My son and I borrowed your idea but added some twists. DAP sells latex caulking in brown which provides an excellent base colour with no need to mix in paint. To avoid shedding grit and flock everywhere we textured the caulking after it set part way with a balled up plastic bag. The flock was replaced by cheap craft paint in multiple green shades applied with sponges. We got a similar outcome with a very soft mat that you can even sit on with no abrasions and without the wife finding grit and flock everywhere. Hope that helps, and thanks for the original idea!
When I need to make flock, I ask the people at home Depot to give me the waste sawdust from their dust collection. They usually give me a shopping bag full. Then you can screen it and get different sizes.
Sawdust is EXTREMELY easy to get lots of for free. Ask the sales associate at home Depot to give you a bag of it out of the sawdust collection from thier cutting tools
Here in 2019, pretty great video man. Love the fact you pointed out that some common pitfalls and highlights. Would be great to see if you've got a better process now or if you've done some of these recently :D
Just what i need to make for our rpg table, we play alot with terrain and making boards all the time is time consuming and i run out of space quickly. So this is perfect to just keep it on our table all the time. Thx man!
That's why I switched from boards, hard to store and takes forever to build. You have to step up your scatter terrain to make a mat compete with the hand-crafted beauty of a board, but mats are much more practical.
Everything you do here, except if you need to produce matts in bulk (for a game store hosting a tournament...) use a 4'x whatever roll of weed block paper. Make sure to place _plastic_ drop cloths under the weed block paper since some adhesive will come through below while its drying. For longevity I hot glued 4' long thin pieces of wood to the left/right edges, still allowing the matts to roll up along their 6' width. These matts have lasted over a decade. You can also paint in dirt roads on the weed block paper and just don't cover them with adhesive - turns out fine.
very cool process, will definitely be giving this a go, want to try out both northern european and desert with this technique. Question though, do you have any links for the wood flower you mentioned? Cant find anything with a search.
Here is what I use. I would also get some rubberized clear flex seal to spray over the wood flour to lock it in or else it will shed saw dust for years www.amazon.com/System-Three-3110S16-Brown-Flour/dp/B002K9WUKC
You mentioned putting flat stones to make a grid. Do you place stones and let them set in or do you use the stones to draw a grid into the latex so it cures with a grid on it? I want to make a city matt with a square stone floor and not sure if I should just plan to paint it on.
Awesome! I have some extra canvas traps running around I need to cover now! Any suggestions for a tropical sand like mat? I’m doing a Scarif table for Star Wars Legion.
Red Beard Baron what about using play sand? I am trying to make ww2 North Africa. I have canvas tarp. Was thinking of using your method but with sand. Maybe not the entire mat, only parts. Then dry brushing other parts. I don’t need hills or depressions, using other ideas for that.
Really helpful tutorial! Thanks much for posting it. A o have a couple of questions: I have a 5' x 9' table (a ping pong table), and I'm thinking about a dozen tubes. I'm not planning on texturing it, so do you think that would be overkill? Also, what weight dropcloth did you use? I think they come in light, medium and heavy, but I haven't been down to Lowe's yet.
Dozen tubes should be more than enough (8 might do it) as a thin coat is the way to go. I get the medium density canvas drop cloths. I’m sure others would work as long as they are canvas and not rubber or plastic
Thanks for responding. I was thinking about using the lightest density canvas to make sure it would drape over the "hills" I'll be draping it over, but I'll start with the medium. Thanks again!
Maybe I missed it - but I see you used PVA after the flock had dried over night but what did you put on the surface before you applied the flock to adhere it? Or was the caulk still tacky?
Yeah, after the caulk dries I'll put down several layers of pva to lock in the flock. Recently I've even tried coating it with the clear flex seal, which worked as long as the coat was thin.
Thanks! They are super easy to make! Planning on making a caulk mat with some faux fur and static grass soon...think it will be the ultimate play surface!
