I've been watching your videos for about 6 months and have really enjoyed them. That said, this is easily my favourite of them. I'm very excited to try and make my own mat and will definitely refer back to this video in the process. Glad to see your success. Your love for this art really shows through.
Love this idea! I actually really liked the green before the last brown coats. I wondered why you didn't use artist canvas to begin with. Live and learn. Brilliant, Mel!
You have almost nailed it and have a lot of knowledge learnt...,There is nothing like a little f*ck up to aid progression on to better results.None of us are perfect and we all keep on learning :)
Great video Mel. I would've never thought of doing this. I reckon if you bought a roll of decent non-stick baking patchment from the supermarket (the stuff that is slightly more expensive than the cheaper greaseproof paper) and covered the table in that before you started, the cloth wouldn't stick to the table and you could peel the parchment off the cloth easily. One roll would be enough even if you overlapped the strips of it and it would only cost a couple of quid.
You could just put a plastic drop cloth underneath the cotton sheet. It will glue to it (which you don't really care about, having an extra thin layer underneath is fine) but it will also not permeate any of the caulking to the table :)
Great vid. When you were throwing those herbs around it looked like you were making a giant pizza :) Maybe throw a polythene sheet over your table first, should cure the stick. I reckon you chose right with the cloth. The fact it soaks through will make for a tough and flexible mat and may even give a bit of 'grippiness' when it's on your tabletop.
Yep, artists would know a few tricks for fixing a dented canvas. I've learned to gently pour hot water on the back, it probably makes the acrylic contract a bit again - so your friend isn't wrong about using heat. If you do this again, you might want to actually suspend it on a frame while working. It wont be completely stiff though. The weave will matter for elasticity, may actually want to try a thicker type of fabric.
Ive had good luck thinning the caulk with water spreading it over the top of dried caulk when applying flock. also you can use mod podge or watered down pva through the airbrush.. I run alcohol through after and run it under hot water to heat it up to break down the P and the V and the A inside the brush.
Cattail (Bulrush in British English, as I understand it) heads are made up entirely of seeds with long tails (relative to the size of the very small seed). If you have them available near you , the seeds can work well on terrain. I'll warn you that you can end up with a tremendous mess if you don't control the seeds. I'd recommend harvesting a few heads and dropping them into a sealed bag until the seeds start to come off of the head, then treat them kind of like static grass.
That looked absolutely bloody fantastic... and then you browned it all up... You have to do another one of those, Mel. But next time don't give it a brown wash, just a (few?) coats of PVA and see how that turns out for a greener mat. And I think having the open weave sticking to the board is not a problem but rather a good thing, that way the fabric doesn't shrink or deform while drying. I'm even thinking this might be a great way to make a textured board rather than a mat by leaving it stuck to the board. There's lot more of experimentation left here, not to mention videos :-)
I've been skeptical of these in the past, because they tend to look a bit chunky from what I've seen. Yours looks great though! May I suggest making a green fields mat as time allows, with jarvis flock? You could use it for photos for the countryside scenics series, or use it for a giveaway (everyone can use a nice green mat). Great excuse to test out grease proof kitchen paper and cotton duck!
I'm wondering how one could use this method to make a winter battle mat, I have started making some scatter terrain with some cheap christmass decorating trees and such and your videos have helped motivate me and helped me out with some techniques
The reason the caulk wants to stick to the MDF board is because its porous. If you used a glass kitchen table.... which is non-pourus or a clear gloss varnish over the MDF at least it would be alot easier. Secondly on that gloss surface if you spray down some sort of "mould release" like a silicone spray or something like that it will allow it to come away much easier. ☺
i think you should try it again with the same cloth, but using the wax or parchment paper underneath. I was actually thinking about that before you mentioned it.
Actually It is perfect tutorial. Now I'm thinking about making my own. I wonder however if you would put black stretch foil under cloth you had use and that apply caulking will it stick to foil and create some for of insulation ot the other side and make a mat a bit sturdier? I will try to explore this asap.
Instead of taping the edges of the cloth, you could try running a bead of superglue down them to stop fraying - might be worth testing on an offcut first.
