Make a better mouse-pad*
One of the advertisements for the Apple Pro optical mouse claims that it needs no mouse pad. I tried my birch plywood desktop but found it wanting. The optical mouse works on the desktop—in fact, it will work on a pant leg—but on my desk, at least, it sounds a bit scratchy, and that detracts from a truly elegant mousing experience.
I went back to my gray Apple mouse pad. But I wasn’t satisfied. The mouse pad is so ten minutes ago. It’s beige, it’s thick and clunky, and the edge of the plastic surface is sharp. So I went out to my shop and began experimenting with mousing surfaces.
Alpha
I thought a clear mousing surface would complement the beautiful clear-plastic look of the mouse, so I started with clear plastic. I tried three different kinds of plastic, and all have slightly different feels. First, I cut the clear plastic off of an old three-ring notebook, then I found a sheet of clear acetate in my art and stationery supplies box. And finally I bought some clear vinyl from a fabric store. All of these are clear enough and easy to cut to size with a craft knife, ruler and a cutting pad or a piece of discardable cardboard. But they all slip around on the desk surface.
Beta
After some experimenting, I discovered coating the plastic with Plasti Dip Spray On Coating. This is a fairly heavy plastic coating available at hardware stores. It comes in several colors, but I used clear, of course. To successfully and safely coat a mousing surface, follow these steps. Work in a well-ventilated space. Cut the plastic oversized and clean it with a solvent such as lacquer thinner. Be sure to use plenty of newspaper to catch any overspray, and spray carefully to get an even, wet coat. Allow to dry several hours or overnight. Finally, warm the plastic with a hair dryer and place a large, smooth book on it to flatten it. Finally, cut it to size.
The plastic coating does not slip on the desk surface, but it also does not stick to the desk or come off of the vinyl easily. (If the plastic coating eventually does begin to peel off, you can rub it and peel it all off, reclean and respray.)
I was pretty pleased with my beta mousing surfaces. The vinyl from the fabric store is the softest and heaviest material. The acetate is the thinnest and stiffest. And the notebook plastic (probably a slightly harder vinyl) splits the difference. But after using them for a few days with the optical mouse, I noticed a slight flaw.
The new optical mouse has a different kind of plastic rubbing surface than traditional mice. Under most use, it slides smoothly on the beta surfaces. But if you’re holding the button down, pressing on the mouse, the mouse sticks ever so slightly. You might not notice this at first, but spend a couple of hours working in Photoshop and that tiny stickiness gets to you.
Beta 2
I began to think about other kinds of surfaces that would not stick, yet would still capture the elegant look of the new Mac designs. It occurred to me that Teflon might be ideal, but where would I get it in sheets? Then it struck me: Teflon-coated baking sheets. These are thin sheets of a kind of cloth coated on both sides with Teflon. You put them in the bottom of a cake pan, pour the batter on top, and turn any normal pan into a non-stick pan. Kitchen stores sell them in the Baking Specialties section. For about five dollars, you get enough to make two mouse pads.
But these sheets are very thin and curly. And, of course, they’d slip on the desk. Alone, they wouldn’t do for a mousing surface. After several more experiments, I found that I could laminate the baking sheet to the vinyl from the fabric store using solvent-based contact cement. (Again, use only in a well-ventilated space, and clean both surfaces well before applying the contact cement. After brushing on the contact cement, allow it to dry completely before joining the surfaces carefully. It’s hard to get any bubbles out.) Then apply a good spray on the other side of the vinyl with Plasti Dip to prevent slipping.
And voilà, a graphite-colored mousing surface. It isn’t the shiny jet of the optical mouse, but it does match the graphite face of a G4 pretty well. And the feel is like silk. No matter how hard you press, the mouse will not stick. The vinyl has enough softness and thickness to absorb any noise, but the total thickness isn’t enough to bother the heel of my hand.
But will the world make a beaten path to my door?
I doubt that anyone would buy a mousing surface like mine. But I get a kick out of having a unique mouse pad that works to boot. My wife is happy with one of the vinyl surfaces and her traditional Apple ADB mouse. I’ve used the graphite-Teflon surface for more than a year now and love it. The Teflon baking sheet may creep a bit, but you can just trim off a tiny bit off the edges to give the pad a new look.
*With apologies to Ralph Waldo Emerson
Update 05 19 05
The mouseing surface detailed above finally wore to the point that I noticed the scratchyness. (four years ain’t bad). To make matters worse, the local store where I bought charcoal-gray Teflon baking sheets stopped carrying them. I looked on the web, but the baking sheets I could find were a sort of orangey beige, not at all elegant on a desktop (but fully useful in a kitchen). Finally, I found a source of the DuPont Teflon NoStik baking sheets, at kitchenkapers@comcast.net. They sell a set of two, one large rectangle and one circle. Oddly, the circle seemed a bit stiffer, so I used it for my current mouse pad, which is actually just the plain Teflon sheet taped onto a Wacom Intuos tablet. I still use the Apple Pro mouse for most tasks, but can pick up the Wacom pen or the Wacom three-button, scroll-wheel mouse whenever I need them. All three feel remarkably smooth on the Teflon, and the look is more elegant than the Wacom tablet alone.
I used clear packing tape to hold the Teflon sheet onto the pad, and the tape also serves as a hinge, in case I want to flip the Teflon up to use the transparent plastic of the pad for tracing.
This is much simpler than the plan detailed above, has the bonus of being able to use both sides of the Teflon sheet, and provides a deluxe mousing surface, two mice and a pen.
