Has anyone tried to take a sanding disk (on a Dremel) and sand the top of a Silflor tuft? As they are now, in close up photos, the tops of each "blade" stop abruptly and the tuft looks like a bunch of pipe cleaners. I'm thinking that sanding would either create a more random appearance or taper each individual piece.
I have not tried sanding Silfor. I agree that Silfor tufts have a slightly glossy, translucent appearance, which doesn't look realistic to me. However, I have tried drybrushing and airbrushing the tops with an appropriate color once it the glue is dry. That worked well because the base of the fibers did not get hit with the paint, so the fibers had realistic yelllow/brown tips and with greener/yellow stems. I was modeling fall when the grass was dormant, hence my color selection.
In my O scale project, I have gone back to making tufts of grass using twine, as those fibers appear more realistic. I am mixing these in with Silfor tufts. I have also been adding individual weeds using tiny pieces of peppergrass. When used like this the individual seed pods look like small leaves. It's very convincing.