Great video, Mel. Always learn from other people's mistakes. :-) Weren't you worried about using those seeds straight out of the packet? I remember the vid where you said you needed to use a dettol solution to kill off anything that could grow on your terrain when using herbs etc. Cheers Chris
I was watching all your videos this past few weeks..i am now crazy thinking how will i apply this designs for my sons project ,, its a farm agricultural diorama,, can u give me any tips and suggestions? Thank u.
I don't know what it's worth but I was thinking maybe something like a cloth bed sheet underneath the mat that that you could have as a soft cushion and paint absorver for delicate surfaces and much less sticking to the table, below the bed sheet you would only need something as simple as bands of saran wrap that you could pull of easy, glue your ends of cloth after shaping the base.
Hi Mel, that is great!!! I love your videos and your styl. could me maybe chat how i could made somethink simular but vor sci fi? Like concrete battle mat? greetings alex
I put an old plastic shower curtain that my girl already had used as a drop cloth for painting.. it pealed off the the battle mat cloth real easy. The stuff that soaked though did not stick to it.
You mentioned in one of the previous videos doing buildings, have you seen Sarissa's Far East Village set? I think they'd look right spiffy amongst all that jungle! I'm also pretty sure I'll be using that battlemat method, thanks for ruining your own MDF board so none of us chums have to!
Also, that spready thingy you used is, I believe, a putty knife. You can get them in sizes from 2" to 6", stiff or firm. They can be picked up at most any paint store. Furthermore, this board has inspired me (for whatever reason) to do a Manchukuo army for Bolt Action. Thanks for inspiring my inner modeler, mate.
I think maybe clingfilm over the MDF would have been an effective way to minimise the impact of sticking through soak through of the acrylic...maybe try that
I really missed Mel making mistakes and going "unscripted". There's suspense, there's drama when the video aren't completely scripted. It make it more fun to watch. In a sense you learn how to correct mistake and don't care too much about it. Great video!!
I have never even considered making a battle mat. Great work Mel. Out of curiosity, what would you think of using a painters plastic sheet on the underside? It would prevent the acrylic sticking to your surface AND you could just roll it up with the mat then you're done. It could be a protective layer too. Just a thought that occurred to me while I was watching you wrestle with the mat :)
25:17 hehehehe.....one could partake of the wanton, willing wench, Sophia Sutra, upon finding that particular happenstance, might get help shift that stubborn buckshot out of the barrel old boy, what-what hurrah!
Fun to see these kind of experiments work out for you Mel. Only thing i would have added was abit of other colours. Diffrent browns. But that might just have been the lighting. As for the squrter. I saw this last time in my DIY shop. It's an airbrush for housepaints. www.gamma.nl/assortiment/wagner-verfspuit-psg-45-dynatec/p/B563988?sg=b
Sorry I hit thumb down by accident and can't undo (Windows phone is pants). Any tips to get the wife to let me use the dining table for three days though.
Hey man from someone who hasn't got a clue about terrain building, I really appreciate stuff like this from people like yourself and Luke.
Here to help buddy!
@@TheTerrainTutor that's great and your videos always deliver. Never been into terrain but I'm leaning towards it now
Always great watching and learning from your experiments. I have to admit the joy I hear from your video made my day. Love your content!
"My favourite squirter is at home"
ends up spitting tea all over my painting desk......
Don't spit it out, get a squirter mate, far better coverage!
I've been watching your videos for about 6 months and have really enjoyed them. That said, this is easily my favourite of them. I'm very excited to try and make my own mat and will definitely refer back to this video in the process. Glad to see your success. Your love for this art really shows through.
Oh give it a month, I'll have a much better video by then mate
Yay! I'm glad you're trying a mat! I'm going to try one too.
16:00 put down poly between the mdf and the fabric maybe??? ...or use a frame/canvas stretcher
Absolutely amazing Mel love the Burma build vids living and learning is what
Miniatures and painting is all about
Cheers buddy
Great job Mel. I think a lot of us will be trying this. Keep us informed of any elite tips.
Plenty more coming!
Wax paper or 3mil plastic sheeting would make a great backing for that cotton, and would provide protection for the underside once dry.
Defiantly
Your genius mel! never thought of using herbs as terrain before wow!
