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Tips for Craft Foam/Fun FoamWeb tutorials
Flexible GluesI coat my craft foam with a thin layer or two of "Sculpt Or Coat" ( www.rosebrand.com ) before painting it. This allows the foam to take paint. It isn't cheap ($18 a quart and $42 a gallon) but it works wonderfully and there's all kinds of cool things you can do with it, including mixing in colors and textures. This glue is flexible and will take a curve instead of separating. == Jen RD A thought for glue: Sobo glue dries flexible; mixing it with water and works better than the Elmer's which dries stiff and keeps the foam stiff. == Aya That's a good tip for "Sculpt or Coat." I used fabric glue to coat mine, several layers, and was glad I wasn't looking for a smooth finish, because I never got one. But the results replicated the look of metal better than anything I've ever made with sculpey. == empressvill 3-M makes some absolutely wonderful flexible spray glues. They need to be used out side and don't clean up with water. 3-M 90 aka High Strength, give an amazing flexible bond... even when I'm gluing wire and straps in the center of a couple of layers of fun foam. It will secure a strap so sight, without sewing or bradding that the strap will break before it loosens. Get the whole line at http://www.foammart.com/ . It's expensive, but saves you so much repair time. Fabric Backing FoamPutting a backing on a foam will allow you to sew to the fabric. If an area does not show you can sew just to fabric, else you sew though both. The fabric keeps the thread from cutting though the foam at the slightest pull. Gluing the foam downGlues are very porous, not all glues will work. Don't use a glue with a solvent. You'll melt your foam. Best bet is a spray glue that is mean for foam. Put down wax paper before you spray.
If you can't get a spray glue, sometimes you can get a regular glue to work if you coat both surfaces and wait for it to get very tacky... put then together and let dry. == Jedi Elf Queen Heat n' Bond fabric iron on glue sheets sticks to fun foam really well. The heat n' bond fixes the fraying problem, though it will make your material stiff. ...I used the heat n' bond on the Eomer armor all over, but if you can see where I cut out the shapes for the front of the armor, that's just cotton material with the iron on glue (heat n' bond) stuff and it doesn't fray. :o) There's more details on how I did it on my site under
Eomer
Armor... They suggest you don't sew through it, but I did and it didn't hurt my machine... (I've also sewed through fun foam... though I don't suggest that for large projects) == Jedi Elf Queen DesignsYou can buy a hot glue gun for like $3 at Walmart. With a little practice they are probably MUCH better for drawing raised designs onto foam as they harden quite quickly - just don't do it on any place that will be flexing too much as it will come away from the foam after a while (but if you do it on "unsealed" ie non glued over foam, it will hold quite well and for quite a long time even with repeated flexing) == Aya For small pieces, embossing heat tools work well...you have enough control to treat a small area without potentially burning yourself or damaging other surfaces. == empressvill Finishes>What does the ironing do for it? == Jedi Elf Queen > After you decoupaged it, does the color stay on? Any smearing, or color rub off? I like to use fabric markers and paints first, because they stick to the fun foam without smearing (once dry) even before the decoupage. But the shoe polish probably would smear if you didn't rub it in well or got it wet - not sure. After decoupaging it's pretty well set. Though I went back with shoe polish again, t age it. I suppose one could age it with acrylic paint or something more permanent... == Jedi Elf Queen You'll need to pain everything with something waterproof or every time it gets wet your glue will go all runny because it' definitely not waterproof! Acrylics coated with clearcoat work, spray enamel, whatever... == Aya ThingsSpiky things. Think orc armor - I was making a helmet with spikes coming out of it, so I made the helmet itself from papier mache (ordered a styrofoam head for $4.95 on ebay. I built it up to roughly my head + hair size with tin foil, wrapped in saran wrap and then papier mached away) . I was trying to think of a way to get the spikes sticking straight
out of it to be secure (I didn't think just gluing wooden dowels on was
going to cut it) so I finally used drinking straws. I made holes for them in
the helmet, and then slit their ends so that they would fan out. I hot glued
& covered the fanned out end on the inside with a piece of craft foam.
They're very secure and very light weight. I've used craft foam for leather-look armor before, and for small metallic bits (like the coat clasps for Aragorn's ROTK outfit.) == Jen RD Aquarium tubing is excellent for covering the cut edges of fun foam. I used the plastic vinyl type; not really sure how good the silicone type would be as it might be TOO flexible. Cut it to fit, slit t (I just hooked it over the end of a pair of scissors, gave it a little snip and then puuuullled it to slice) and if you need to get a round a sharp curve or something, use a heat gun (or your stove burner) to heat it until it's flexible. Hot glue in place; takes two seconds and works well. Aquarium tubing I stole from the fishtank (we had a lot extra and I just snipped off what I needed and reattached to the pump) == Aya CombinationsI've used thin leather (old couch) and craft foam together and they work quite well. The leather makes it look better, supports the grommets etc. and takes out some of the painting steps, and the craft foam makes the leather a bit stiffer and thicker looking. == B On the other hand you can also use the craft form to build up designs on leather or vinyl. Use a flexible glue with no solvent. == Cat v ----- Advertisement -----v
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This page was last updated 04/22/08 |