The bed sheet should be sewn first to the size wanted for your mat. The seam should have a zig-zag stitch right at the edge then turn that edge under and then make a straight stitch a 1/4 to 1/2 inch or so from the edge. If you don't use a finished edge after making your gaming area the edges will probably fray away due to the stitch content of your sheet. An alternative to try as a final top coat on a sheet might be to use "Mod Podge" as it works as a sealant and hardener. I would suggest using the matte clear finish with this step. Additionally it can be mixed with paint. I'm not sure if this would work to use from the beginning instead of or along with the caulk. You might want to try some sample pieces first to determine which combination gives you the best results. The reason drop clothes don't fray is due to the way they are made initially. They are sturdier and would probably work better and hold up longer to use. Good luck with your project. Please report back about your outcomes. Thanks.
do you mix water into the caulking before applying? Do you add anything else to the caulking before applying...sand or grit....could you just apply it directly to the canvas? Thanks.
I don't add any water to the caulk just a little bit of sand and grit. Be careful not to go too crazy with the grit or it will result in excessive cracking.
This looks fantastic and easy to do for a complete novice like myself. Any suggestions for what medium you'd do for a snow mat? I would like a grass, desert, and snow mat to play some skirmishes on. I already found a great written tutorial on how to do the desert.
For a snow mat I would make some bluish grey flock using wood flour as a base color to your mat and then sprinkle some professionally made foam-based snow flock on top of it as a high light.
Red Beard Baron Thanks for the reply! One more question: How do you cut the drop cloth? Does it fray? Do I need to do anything to the edges to protect it?
I just use plain old scissors. I haven’t had a problem with fraying but I cover the cloth with the caulk and then cut it out at the end. Therefore the caulk covers every square inch of the mat
Yea, I now make hybrid faux fur and caulk mats and they turn out pretty awesome. Similar to my faux fur mat tutorial except I shave down sections that I want to be earth/dirt sections and then put the caulk/grit mixture on top of closely cropped areas. You get a really dynamic looking mat! I will have to make an updated video showing this process. Any yea, always roll up caulk mats or the caulk will crack; I roll them up around a piece of pvc.
What size is the table you were using? I might make one of these maps probably 4x6 and I want to make sure I dont make too much or little caulk and paint mixture.
This was for a 4x4 but I had some left over, for a 4x6 I use one more tube of caulk and it is more than enough. Also, you should look out for brown colored caulk, I recently discovered it and it cuts out the need for the paint, making it a bit cheaper. Thanks for watching!
Alright, thanks for the tip! But just to be sure, in the video you say you can get away with two tubes even though you use four, so would you be using three or five tubes for a 4x6?
+arath duiliath I find applying a very thin layer of calk and not mixing in too much sand/texture helped reduced cracking. Also be sure to roll up your mat around some pvc or in a poster tube and not fold it.
No the flock will be locked in with the caulk and watered down pva. Just be sure not to fold the mat put roll it around some pvc or else the caulk can crack.
I'm sure either of those would work, but I use painting dropcloths for my canvas as they are extremely cheap. I would guess it would be a medium density compared to a light artist canvas and the heavier gazebo canvas.
how the fuck.... do you manage to just throw 'caulk' out there roughly 200 times... and never crack yourself up? 2 mins in i was thinking to myself, okay Matt, you're just being immature. 7 mins in, i'm starting to insane giggle every time you say it.
You can get Caulk in your diy stores, homebase, b&Q, bunnings, even sainsburys sell it. You don't want the silicone version as it is designed to resit water so water based paints wouldn't work well.
I'm tired of utubers saying this is how they do things all the time like they have made thousands of this one particular thing and than screwing it up on the simplest mistake, therefore proving they have never actually attempted before what they are trying to profess with great authority. You can't just look something up and equate that to knowledge. Knowledge only comes from doing something again and again. Reading something is just the first step. Sorry for the rant. heh.
Thanks for watching! I think it depends on the type of channel. I have experienced similar feelings about some channels that specialize in battle reports. However, I don't think many of the terrain youtubers claim to the definitive resource in the area. I enjoy terrain videos because I can often pick up a technique or two that I would have otherwise never ran across. Personally, I would rather watch a video now in which someone is trying an innovative technique for the first time rather than wait 6 months until they have perfected it.