Thank you so much for continuing the Burma build
It's a genuine pleasure
Love this idea! I actually really liked the green before the last brown coats. I wondered why you didn't use artist canvas to begin with. Live and learn. Brilliant, Mel!
Wanted to try cheap dust cloth mate
TTT: Screwing up so you dont have to. Now THAT'S a T-shirt. ;-) Thanx Mel, I thought this was super informative. And as always, fun to watch.
It's the way we roll buddy!
You have almost nailed it and have a lot of knowledge learnt...,There is nothing like a little f*ck up to aid progression on to better results.None of us are perfect and we all keep on learning :)
Yeah mate, I hear you, but now I've got the bug, I need to nail it!!!!!! ;-D
I love your channel, Mel! It´s a great tutorial. Greetings from Spain!
Cheers bud
Great video Mel. I would've never thought of doing this. I reckon if you bought a roll of decent non-stick baking patchment from the supermarket (the stuff that is slightly more expensive than the cheaper greaseproof paper) and covered the table in that before you started, the cloth wouldn't stick to the table and you could peel the parchment off the cloth easily. One roll would be enough even if you overlapped the strips of it and it would only cost a couple of quid.
Just watched the end of your video and see that you already thought of it!
Great minds!
That turned out great. Thanks for the hard lessons! Canvas seems best to use.
Slowly improving my technique mate
You could just put a plastic drop cloth underneath the cotton sheet. It will glue to it (which you don't really care about, having an extra thin layer underneath is fine) but it will also not permeate any of the caulking to the table :)
That's the way it's looking going forward mate
In fact when I made one it peeled off the plastic sheet underneath without difficulty.
This is great! I'm keen to see how that PVA works at sealing it all on to the mat in the long term.
Me too
Great vid. When you were throwing those herbs around it looked like you were making a giant pizza :)
Maybe throw a polythene sheet over your table first, should cure the stick. I reckon you chose right with the cloth. The fact it soaks through will make for a tough and flexible mat and may even give a bit of 'grippiness' when it's on your tabletop.
That's a damn big pizza buddy! I'm thinking along those lines but lots are suggesting either canvas or painters fleece. More experimenting to come!
"This won't be a tutorial"
Makes a great tutorial
You know if I'd been trying, it'd be crap lol
Yep, artists would know a few tricks for fixing a dented canvas. I've learned to gently pour hot water on the back, it probably makes the acrylic contract a bit again - so your friend isn't wrong about using heat. If you do this again, you might want to actually suspend it on a frame while working. It wont be completely stiff though. The weave will matter for elasticity, may actually want to try a thicker type of fabric.
taking us with you in your ride is a real time tutorial
a reality tutorial!
Your terrain must smell amazing, as well as looking amazing.
It does before it's sealed
it looks very nice, love to see how you learn and build it, now i want too do it my self. Thanks Mel!! ;-)
you're welcome buddy
Mel, can you give us a look at what it looks like with hills under the mat?
I'll have a play bud
Ive had good luck thinning the caulk with water spreading it over the top of dried caulk when applying flock.
also you can use mod podge or watered down pva through the airbrush.. I run alcohol through after and run it under hot water to heat it up to break down the P and the V and the A inside the brush.
Cattail (Bulrush in British English, as I understand it) heads are made up entirely of seeds with long tails (relative to the size of the very small seed). If you have them available near you , the seeds can work well on terrain.
I'll warn you that you can end up with a tremendous mess if you don't control the seeds. I'd recommend harvesting a few heads and dropping them into a sealed bag until the seeds start to come off of the head, then treat them kind of like static grass.
Way too messy mate, i've played with bulrushes before lol
That looked absolutely bloody fantastic... and then you browned it all up...
You have to do another one of those, Mel. But next time don't give it a brown wash, just a (few?) coats of PVA and see how that turns out for a greener mat.
And I think having the open weave sticking to the board is not a problem but rather a good thing, that way the fabric doesn't shrink or deform while drying. I'm even thinking this might be a great way to make a textured board rather than a mat by leaving it stuck to the board.
