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I've picked a static grass mat, one of the ones that's static grass glued to brown paper, to make a small gaming board. I want to paint it to match the bases for my miniatures and I'm wondering if anyone can tell me:

Should I seal the grass mat with something (like watered down PVA) before priming it? And once it's painted, what's the best way of keeping it from getting damaged (another PVA layer or a varnish, etc)?

Thanks folks!

I'm not even certain it would be worth even attempting it to be honest!
If you covered it in PVA,it would just waste it,at least it will turn the grass 'spiky'.I had a 6x4 table covered in these type of mats and it stood up to a lot of punishment from miniatures etc,without damage. The one thing to bear in mind it will always shed grass/it gets everywhere.

You're probably better off buying static grass of the colour you want yourself as I don't think you'll be able to paint something like static grass. Flock might be more suitable for that kind of thing as you'll be able to colour it yourself.

Slipstream wrote:I'm not even certain it would be worth even attempting it to be honest!
If you covered it in PVA,it would just waste it,at least it will turn the grass 'spiky'.I had a 6x4 table covered in these type of mats and it stood up to a lot of punishment from miniatures etc,without damage. The one thing to bear in mind it will always shed grass/it gets everywhere.

When you say "spiky" do you mean like it would turn the static grass rigid?

Tyranid Horde wrote:You're probably better off buying static grass of the colour you want yourself as I don't think you'll be able to paint something like static grass. Flock might be more suitable for that kind of thing as you'll be able to colour it yourself.

Do you reckon painting would cause the mat to fall apart? I was thinking of gluing it to a cork board to enhance the resilience. I've primed and painted static grass for my miniature bases (sealed with watered down PVA before priming), but I'm not if this would be ok for static grass that is glued to paper like this grass mat.

Those mats are meant to be glued down to a terrain board or layout (and you can only do a small section at a time when you do, or the glue shrinkage will cause ridges where it pulls up).

They aren't meant as a roll-out mat for gaming purposes. The paper backing isn't tough enough for that.