Gaming Mats (OCEAN MAT added 12/31/13 pg 3)

[doctor_ocks]

Sadly, the only thing that keeps me from trying this is I live in an apartment and don't have access to a garage or even large yard. I've seen a few of these and really love the look of them.

Most of us have all been there. You could just lay down a drop cloth (pick up an extra one when you buy the one for the mat ) to catch any mess maybe?

[nic-e]

Sadly, the only thing that keeps me from trying this is I live in an apartment and don't have access to a garage or even large yard. I've seen a few of these and really love the look of them.

For me it's the canvas.I can get it easily and i have access to an entire building of workshops and studios to use, but i can't afford to use the canvas i get on anything other than my actual work.makes me sad every time i cut off a big sheet of it as i always think how nice it'd be to get one of these under my belt.

[Too Bo Coo]

I'm going to my parents for a visit and I think I'm going to take a few trips to Home Depot and make use of their garage for a few days before the little lady arrives!  VERY excited to bring my SAGA mat back!!

[madzerker]

how hard do you think it would be to make a snow mat this way. Could you use the caulk to represent snow on the board and then add sand in small areas where the snow isnt built up?

[Too Bo Coo]

how hard do you think it would be to make a snow mat this way. Could you use the caulk to represent snow on the board and then add sand in small areas where the snow isnt built up?

I picked up a white fleece throw blanket, 5x3. I hit it with some spray, clear and white, and it works great.  No need to go crazy with a white mat.  Check out the SSS thread on Post Apoc for the mat Silent Invader did for his game.

[doctor_ocks]

how hard do you think it would be to make a snow mat this way. Could you use the caulk to represent snow on the board and then add sand in small areas where the snow isnt built up?

This is going to be my next mat. My plan is to do basically what you said. I think, however, I'll sand the mat like my others but then do another layer of caulk over the top, leaving some areas open to show the ground.

My concern is that it'll look like icecream instead of snow so I gotta do some tests.

[doctor_ocks]

I picked up a white fleece throw blanket, 5x3. I hit it with some spray, clear and white, and it works great.  No need to go crazy with a white mat.  Check out the SSS thread on Post Apoc for the mat Silent Invader did for his game.

Do you have a link to the mat? Is it in that 60+ page thread?

**edit: found it about page 40. Cool stuff. The stiffness of that mat is a bit disconcerting. How flexible is the one you made?

[Too Bo Coo]

I did a few light sprays of gray and white and then clear.  But VERY light so i could roll it up easily.  You can use an old rag to play around and see what your personal sweet spot is as to 'stiffness' and such.  But you really cant get cheaper and easier than the fleece blanket method.  I can just pay roads and terrain on top, when they 'sink' in a slight bit, it just looks like a snow drift...  

Have you seen SI's game?  I LOVE the idea of a snow game!

[Steam Flunky]

Lovely mat.
Anyone know what "Caulk" is known as here in Germany?
Translation comes out as Abdichtmasse. Do you think that means the tubes of silikon we use around the edge of a bath or sink?

[Mr. Peabody]

You want the paintable acrylic stuff used around doors, windows and masonry. Sometimes it even comes in convenient colours like brown, tan, off-white and green.

Acrylic caulking can be thinned with water, or latex and acrylic paints / household emulsion, or just used straight up.

The silicone stuff used for plumbing is not the caulking you are looking for.

[Too Bo Coo]

I'll be back in the states tomorrow for a few weeks and I think this is a nice project for me and my pop.

[doctor_ocks]

The silicone stuff used for plumbing is not the caulking you are looking for.

Correct. However, the silicone stuff is what I used for the water on the river mat. As I said previously though, it's not the same brand I've used in the past and ended up not as glossy as the stuff I used for this piece:

[doctor_ocks]

So after not being happy with the water on my river mat, I decided to try again - except much larger.

Started with the same 5x5 canvas stretched over my 4x4 board and painted it a mix of blues and greens.  I watered it all down pretty heavily to avoid any issues. Note that no caulk was laid down first. This is just paint on the canvas.



Then I did a very very light sponging of baby blue. Not totally sure why but it seemed cool at the time. Sorry for the dark picture but you at least get an idea of the shine.



And then I applied the crystal clear caulking.  



This is what it currently looks like. I'm really happy with the shine. It's fully cured and is still that glossy. I just haven't cut it off the board yet.

Lessons learned from this mat: this was a huge pain in the ass. Basically I squirted the caulking out and them worked it all together with a spoon to give it some nice motion. I used 4 tubes of caulking and I probably should have use 6. Some of the sections are too shallow and you can see the weave of the canvas. That's frustrating. This was also the most expensive of mats. Those tubes are $8 a piece.  

Right now I'm just letting it sit there. My concern is that while it is cured, this stuff always stays a little tacky.  Concerned about rolling it up and leaving it for too long.

[grant]

That is really cool. Great looking mat indeed!

[Mr. Peabody]

Is that a 'paintable' clear gloss caulking? I mean, is it made of the same stuff as the paintable acrylic caulking that would normally be used for a mat?

If so, you might try an acrylic gloss varnish to kill any tackiness after the mat has had a couple of days to fully cure. Obviously you want to do a test piece first.

Right now, that is one very impressive looking surface! It looks WET!  I think you are on to something there.