TUTORIAL: Badass Budget Battlemats

THE DROP CLOTH

First we&#;re going to prep the canvas drop cloth.

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This large sheet of fabric will both be canvas (because it is a cheap material and easy to find) and BE our canvas (because we will be painting and sculpting on it!). Canvas is sturdy, tough, and a decently heavyweight fabric. It will serve as the perfect backdrop for our mat.

I bought a larger canvas drop cloth at the hardware store.  The toughest part about this process is finding one without a large seam going through the middle.  Some drop cloths have them, others do not, and some may or may not have them depending on how that particular cloth was manufactured that day at the factory- it seems random. And for the normal purposes of its use (getting messed up and grubby with paint) that is a perfectly normal flaw for it to have.  What we&#;re looking for is at least a 6&#;x4&#; section of cloth that is uninterrupted by large bulky seams.

The best method I found to get these large uninterrupted sections of cloth is to buy a much larger drop cloth that I KNOW has seams and plan for it.  This also works out to be the cheapest way to get fabric for multiple mats, if you have plans for that. The drop cloth that I bought was enough fabric to make SIX 7.5&#;x4&#; pieces and was around $30 USD! That&#;s only $5 USD per mat, plus approximately $10-15 USD for the acrylic latex caulking. [Biggest downside here is if you only want one mat, you end up with material for six. Perhaps you can split it with a buddy?]

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You can also get canvas cloth from the fabric store, just be sure it is wider than 3 feet and a little longer than 6&#;. You CAN work from a perfectly sized piece, but the process will be more difficult as you can&#;t clamp it down to hold it in place while working. Also, buying canvas elsewhere will be more expensive.

Great quality mat!

I was pretty skeptical about getting a plush blanket mat with a cobblestone print on it - seems like it would not look good if it got brushed the wrong way, but the image on this mat is excellent - Overall a little shiny, but not a dealbreaker especially considering the low price and free shipping! Wanted to hold out to try the flat cloth version, but it wasn&#;t available yet, and I needed this quickly for a scheduled game.

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