Attempts at a Cane Break

I need to make multiple cane breaks for some scenarios. I struggled on how to make this. Here is a picture of the thick cane breaks that grow near streams and rivers here in Georgia.

I came up with an idea. First I took an offcut of vinyl tile. Then I cut up a thin exercise matt and glued it to the tile.

Next, I beveled the edges of the matt.

Taking this, I covered it with a mix of burnt umber paint, caulk and sand.

I then dry brushed it with the burnt umber mixed with white paint.

Then dry brushed that with a plain white.

Now for the hard part, how to represent the cane? I found this small broom at the grocery store.

I cut the bristles off and began to poke holes in the matt and plant the bristles in it.

I painted the bristles green and then put on some blobs of glue and sprinkled it with flock. I will need to reglue and reflock these several times to get the look I am going for. You can see in the pictures below that I put some glue to hold the bristles in place.

Next I prepared some long grass to go around the edges. I bought a couple yards of teddy bear fur to experiment with. I cut a small swatch and tried a technique I learned from the Red Beard Baron's YouTube channel. I came up with this.

This will be cut up and glued to the perimeter of the base once I get the flock where I want it for the cane.

More to come.