My son and I borrowed your idea but added some twists. DAP sells latex caulking in brown which provides an excellent base colour with no need to mix in paint. To avoid shedding grit and flock everywhere we textured the caulking after it set part way with a balled up plastic bag. The flock was replaced by cheap craft paint in multiple green shades applied with sponges. We got a similar outcome with a very soft mat that you can even sit on with no abrasions and without the wife finding grit and flock everywhere. Hope that helps, and thanks for the original idea!
Great idea! Would work especially well with a desert mat.
Great tutorial. Thanks for including the warnings about what went wrong with your first attempts and what to do to avoid the mistakes.
When I need to make flock, I ask the people at home Depot to give me the waste sawdust from their dust collection. They usually give me a shopping bag full. Then you can screen it and get different sizes.
My flock is made of teak sawdust! How's that for extravagance?
Sawdust is EXTREMELY easy to get lots of for free. Ask the sales associate at home Depot to give you a bag of it out of the sawdust collection from thier cutting tools
Here in 2019, pretty great video man. Love the fact you pointed out that some common pitfalls and highlights. Would be great to see if you've got a better process now or if you've done some of these recently :D
I plan to one day make a new video incorporating the caulk and faux fur.
2021 and this video is still useful. More so now we're in a global pandemic and group gaming sessions are severely limited :O
Just what i need to make for our rpg table, we play alot with terrain and making boards all the time is time consuming and i run out of space quickly. So this is perfect to just keep it on our table all the time. Thx man!
That's why I switched from boards, hard to store and takes forever to build. You have to step up your scatter terrain to make a mat compete with the hand-crafted beauty of a board, but mats are much more practical.
Still the best looking large mat out there. :D
I'm thing of making a Blood Bowl pitch, do you have any tips on making the grids on a that kind of mat?
You could try those white paint pens for making t-shirt designs to make the cross hatches...or even use white caulk if you were very careful.
thanks
Everything you do here, except if you need to produce matts in bulk (for a game store hosting a tournament...) use a 4'x whatever roll of weed block paper. Make sure to place _plastic_ drop cloths under the weed block paper since some adhesive will come through below while its drying. For longevity I hot glued 4' long thin pieces of wood to the left/right edges, still allowing the matts to roll up along their 6' width. These matts have lasted over a decade. You can also paint in dirt roads on the weed block paper and just don't cover them with adhesive - turns out fine.
Ah the caulk ‘n’ flock technique
Fuck, you had me in stitches
nice work , I use paint the canvas to seal it then use PVA instead of caulking. cheers John , thanks for sharing the info
I have seen some great mats using that technique. I'll have to give it a try one of these days.
so you paint the canvas like green grass and roads and then apply clear glue to seal it? is the pva watered down ?
I do love me some latex caulk
+TheVidMonster Very versatile stuff for sure!
looks great, can you roll or fold the mat up for storage?
I roll them up around a long piece of pvc pipe, I find if you fold them then often the creases remain and are hard to be rid of.
I saw a video where they rolled their mat on a pool noodle
very cool process, will definitely be giving this a go, want to try out both northern european and desert with this technique. Question though, do you have any links for the wood flower you mentioned? Cant find anything with a search.
Here is what I use. I would also get some rubberized clear flex seal to spray over the wood flour to lock it in or else it will shed saw dust for years
www.amazon.com/System-Three-3110S16-Brown-Flour/dp/B002K9WUKC
What is the flock recipe
What about a darker theme on a larger area? Would they look for big black caulk
You just paint it after putting down the flock. I use builders sand to do a board.
So cool. Can it be rolled for storage?
You mentioned putting flat stones to make a grid. Do you place stones and let them set in or do you use the stones to draw a grid into the latex so it cures with a grid on it? I want to make a city matt with a square stone floor and not sure if I should just plan to paint it on.
I stuck them to the mat with the caulk so that it cured into the mat...in hinds sight might have done differently as they were constantly falling out
Awesome! I have some extra canvas traps running around I need to cover now! Any suggestions for a tropical sand like mat? I’m doing a Scarif table for Star Wars Legion.
I wouldn’t flock the mat. I would just use the grit and caulk and then dry brush the mat with greys/yellows/offwhites.
