# Grass / Lawn



## cprted (Sep 18, 2009)

Greetings all,

Has anyone dealt with or created artificial grass on stage? We've looked at Syn-Lawn and although the local dealer has offered us a pretty good discount, it is still a touch on the pricey side. So I was wondering if anyone had some good tricks up their sleeves for decent artificial lawn.

Unfortunately, real turf is out as this is for one of three one-act plays and needs to be struck within the confines of a ten to fifteen-minute intermission.

Thanks in advance.


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## kicknargel (Sep 18, 2009)

I've seen both cheesy astroturf and shag carpet transformed into really convincing grass with the aid of a good scenic artist. You have to add variation (and some browness). 

Nick Kargel
www.youwantwhatproductions.com


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## icewolf08 (Sep 19, 2009)

I have worked with a faux grass product that looks pretty decent, though I can't remember what it was called. It is very similar to floral sheeting which is a vinyl product used a lot for covering parade floats. There is a grass sheeting version of this what works pretty well. If you have a good painter it can be painted to look very real.


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## Van (Sep 19, 2009)

I just purchased Syn-lawn from a local retailer for *All My Sons*, there simply is no substitute, it's great. However, a really good quality AstroTurf with scenic painting for texture will get the job done. I've also used raffia grass mats. They tend to shed like a St. Bernard in Jamaica, but they do look pretty good for an unkempt lawn look. 

Oh one more, slightly morbid place..... called a local funeral home or cemetary, they sometimes use a high quality astro turf like product to cover freashly dug graves....... < is it Halloween yet ?>


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## cprted (Sep 20, 2009)

Well after weighing all the options, we're going to invest in the Synlawn. Thanks all for your suggestions. Van, those raffia mats look very cool. Definitely something to file in the back of mind mind.


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## gafftaper (Sep 21, 2009)

A couple years ago I need some grass for "All my sons". I contacted the "Field Turf" company who do all the new football stadium fields with fairly realistic looking stuff. They gave me a piece that was about 20'x40' for free. I had to drive down to a town 20 miles south of Portland to get it (Wilsonville), but it's pretty nice. Blades are about 2 1/2" to 3" high so it looks like it needs to be mowed pretty soon, but it's much better looking than typical astroturf.


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## gafftapegreenia (Sep 23, 2009)

Gafftaper and Van hit the nail on the head. We too looked at the Synlawn options when we did _All My Sons_, but it was deemed to expensive. In the end we went with the astrotturf and our student scenic did a decent job or masking it, but it wasn't ideal.


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## TEarlywine (Sep 14, 2012)

Checking if anyone has any updates to ideas and opinions in this thread, rather than posting an identical new one.

We are being asked for 560sqft of realistic artificial grass for All My Sons as well. Some must be walked on and some is attached to a vertical wall. 

After some reasearch, I talked them into just a paint treatment for Grey Gardens, especially since it's a musical with rolling furniture shifts and dancing! But not having much luck on this one. I have been scouring commercial sources for months and can't find anything visually acceptable for less than $1.65/sqft (with shipping) which would eat up too much of our budget for 1 scenic element. We are also getting a sample of some used stuff from OnDeckSports.com but it may have white lines on it, and they described it as carpet-like so I do not have a lot of hope, but we'll see. We have plenty of green indoor outdoor carpeting ("astroturf") in our warehouse. Scene Designer is not thrilled with the idea of Scenic Artist painting that to look real. Real sod is only 0.40/sqft, but with tech and a 4 week run, I think that will end up being more expensive!


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## Tex (Sep 15, 2012)

TEarlywine said:


> Real sod is only 0.40/sqft, but with tech and a 4 week run, I think that will end up being more expensive!


Not to mention that sod is usually about 3" thick. You would have to be creative to hide the downstage edge.


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## kicknargel (Sep 15, 2012)

The weird thing about a necropost is that moment of "hey, this person's saying just what I was going to say. Oh wait, that's me."

All depends on how good your artist is. No magic bullet here, sounds like it's time to sample a few options.


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## TEarlywine (Sep 20, 2012)

kicknargel said:


> The weird thing about a necropost is that moment of "hey, this person's saying just what I was going to say. Oh wait, that's me."



Haha so true!


kicknargel said:


> All depends on how good your artist is. No magic bullet here, sounds like it's time to sample a few options.



Yep, thanks. Just had to do due-diligence and make sure there wasn't something I wasn't thinking of.


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## Jackalope (Sep 20, 2012)

Tex said:


> Not to mention that sod is usually about 3" thick. You would have to be creative to hide the downstage edge.



And real sod under stage lights = one dusty allergenic environment.


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