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i was wondering what the material are used with the close up mats, i kinda dont really want to spend money on a mat, and i might even have a simlier fabric at home

If you go to hobbycraft, they sell foam sheets. These are about £1 and make great cheap (and disposable) close-up mats. It's quite thick and comes in a variety of colours.

HTH,

Vic

I may check this one out.

I'm after a large professional quality close up mat and the largest that I've ben able to find so far is around 16x12 inches.

If i remember correctly, they are made form the same stuff as wet suits, but its a lot of money to buy a wet suit just for a rectangular close up mat!

I suppose you could still use the wet suit, but that would kind of defeat the object of buying the wet suit in the first place.

Why bother? They are not that expensive....

The mats I am using are 'Fab Foam' from Hobbycraft and they are 450 * 300 mm (almost 18" by 12").

They are a neoprene and taks a pasting and still look good. They are useful when you need a mat in a hurry and they work out a lot cheaper than 'proper' ones which seem to start at £6.95 for a cheap (and not as good quality as the Hobbycraft material for the cheaper ones either!).

For me, they were first bought because I needed one in a hurry and noticed them whilst shopping with wifey and thought I'd give it a try.

HTH,

Vic

Hey check this out, did a quick search on ebay and found this 17" x 12" close up mat for £6.95 inc p&p. I have bought from this seller before and he is good! I might just have to buy one myself!


Click here to visit

Still worth having a look in hobbycraft though after all they're 1/7th of the cost.

Good to find another ebay vendor ecommended though - have bookmarked him,

Vic

I'm currently rebuilding and refurnishing a little card table that had been sat in a shed for twenty years. I'm repainting the table and recovering a new piece of hard wood with baize (that's the same stuff on proper casino card tables and pool/snooker tables). I was considering fixing a very thin layer of neoprene to the topside of the wood before gluing the baize ontop of that; thanks for the tip Vic.

Baize is fantastic for a closeup surface, I'm buying mine from Drinkstuff.co.uk. Depending on the type, it's either £4.99 or £13.99 per square metre. Personally I'll be going for the Soft cloth which is £4.99/square metre.

ok, i am in the USA, i was wondering..any sites taht sell this foam stuf for close up pads, that are in the usa? and does it come with the colored surface at the top?

I picked up some cheap thick green felty stuff. Works well for practising and presses in a bit too, so makes it easy to pick stuff up like coins.

vic_vdb wrote:If you go to hobbycraft, they sell foam sheets. These are about £1 and make great cheap (and disposable) close-up mats. It's quite thick and comes in a variety of colours.

HTH,

Vic

hmm problem is, most of us live in the usa
but i think i know where i can get the foam sheets

i might go to the local craft shop and see if they sell any types of sheets. i'll report back and see which one is the best

Anyone in the USA who knows of them can check out Jo-Ann's Fabrics. They have a material there that can work well for card tables/mats. I can't recall the name at the moment, but I'll check it out.

It has a nice soft surface and about 1/4" foam backing. Might be what you're looking for. Let me look tomorrow and re-post.

www.magic-mirror.co.uk

Why not buy one, they really arn't that expensive and last far longer than a home made one. They also look more proffessional.

Steve Dela

hmm problem is, most of us live in the usa

Actually most of us live in the UK