MAKING WHEAT STOOKS

Privateer Press has official rules for wheat fields. However, when my wife started making the wheat fields for me, she made them really big like stooks rather than what Privateer Press intended. No big deal! Wheat was often gathered into big stooks, so that's what we rolled with for our terrain.

Want to make some? Cool.

(1) When making wheat stooks you'll need the following materials. (We bought them at Michaels in Greensburg, PA when we went to check out The Vault.) A large bag of decorative raffia, a bag of wooden craft circles the size of medium bases, super glue, white glue, flock, scissors, and a few twist ties. (Use PP medium bases if you wish. It was more cost effective for me to use the wooden circles.)

(2) Pull out a section of raffia that's tal enough to cover the height of a trooper model. Cut the top of what will be the stook with the scissors to taste. Megan likes to leave it somewhat uneven for the feel of roughly cut wheat. After all, Field Jacks (or whatever) won't take it easy on the wheat when threshing it and gathering it. Tie the top end off with a twist tie to secure it in place.
(3) Simply cut the other end to length and twsit tie the other end to stop it from falling apart.
(3) Here's a side view.
(4) Then take a small length of scrap raffia and tie it around the middle of the stook to bind it into place. This can be tricky if you have clumbsy fingers like me.

(5) At this point you have the stook. The hard work is done. Then take the time to cut the end of the stook that will be glued to the medium sized base even as to ensure for good adhesion to the base.

(6) Put a dab of your favorite super glue in the middle of the base. I use either Loctite Super Glue or Gorilla Super Glue. Push the raffia into the base and allow it to dry. This keeps it in place until you can add the white glue.

(7) Use white glue like Elmer's Glue All to flood the base. This is messy. I do it over a trash can to avoid spills and mess. While it is still wet, clean off the edges, and push the base into a container filled with whatever flock you're choosing to use. I use a combination of cooking herbs and dry coffee grounds to simulate a mixture of dirt, grass, and leafy debris.

(8) Your stooks are done and should look something like ... this. As you can see from the picture, we also bought some scrapbooking paper from JoAnn Fabrics to act as a template for the wheat field. You can make the entire field of stooks, or you can mix in shorter Privateer Press style wheat field bases to give the field a different look.