Red Beard Baron what about using play sand? I am trying to make ww2 North Africa. I have canvas tarp. Was thinking of using your method but with sand. Maybe not the entire mat, only parts. Then dry brushing other parts. I don’t need hills or depressions, using other ideas for that.
Really helpful tutorial! Thanks much for posting it. A o have a couple of questions: I have a 5' x 9' table (a ping pong table), and I'm thinking about a dozen tubes. I'm not planning on texturing it, so do you think that would be overkill? Also, what weight dropcloth did you use? I think they come in light, medium and heavy, but I haven't been down to Lowe's yet.
Dozen tubes should be more than enough (8 might do it) as a thin coat is the way to go. I get the medium density canvas drop cloths. I’m sure others would work as long as they are canvas and not rubber or plastic
Thanks for responding. I was thinking about using the lightest density canvas to make sure it would drape over the "hills" I'll be draping it over, but I'll start with the medium. Thanks again!
Maybe I missed it - but I see you used PVA after the flock had dried over night but what did you put on the surface before you applied the flock to adhere it? Or was the caulk still tacky?
Yeah, after the caulk dries I'll put down several layers of pva to lock in the flock. Recently I've even tried coating it with the clear flex seal, which worked as long as the coat was thin.
What a fantastic battle mat, I've just bought a mat which was very expensive and no texture, very nice cheers.
Thanks! They are super easy to make! Planning on making a caulk mat with some faux fur and static grass soon...think it will be the ultimate play surface!
Is there a video for this? or a finished product to look at?
Still working on the hybrid mat, should have it out soon!
Thank you this is a Great help:)
Can i also use a bedsheet?
Hmm bedsheet would probably work, just make sure that the sheet is weighted down at the edges as it will want to curl during curing.
The bed sheet should be sewn first to the size wanted for your mat. The seam should have a zig-zag stitch right at the edge then turn that edge under and then make a straight stitch a 1/4 to 1/2 inch or so from the edge. If you don't use a finished edge after making your gaming area the edges will probably fray away due to the stitch content of your sheet. An alternative to try as a final top coat on a sheet might be to use "Mod Podge" as it works as a sealant and hardener. I would suggest using the matte clear finish with this step. Additionally it can be mixed with paint. I'm not sure if this would work to use from the beginning instead of or along with the caulk. You might want to try some sample pieces first to determine which combination gives you the best results. The reason drop clothes don't fray is due to the way they are made initially. They are sturdier and would probably work better and hold up longer to use. Good luck with your project. Please report back about your outcomes. Thanks.
Once you've covered it finally with PVA and it has dried, how messy is the mat when transporting and in use, does lots of bits still fall off?
As long as you got a nice even coat of pva over it, very little should come off. I even vacuum it after the pva dries just to to make sure.
Ah nice!
You can also spray on a mix of pva and water (1:1) with a febreeze style bottle (other products are available)
do you mix water into the caulking before applying? Do you add anything else to the caulking before applying...sand or grit....could you just apply it directly to the canvas? Thanks.
I don't add any water to the caulk just a little bit of sand and grit. Be careful not to go too crazy with the grit or it will result in excessive cracking.
This looks fantastic and easy to do for a complete novice like myself.
Any suggestions for what medium you'd do for a snow mat? I would like a grass, desert, and snow mat to play some skirmishes on. I already found a great written tutorial on how to do the desert.
For a snow mat I would make some bluish grey flock using wood flour as a base color to your mat and then sprinkle some professionally made foam-based snow flock on top of it as a high light.
Red Beard Baron Thanks for the reply! One more question: How do you cut the drop cloth? Does it fray? Do I need to do anything to the edges to protect it?
I just use plain old scissors. I haven’t had a problem with fraying but I cover the cloth with the caulk and then cut it out at the end. Therefore the caulk covers every square inch of the mat
I need to make one one these soon. Anything changed in how you would do them now? Do you roll these up for storage?
Yea, I now make hybrid faux fur and caulk mats and they turn out pretty awesome. Similar to my faux fur mat tutorial except I shave down sections that I want to be earth/dirt sections and then put the caulk/grit mixture on top of closely cropped areas. You get a really dynamic looking mat! I will have to make an updated video showing this process. Any yea, always roll up caulk mats or the caulk will crack; I roll them up around a piece of pvc.
