The Project Project

Now that I had a dock platform, I needed some water. I have a water mat for Armada but it way to big for this. However, I also have a lot of bits of plastic-backed dust sheet and six of seven packets of decorator’s caulk to make my own mats. Rather than make a full size mat, I figured I’d use one packet of caulk and make a mat big enough for this specific table.

I pinned an off cut of dust sheet to the table topper so I knew what size to do and had something solid and flat to work on. I used craft paint to colour the caulk before I slathered it on; mostly black with a bit of blue. I would have made the water browner but truthfully I had very little brown paint left so I’d rather use it later than use it now when the outcome was uncertain.

These mats are delightful to make, not as messy as they seem. Once the caulk is down (accomplished by a combination of latex gloved hands and a spreader), I used a piece of car sponge to lightly texture the caulk. I’m not aiming for realistic water here, just something that doesn’t look like it has been smeared on with gloved hands and a paint spreader!  The main issue I have is finding somewhere cat-proof to put mats to dry. This one being small fit inside the shower cubicle on the mdf board.

It took a couple of days to dry completely but this is the state of it. It dried nice and dark, just slightly off black. I imagine that most games on this table will be taking place at night – no one gets up to mischief at the docks during the day! It would be easy enough to add paint over the top of this if you wanted to though.

There was a patch where I didn’t get the caulk quite thick enough and the texture underneath shows through however the ship that will be going over top should cover it without any issues. Next thing is to cut it down to size and the job is done.