The Fur of the Bear that Bit You II: Finished DIY Gaming Mat

It's finally finished. I'm a little embarrassed that such a simple project took this long, but the important thing is that my gaming mat made from teddy bear fur (wip post here) is finished and ready for action.

The most grueling part of this process is trimming down the fur. Even ordering the shortest pile, I found that the fur was too thick to be able to place miniatures on reliably, especially when I factored in the extra stiffness that paint would give the fur.

The solution? Yup, go at it with a pair of scissors. If you feel like throwing an extra $15 at the project, you could invest in a pair of clippers—but that's just not where I was at. Furthermore, I found that the scissor treatment gave a rather uneven 'tufty' finish that appealed to my idea of what a matted, unkempt field should look like. And for all the tedium, I found that four evenings working at it for about a half-hour each while I watched a t.v. show saw the job done. I would recommend wearing a mitten or similar on you scissor-hand to prevent discomfort.

I took a couple of WIP pics of this stage, above and below. It's a little hard to make out, but in the image above, the trimmed section is at the bottom. In the one below, it's to the right. If you look very carefully, you might make out the difference in the fur's texture. Untrimmed, it's very smooth, trimmed, it's rough and wavy.

Unfortunately during the painting stage, I temporarily lost my camera. Luckily, however, the process is literally as easy as taking some very thin acrylics (like, skim milk consistency) and rubbing them all over the fur one patch at a time with your hands. (I used rubber gloves, but don't let me tell you what to do.)

I used a selection of three dullish greens, some brown and some yellow. I'd splash on one or two colors and then run through it with my hands until it was spread through the fur. If it needed more variation or there were portions without color, I'd splash in some different colors and repeat until I was satisfied. Once I'd covered the whole mat in this manner, I hung it up to dry.

Above is the finished, folded mat. There's no beating this thing for portability: It's light, packs small, and does not wrinkle or curl.

Here it is laid out. I put a couple of small plates face down on the table to serve as low hills.

Here's what it looks like with some scenery on. Of course, once I had it dressed up, I couldn't resist taking down my collection and organizing a little scene...

A desperate coalition defend the standing stones from dwimmer-beasts

The odds seem insurmountable.

The lines converge. Ruin is nigh.

Evil Majickers raise reinforcement from the barrows.

The doomed defence looks to be overwhelmed...

...but for the horse-thegns of the north who ride upon the wing!

The dwimmer-beasts falter...

...the horses scream...

...the hill trembles....

...and something watches from the barrows.

Got something to say? Tell it to the turf.