How to make your own close up pad for cheap


By Magikrn


Step 1.

Get in car and drive to Target or equivilent. Once there, go to the dollar section and buy a yoga mat for $2.50. While in that aisle, find 5 different cups you think you can turn into a chop cup. Also pick up at least 3 toys for your kids. You are at Target so check out the card section to find the newest Bicycle cards to hit the market and buy 3 decks for your collection.
Go to cash register and find out that you spent $34.56 on stuff you didn't need.


Step 2.

Go to Walmart because Target doesn't have a fabric section. Pick out some felt or velvet material that will complement you nicely. I personally preferred green felt, the kind that goes on a pool table. It costs around 5 dollars a yard, which is more than enough. You are at Walmart, might as well check out housewares for any cups that can be turned into a chop cup. Find a martini shaker that would work well,

Check out at the register and you spent another $30.34 on, again, something you didn't need.

Step 3.

Go to supermarket to pick up a tasty beverage for drinking while making your new pad. $15.54

Step 4.

Go home and cut out your new yoga mat to size. I chose to make it 11X16 but any size you want is good. I also doubled up on my yoga mat to give my closeup mat some thickness, which is good for my new cups I bought.

Step 5.

Cut out fabric to size so that it will overlap the mats when glued in place.

Step 6.

Glue the Pieces together using fabric glue........fabric glue?

Step 7.

Get back in car and head back to Walmart to buy fabric glue. While at Walmart, head over to electronics to check out some cds. Find Lord of The Rings Battle for Middle-Earth on sale in video game section and buy that. You can't go home without something for the wife, so buy her a game too. $28.54

Step 8.

On way home, stop off at Mcdonalds and get lunch for you and the family. $18.45

Step 9.

Glue the two pieces of mat together and let dry 24 hours like the glue says.

Step10.

5 minutes later glue fabric to mat. Roll fabric with a rolling pin to make sure glue is spread all around evenly.

Step11.

Spend 15 minutes cleaning glue off table. Make not to self that maybe putting some paper down would be a good idea next time.

Step 12.

Fold ends over glue to bottom of mat for a finished look. Trim off excess fabric.

Step 13.

Place pad down on table with the fabric side down and place something heavy on pad so that the pad will be nice and straight when dry.



Now that you are done, it's time to clean up the mess and calculate how much this little pad cost.


Materials= $15.00
Time spent= 1 full day
Money spent on other items= $100.00


I hope you have as much fun with this as I did, it sure was a blast!!!!

Well, it's a good idea and all but why pay $15 for a homemade one when you can buy a nice one from penguin or any other magic store for the same price?

This is more of a joke than anything, and that was kind of the point. Why spend this much time and money on something when you can just buy one.

It was more like 8 dollars total anyway, and it works great.

becasue its the feeling of a job well done by yourself

whats better?

having s*x or watching s*x?

Indeed...i love making my own magic and props....it just feels better because you make it the way you like it...

That's a good way, magikrn. I made my own closeup pad too, but in a slightly different way.

I went to Joann Fabric's. (anyplace that has fabric) And I bought a big (about 20 x 16 in.) and simply cut it into the size I needed it. I'm assuming you all know what a closeup pad feels like, so just look for that fabric.

Another thing I've noticed, that the corners are pretty much like a pure rectangle, but what I've done to make it more "smooth" if you will, is trim the corners so its more of a curve.

A downside of having this, is that it doesn't have a rubbery thing at the bottom of the pad. The rubbery part is just so it wont slide on smooth surfaces and it'll stick to the surface a lot easier.

However, mine is black, pretty much all they had, but I didn't mind. Black is a cool color, but I find that it collects dust and lint A LOT more than other colors. Just watch out for that.

Hope this helped!

I made a close-up pad from felt and that no-slide rubber padding used in tool boxes. I've actually made several in different sizes and shapes.

Lol! Nice. I love making my own stuff if it seems cost/time efficient. However as a full-time professional TIME is money, and in this case it is far better to just order the pad. I'll leave making it to the kids who have no gigs to do, and a ton of free time.

Hahah awesome, I LOLd at your $15 beverage

I may also post a tutorial later on how to make a half-assed raven for under $3.00.

But as a professional, don't ideas, plots, and gimmicks occur to you that aren't on the market? In such cases, we don't have much of a choice but to make them ourselves. I've had a bunch of ideas for packet tricks and promotional card magic, but the items I need aren't on the market; hence, I've invested the time and money to create them myself.

Time creating new effects, gimmicks, and plots isn't wasted it's an investment.

As you said, it's more cost effective to buy a close-up pad, since they are openly available; however, if you want a close-up pad that's oversized, custom printed (for trade shows), or strangely shaped you could pay hundreds to have one custom made, or you can do the same thing for a few dollars.

Personally, I do alot of customizing either for myself, a client, or for other magicians who don't know how. Promotional magic and "Branding" are somewhat a specialty of mine, so I'm looking at it from a slightly different perspective.

We are not talking about making "specialty items" to fit a client's or a personal need, we are talking about stupidly making something widely available like a close-up pad. Of course I make some of my own gaffs, props, and other items that are not available, as well as make all my own flyers, business cards, tables, poster boards etc. But we are talking about broke or cheap kids trying to replicate items under $10 just so they don't have to buy it. Which could also be classified as stealing.

But yeah I need some new sponge balls so I am going to go hack up a sponge to save money...I am a genius!

There goes sirbrad living up to his name again... the President of the Cannot define as to whether he is serious, joking, or being sarcastic club. Hahaha.

We where talking about making stuff; I'm just expanding the conversation.

As I agreed before, making a close-up pad would be a waste of time and money, unless you need a specially sized, shaped, or printed one. Again, people replicating inexpensive things (and spending the same money) is foolish. I don't see how it could be considered stealing though.

On a side note: I have my business cards printed by an internet service because I've never found a reliable way to print nice ones myself. What do you use?

You calling me stupid Brad......


The only reason I made this pad was because I had some felt lying around for a table I built, and when I was at Target I saw the yoga pad and bought it. I already had the glue, because my mom does nothing but make her own clothes and blankets .

The rest of the story was just for fun.