There's lot more of experimentation left here, not to mention videos :-)
Oh totally agree mate, think I'm going to hammer it over the next couple of weeks, see what I can come up with
I've seen a mat made with the fleece stuff you usw for covering your floor Ehen painting your walls. It has a plasticsheet glued to the bottom.
A few have suggested that mate
I've been skeptical of these in the past, because they tend to look a bit chunky from what I've seen. Yours looks great though! May I suggest making a green fields mat as time allows, with jarvis flock? You could use it for photos for the countryside scenics series, or use it for a giveaway (everyone can use a nice green mat). Great excuse to test out grease proof kitchen paper and cotton duck!
Oh plenty more playing to come matey
I'm wondering how one could use this method to make a winter battle mat, I have started making some scatter terrain with some cheap christmass decorating trees and such and your videos have helped motivate me and helped me out with some techniques
The reason the caulk wants to stick to the MDF board is because its porous. If you used a glass kitchen table.... which is non-pourus or a clear gloss varnish over the MDF at least it would be alot easier.
Secondly on that gloss surface if you spray down some sort of "mould release" like a silicone spray or something like that it will allow it to come away much easier. ☺
Cheers buddy!
Really great work. Your videos are very helpful, love them all.
How are the trees coming along?
Slowly mate
TheTerrainTutor well I look forward to seeing them :). Good up the great work.
4 Tubes Bose, Bloody brilliant!
I do the same method using painter fleece - it s cheap, thick, but flexible and has a plastic foil on the underside which seals it.
A few people are mentioning that bud
I love that battle map. it gives a hankering to make a desert battle map
Me too!
i was like "i'm ok with my table, don't need this" *20 minutes later* "i totally want to do one of those" I hate you mel! XD
Mwah! ;-D
i think you should try it again with the same cloth, but using the wax or parchment paper underneath. I was actually thinking about that before you mentioned it.
Agreed
Smear some Patrolmen jelly very thin over the table b-4 you tack down the burlap matte...I think that would work fine, no stick.
I've got for a plastic sheet mate, much easier!
Happy New year from Scotland 2020
Actually It is perfect tutorial. Now I'm thinking about making my own. I wonder however if you would put black stretch foil under cloth you had use and that apply caulking will it stick to foil and create some for of insulation ot the other side and make a mat a bit sturdier? I will try to explore this asap.
I would guess so mate
I wonder if you can use the same approach to make roll out roads and rivers?
Yep, works well matey
Yeah but we did it on an old sheet of lino
I think it came out pretty dang good very cool
Cheers!
love it, mel!
Instead of taping the edges of the cloth, you could try running a bead of superglue down them to stop fraying - might be worth testing on an offcut first.
That'd be 20ft of superglue mate!
Great video, Mel. Always learn from other people's mistakes. :-)
Weren't you worried about using those seeds straight out of the packet? I remember the vid where you said you needed to use a dettol solution to kill off anything that could grow on your terrain when using herbs etc.
Cheers
Chris
I wasn't planning on using this mat for that long, if it's an issue, I'll spray it with a fungicide mate
I use canvas and still get a little bleed through when I put it on heavy and press hard. Not enough to be a problem. Canvas will fork fine.
Cheers bud
Looks MINT!!...now that's a term I understand
I was watching all your videos this past few weeks..i am now crazy thinking how will i apply this designs for my sons project ,, its a farm agricultural diorama,, can u give me any tips and suggestions? Thank u.
Only you could be throwing herbs and say the board is looking 'mint'...
It's the way I roll bud
I don't know what it's worth but I was thinking maybe something like a cloth bed sheet underneath the mat that that you could have as a soft cushion and paint absorver for delicate surfaces and much less sticking to the table, below the bed sheet you would only need something as simple as bands of saran wrap that you could pull of easy, glue your ends of cloth after shaping the base.
That should work well mate
great , keep up the good work
BEST VIDEO EVER!!! Why? Because you shared the experiment and made mistakes.
It's the way we roll mate
Awesome video
Cheers buddy!
Would it be different if you dyed the material first to give it a darker colour ??
