managed to use creeper sections to hold up weights of over 400grams although we don't advise them to be used for such heavy weights!

Finishing touches:

If you are making climbing plants such as IVy then you can use our "Ivy leaves" to make very dramatic and incredibly realistic plants: lay down the "Vine stems" first in the pattern you wish and then, one by one, attach the Ivy leaves on top of the stem using tacky glue. Alternate the leaves along the stem working from the root out towards the tips of each "branch". It may sound laborious but the resulting Ivy is quite literally stunning, you may also be surprised how few leaves it can take to make even extensive ivy plants.

Alternatively you can add our "fine leaves" or even one of our foliage scatters to the stems by applying a thin line of tacky glue to the creepers or spreading very slightly away from the creepers, then sprinkling the scatter/fine leaves over the area. The scatter/fine leaves will stay stuck to the glue and then just shake off any excess.

Of course you can also just leave the creepers as they are - they are naturally slightly "hairy" (take a close look at a section of them) and they make stunning creepers, vines and lianas by themselves.

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