Red Beard Baron thanks man! Looking forward to the hybrid mat!
Can you wind it without the texture come off
Outstanding! I want to try this.
Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for watching!
What size is the table you were using? I might make one of these maps probably 4x6 and I want to make sure I dont make too much or little caulk and paint mixture.
This was for a 4x4 but I had some left over, for a 4x6 I use one more tube of caulk and it is more than enough. Also, you should look out for brown colored caulk, I recently discovered it and it cuts out the need for the paint, making it a bit cheaper. Thanks for watching!
Alright, thanks for the tip! But just to be sure, in the video you say you can get away with two tubes even though you use four, so would you be using three or five tubes for a 4x6?
Three should be sufficient if you want a very thin layer, otherwise you could use 4 if you want to add a bit more texture.
How do you store your mats?
I roll them up around a large dowel rod so they don't get creased.
Lovely caulk bucket
Good stuff bro...
I've heared of all kinds of flour but what is " wood flour " ??
Very fine flour, not the coarse stuff you often think of. Believe it is mixed with wood glue in woodworking
What ratio of caulk to sand do you use?
90% caulk to 10% sand. Really don't want to add too much grit or I notice the mat tends to crack more.
@@RedBeardBaron Thanks Mate
Is there any methods to prevent cracks forming long term? I believe I saw a comment from you somewhere about your mat starting to crack.
+arath duiliath I find applying a very thin layer of calk and not mixing in too much sand/texture helped reduced cracking. Also be sure to roll up your mat around some pvc or in a poster tube and not fold it.
So when you roll it up for storage does any of the flock fall off?
No the flock will be locked in with the caulk and watered down pva. Just be sure not to fold the mat put roll it around some pvc or else the caulk can crack.
How do you dye the wood flour?
Just use cheap acrylic paint like apple barrel or even poster paint.
Thanks RBB.
Would recommend pronouncing it 'cawlk' by the way :-)
What is the fun in that?
What sort of weight (gsm?) Canvas did you use for This?
I'm looking for the right one atm and I can get a range from art canvas to gazebo canvas.
I'm sure either of those would work, but I use painting dropcloths for my canvas as they are extremely cheap. I would guess it would be a medium density compared to a light artist canvas and the heavier gazebo canvas.
Wonderful stuff!!
how the fuck.... do you manage to just throw 'caulk' out there roughly 200 times... and never crack yourself up?
2 mins in i was thinking to myself, okay Matt, you're just being immature. 7 mins in, i'm starting to insane giggle every time you say it.
Apologies, but can anyone tell me what the British equivalent of 'Caulk ' is? (Sorry.)
+Stephen Beat Believe it's called mastic in the Uk.
Silicone?
It's window sealing mastic for PVC double glazing units. In the UK you can get it in brown, which would be useful for a wargames cloth.
You can get Caulk in your diy stores, homebase, b&Q, bunnings, even sainsburys sell it. You don't want the silicone version as it is designed to resit water so water based paints wouldn't work well.
He is saying "caulk" isn't he?
That’s the real question.
Lovely caulk bucket was my stripper name
So much flock.
Yep, tons. That is why making your own is important for this, if you use wood flour it will cost you around $3.00. Thanks for watching!
I'm tired of utubers saying this is how they do things all the time like they have made thousands of this one particular thing and than screwing it up on the simplest mistake, therefore proving they have never actually attempted before what they are trying to profess with great authority. You can't just look something up and equate that to knowledge. Knowledge only comes from doing something again and again. Reading something is just the first step. Sorry for the rant. heh.
Thanks for watching! I think it depends on the type of channel. I have experienced similar feelings about some channels that specialize in battle reports. However, I don't think many of the terrain youtubers claim to the definitive resource in the area. I enjoy terrain videos because I can often pick up a technique or two that I would have otherwise never ran across. Personally, I would rather watch a video now in which someone is trying an innovative technique for the first time rather than wait 6 months until they have perfected it.
I appreciate your response.
Tinywargames