What To Do With Yoga Mats

Tuesday Morning had these yoga mats on clearance. I already have a yoga mat that I barely use. However, since the price was so good, 40% off $9.99, I was sure I could do something dolly wise with them and grabbed three.

My clearance luck was with me once again because one of them rang up as $0.00 so the lady gave it to me for a dollar and I got all three for $13.91. Score!

The most obvious thing to use them for is as a photo or wall backdrop. They are 24" x 68" so it gives you plenty to work with even though the color choice is rather garish and/or blah.

The most ambitious thing I wanted to use one for though was as a piece of asphalt. Yoga mats have that nice bumpy texture that I figured would look like asphalt or concrete if painted. This was also the perfect thing to try spray painting on. If the paint smell was too much for me I'd rather it be done on something like this that I can trash rather than furniture or something I want to keep.

Walmart only had one of these cans and it was barely enough to cover the mat. I got the "for plastic" version because I have no idea what a yoga mat is made of but I knew I was going to be rolling it up and I figured the plastic paint version would have more flex to it and be less likely to crack.

I sprayed this outside on concrete instead of grass because I didn't want bugs to get on it. However, I didn't realize that my cardboard underneath wasn't wide enough. When I lifted it up, there was a faint, but clearly visible, paint square on the concrete. Luckily, the concrete was dirty and dusty so I was able to sweep the paint residue up. Whew, I would have been in trouble!

I painted this six days ago and the first couple of days I thought I was going to barf the smell was so bad. I left it outside for eight hours when I initially painted it but then the weather got cold so I had to bring it inside. Ugh. There is only a faint lingering odor now that isn't so bad.

I actually need to spray a layer of polyurethane on the mat because EVERYTHING sticks to it. Even little spiders got stuck in it. I don't know if the poly will eat the mat, so I wanted to take some photos before hand, in case it does.

Here are some of the ways I want to use the "asphalt."

As a walkway, but I don't think it works so well.

 

As parking spaces. I like this a lot!

 

As a street - I like this too!

 

You could also use it as a basketball court but I didn't have time to make that. If I can control the stickiness factor, this might be one of my better ideas.

11/19/13 Edited to Add:

Success! I purchased this sealer from Walmart and it worked great. After applying one coat it was nice and dry to the touch within 10 minutes, as advertised. I still waited about 30 minutes to apply another coat. I just wanted to be on the safe side in case I missed any spots. It comes in flat and gloss. It also doesn't smell as bad as the paint, nor does its smell linger as long. It's good stuff!

12/5/14 Edited to Add:

Over a year later and I now know that neither the paint nor the sealer will retain its hold on a yoga mat. See video below.