I was wondering how many people have made their own close-up pads and what material you find works best? What type of cushion do you use between the fabric and the wood?

I've made a few close-up tables for myself and find that auto head-liner works great! It already has a little bit of cushion on it and you can probably just glue it to a rubber mat. You can find it at just about any fabric shop and it comes in many different colors.

Fred, I love your tie!

Emmett

I second auto headliner. I back it with a piece of 1/4" plywood (scrap paneling), no glue, and mount the whole thing in a metal picture frame. Gazzo suggests making the back side smooth for dice stacking.

Where could I find auto headliner? My local fabric store didn't know what it was. It sounds like the ideal material.

I too would like to know where to find it.

John
The Gospel Magic Man

Find headliner material at a place that carries automotive re-upholtery supplies. I have a local supplier, but there should be online sources, too.

I was also lucky enough to run into a local company that manufactured wet vests; neoprene vests, like divers' wetsuits. Same material that the Mullica pads were made from. They also carried a closed-cell foam for the backing, although it was about 3/8" thick, making a hefty pad. I don't know if they are still in business or not, but neoprene is available by the roll... although not cheap.

One thing I used for a closeup pad that worked extrememly well, although it didn't roll up was a properly-sized piece of very nice, tight, fine-grained carpet. I had the edges bound (serging also works), and coated the back with rug-backing compound (basically, a thick liquid latex). The latex can be colored before application with acrylic paint, which will dry the color of the paint, as the latex is more or less clear when dry. If unable to find rug-backing compound, mold-making compound is the same stuff. That is generally available at art and craft stores.

Thanks for your help!

John
The Gospel Magic Man

I suggest using Neoprien(sp?), the stuff they make wetsuits out of.

Washing machine friendly, and it comes in a lot of colors, too!

Best,
Patty

To add to the sources list... I was at Hancock Fabrics yesterday and they had several bolts of headliner material for $8.95 a yard. Not as many colors as my automotive supply source, but ok. It should be mentioned that this stuff has a foam backing which gives it the necessary spring, but there is nothing to grip the table if used as a stand-alone piece. It needs a backing of some sort unless it is secured to a table top.

Man, I'm so glad I found the Café! Unbelievable what I've learned here.

The auto headliner material does work excellent, as I've just found out. But for backing on a table I've built, I used some rubber shelf liner I stumbled on at Lowe's. The material on top of this works fine.