Doubt it, the caulking overpowers it
Hi mel Great vid. Try Clingfilm amd not grease proof paper
Hi Mel, that is great!!! I love your videos and your styl. could me maybe chat how i could made somethink simular but vor sci fi? Like concrete battle mat? greetings alex
20:30 if you know what i mean :D
Just kidding, great video mate!
Cheers matey
I put an old plastic shower curtain that my girl already had used as a drop cloth for painting.. it pealed off the the battle mat cloth real easy. The stuff that soaked though did not stick to it.
You mentioned in one of the previous videos doing buildings, have you seen Sarissa's Far East Village set? I think they'd look right spiffy amongst all that jungle! I'm also pretty sure I'll be using that battlemat method, thanks for ruining your own MDF board so none of us chums have to!
Also, that spready thingy you used is, I believe, a putty knife. You can get them in sizes from 2" to 6", stiff or firm. They can be picked up at most any paint store. Furthermore, this board has inspired me (for whatever reason) to do a Manchukuo army for Bolt Action. Thanks for inspiring my inner modeler, mate.
I have, no doubt I'll have a play with them at somepoint. No worries buddy, it's what I'm here for ;-)
I tried this method before and I covered my table in cling film to stop the mat from sticking to the table
Next time try using a paint tarp that has a layer of plastic underneath the canvas
A few have mentioned that
This is great!
I think maybe clingfilm over the MDF would have been an effective way to minimise the impact of sticking through soak through of the acrylic...maybe try that
I'm using a polythene dust sheet at the moment mate
Does it stick at all, or just less? :)
I really missed Mel making mistakes and going "unscripted". There's suspense, there's drama when the video aren't completely scripted. It make it more fun to watch. In a sense you learn how to correct mistake and don't care too much about it. Great video!!
I like going unscripted as well bud
I have never even considered making a battle mat. Great work Mel. Out of curiosity, what would you think of using a painters plastic sheet on the underside? It would prevent the acrylic sticking to your surface AND you could just roll it up with the mat then you're done. It could be a protective layer too. Just a thought that occurred to me while I was watching you wrestle with the mat :)
I'm using those plastic backed hesian painters sheets from BandQ at the mo mate
I use canvas painters drop cloths, the acrylic caulk won't come through
Cheers
Just get some iron-on hem tape for the edges... that will prevent fraying.
Thanks buddy!
Artist!
If you say so lol
You should do a rice paddy next.
It's on the list bud
nice!
I wonder if Mold Release would help...
Guess it would but a sheet of polythene would be cheaper/cleaner/easier mate
True, true. I was just thinking of what i have on hand.
how would you go about doing a north african battle matt using the same kinda way?
working on it now mate
I thought you were away to make larger sandbags with your dust sheet haha
First, also nice video Mel really enjoyed it
well loking good thare me save some hab mix get some veg and beef and did some stur fry will see more
25:17 hehehehe.....one could partake of the wanton, willing wench, Sophia Sutra, upon finding that particular happenstance, might get help shift that stubborn buckshot out of the barrel old boy, what-what hurrah!
Fun to see these kind of experiments work out for you Mel. Only thing i would have added was abit of other colours. Diffrent browns. But that might just have been the lighting.
As for the squrter. I saw this last time in my DIY shop. It's an airbrush for housepaints.
www.gamma.nl/assortiment/wagner-verfspuit-psg-45-dynatec/p/B563988?sg=b
I agree mate and I've got one of them, but I daren't unleash in the studio lol
TheTerrainTutor makes sense. I would have thoughed you could rig up a barrier around your table with cardboard or mdf
It's more an issue of dust paint particles getting on everything
Mel makes the Great Nutella Pizza ;)
Do what in seeds?!
Please do tanktraps
+Julius Storåkern in the lets make playlist bud ;-)
TheTerrainTutor haha now i see, always a few steps ahed :p
I'm here to help bud
Keep the beard bro
Sorry I hit thumb down by accident and can't undo (Windows phone is pants). Any tips to get the wife to let me use the dining table for three days though.
Spa weekend!
maybe some plastic sheet down first. Nothing fancy but this would do:
www.diy.com/departments/diall-polythene-dust-sheet-l25m-w2m/203211_BQ.prd
Cheers bud
next time put a plastic sheet down 1st
Crack On...
Lol