I know there have been some discussions in the past concerning what material people have used to make their own close-up pads. Most seem to favor 'headliner' material for cars, which is a thin foam-backed fabric. I was in a Joann Fabric store over the weekend and found that, yes indeed, they carry black headliner material. Right next to that, though, they carry another kind of 'utility' material. It most closely resembles the material from a neoprene mousepad or scuba wetsuit. It is about half the thickness of a typical mousepad. The nice thing about this material is that it has fabric backing on both sides, not just one side. One side is black, the other has a multi-color starburst pattern with black background. I plan to glue two pieces together, and then cut it to size. I will then have a very sharp looking, customized and reversible close-up pad.

Just for reference, I picked up a piece of material 24 inches (.6m) wide by 48 inches (1.2m) long, and it cost me a total of US$8. I love doing this stuff...it makes me not only feel like I found a bargain, but my magic has a personal touch.

Ray....interesting pick up and very inexpensive. When you glue the two pieces together do you think it will have enough resistance to stay on the surface? Also how do you think the quality compares to the regular close up mats you can purchase?

Shane

Shane...right now it looks pretty good. The material has a bit of 'slickness' to it, but it looks like it will be fine. It has enough weight to lie flat and grip the surface strongly enough to prevent slippage and give the right surface for cards. I have not compared it side-by-side with a commercially available mat, but first chance I get I will do so. I think this stuff will easily excel in comparison to some out there; probably not as good as the higher-priced mats but on par with the mid-priced ones.

One thing I did not mention in my previous post. There were several solid color, one-sided versions of this material as well for the same price. That gives me another way to go in this project. There was a gray, a burgundy/red and a black in the single-sided versions. That could leave the door open for a two-color mat, or a double-thickness single-sided mat with the non-fabric side down.

Dang I would love the burgandy I guess I am sold. I recently bought a comercially available one and I am not at all happy with it. For under $10 bucks I think I have the next solution....Google Joann fabrics

Nice find, but it will depend on where they will be used. I find most mouse type pads to hard for secret moves with cards and coins, but if your material you found works, great.

Two sided is a nice idea, but if used in a bar, where the tables and bar are ususally wet, it will rune the back side of the mat. This is also true if working for children who have been eating cake and ice cream at the same table.

Ahh, That is a very good point.

Neoprene at joannas

Great point, wmhegbli. I probably won't be working bars anytime soon, but kids with messy hands and spilled soft drinks...definite possibility. Yuck!

My favorite material for this application is Veltex: http://www.textol.com/t_veltex.asp

I'm looking for material to make a large close up pad that I can attach to a piece of wood.

should I just go searching for the headliner material or this wet suit / mouse pad type of material? I live in a big city, so there should be lots of stores that sell all sorts of material.

I mainly just want it to look nice, and I want to be able to do a nice ribbon spread.

how has some of this material held up over time?

Instead of building a close up table, I actually bought a keyboard (the musical instrument) stand. the cool thing is that it comes apart and the height is adjustable... and since it's designed to hold huge keyboards, it's very sturdy. right now, I just have a small piece of wood with a "large" close up pad... but those pads aren't that big, and I wanted a big surface to work with. so I have a bigger piece of wood that I want to use instead, but I want to cover the whole thing in a nice fabric/material that looks nice and is a good surface to work with.

Headliner material, the foam on the back side will breakdown over time. On a large project I recommend using standard foam material and covering it with Pool Table Felt. You can buy the felt at stores that sell Pool Tables.

I did not read on the Original Post if the material he found has any give to it. Close-up pads are used mainly to make it easier to pick up coins and cards unseen by the spectators. I don't believe the material he found has much if any give to it.

thanks for the tip! pool table felt seems like it would work well.