Last weekend was a nice sunny day so I took the I took the opportunity to make a new sci-fi tabletop mat. The material used is curtain material, it is a heavy material with a backing so sits well when laid over hill features and does not move around when playing a game.
The base colour began as a light green. My intention was to overlay this with mid-green, brown and grey colours so it would fit in with my existing terrain. Unfortunately I did not take pictures of the process to make it, but here are the step I took in creating the mat:
- Sponged on a watered down green paint (a sample pot from the hardware store).
- A second sponging of the watered down green was applied to get different depths of green.
- Sponged on a watered down brown (a tube of kids acrylic paint from the Art store)
- Carefully sponged on a mid-grey (which was not watered down) over areas of brown. This had to be carefully done so it did not look splotchy and in many cases I had to return a second time to build up the grey.
- Lightly sponged on a sand/cream colour on parts of the grey (a sample pot from the hardware store)
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The finished mat on the tabletop. |
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A close up of the sponging effect.
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An overhead photo of the mat. |
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Terrain and models added |
Very effective and sponging seems a gentler and material friendly way to go than rattle can spray paints.
ReplyDeleteI suspect sponging as a method is easier to control as you build up the layers of colour. With a dash of patience thrown in.
DeleteLooks great Peter!
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteThat is very effective Peter and love the look you have achieved:).
ReplyDeleteThanks. The effect is built up with the layers of sponging. At the beginning it does not look that way and I always think this is not going to work.
DeleteVery effective. It'll work well for any historical game set in Europe or North America too.
ReplyDeleteTrue, there is some flexibility in its use.
DeleteReally nice look, valid for this planet as well as others.
ReplyDeleteNot sure where to get patience around here though....
Thank you. I thought you would have an abundance of patience with all the casting of model soldiers you do.
DeleteVery nice. And I agree with A. J., it could serve on earth as well.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree and always good to get reuse. The most likely earth period would be as highland terrain with my Jacobite Rebellion paper armies. Thanks.
Deletelooks great! I have some terrain cloths in my to do queue and I never considered sponging paint on. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI always make sure the colour being sponged is heavily watered down.
DeleteWhere did you get the curtain material? (I trust the lady of the house is not screaming "What the f**k happened in here? Who stole my drapes? Oh, Peeeteeer...!)
ReplyDeleteAll purchased at a fabric/craft shop. My wife is a quilter so I get to see a lot of material. No disappearing drapes reported here.
DeleteThat came out very well!
ReplyDeleteThanks, I was able to get the look I wanted.
DeleteLooks amazing! Great job. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you.
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