It's four really easy steps, but for those who want a little help to make their own, i took pictures of the process so you can follow and do it yourself:
This is where I began, a little paint, white glue and static grass (I mixed several different types to get my variant) as well as the four boring felt clad wooden boards:
Paint all the boards!
Add a little sand mixed with white glue if you want. Here it is winter and the sand outside is more or less like a pit of concrete, so I used vallejos grey pumice instead, my favourite texture material.
Paint the now dried texture, I drybrushed a few layers of brown, each lighter than the previous.
Mix some white glue with water about 50/50, and paint one board, then pour a lot of static grass on it, allow to dry for a while then shake off everything that did not stuck. Make sure to shake it on a newspaper so you easily can use it again! Repeat three more times and youre done!
You know, felt (about $8,m in a fabric store) takes spray paints, and brush acrylics really well, and stiffens as a result. The finished product doesn't snag, and the effects after spraying with various Krylon "stone-textured" painta, as well as various earthy colours, followed by dry-brushing, is really good. You can cut it into 1' squares, and it ends up looking really, really good. Light, flat, pretty indestructible, and easy to store.
ReplyDeleteYes, but then I don't get the sand/stone texture and will have to worry about the corners rolling up. But it is a good alternative. :)
ReplyDeleteActually, when thoroughly painted, felt dries up with a very nice "grassy" texture. And there are no snags. the Toronto minis society make very large felt mats, and they even sculpt them to make hills, felt dries so well if thoroughly doused in paint!
ReplyDeleteFor sandy texture I use Krylon sand textured spray paint. It's for outdoor furniture, but it looks like sand and rocks at wargame scale. It paints nicely when dried too. I have 6 mats (with rivers, waterways on permanently) and they don't curl up, the painted felt looks in one case like grassy fields (lighter green paint) and in another, like sandy desert (lost of sand textured paint).
You could cut them into 1 foot sections, and they'd make great panels too.
You learn something every day. Thanks for the info, it's always nice to know more about the material, perhaps this will come useful in a future project!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your input, mysterious stranger. ;)