EVA foam + clay

[butsekik]

Hi guys, i just want to ask if there's any kind of clay that will stick to an EVA foam? I want to add details on the mask that im doing but paper dry clay doesnt stick to the foam and is heavy. If you have any suggestions please i would gladly appreciate them. Thanks a lot!

 

[Zinger]

I don't know of any clay that would stick to EVA. Not well enough to withstand the abuse it would take at a con.

Have you considered sculpting your clay detail, then making a mold from it and casting the finished piece in rubber or foam? Casting simple parts is easy and you could use contact cement to attach it to the mask.

Punished Props has a collection of mold making and casting videos that could get you started.

http://punishedprops.com/category/molding-casting-101/

 

[Strikerkc]

It may also be worth looking at a brand of "green stuff" modelling putty. It comes in blue and yellow strips you mash together to make a modelling putty that will dry after a few hours. You can sand, cut, paint, it, etc. If you're making thin details, it will bend fine even after it dries, and can be super glued to things.

 

[JohnnyMarvel]

How fine are the details?

Thinner craft foam, puffy/3D paint and hot glue can all be used depending what you want to do.

 

[butsekik]

hi thanks! i already finished the mask on thin eva foam, but having a hard time on detailing...havent tried molding and casting yet. i just want to improve it, but don't know how. that's why i thought of adding clay to have more details...here's the actual photo of the mask, if you look closely, it's so plain and dull.. thanks for the recommendation!

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I don't know of any clay that would stick to EVA. Not well enough to withstand the abuse it would take at a con.

Have you considered sculpting your clay detail, then making a mold from it and casting the finished piece in rubber or foam? Casting simple parts is easy and you could use contact cement to attach it to the mask.

Punished Props has a collection of mold making and casting videos that could get you started.

http://punishedprops.com/category/molding-casting-101/

hi! thanks! but any idea how long will it take to dry? i only have 1 week to finish T_T and there are some parts of the costume that needs fixing. thanks!

- - - Updated - - -

It may also be worth looking at a brand of "green stuff" modelling putty. It comes in blue and yellow strips you mash together to make a modelling putty that will dry after a few hours. You can sand, cut, paint, it, etc. If you're making thin details, it will bend fine even after it dries, and can be super glued to things.

thanks! will it also stick to eva foam? and will it bend along with the foam? thanks!

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How fine are the details?

Thinner craft foam, puffy/3D paint and hot glue can all be used depending what you want to do.

hi thanks! i just want to make it look like that it doesnt look plain and dull. and cover all the seams of the foam...thanks!

 

[Neroon]

Another option might be to use cold porcelain. It would be similar (not as durable) as the suggestion Strikerkc made.

You can buy it pre-made or you can mix it yourself (the recipe isn't hard and it is cheaper) which would air dry. It would also be more durable than clay. And since one of the ingredients is PVA glue you could use that when applying it to your mask (which looks good by the way).

Here are a few links to get you started:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-Cold-Porcelain-Clay-air-dry-modelling/
http://www.clay-it-now.com/coldporcelainrecipe.html
http://www.figurines-sculpture.com/cold-porcelain-recipe.html

but there are a lot of resources out there.

~Neroon

 

[Strikerkc]

From my experience with green stuff, it will likely stick to the foam while sculpting small details, but it will need to be glued on once it dries.

 

[butsekik]

Another option might be to use cold porcelain. It would be similar (not as durable) as the suggestion Strikerkc made.

You can buy it pre-made or you can mix it yourself (the recipe isn't hard and it is cheaper) which would air dry. It would also be more durable than clay. And since one of the ingredients is PVA glue you could use that when applying it to your mask (which looks good by the way).

Here are a few links to get you started:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-Cold-Porcelain-Clay-air-dry-modelling/
http://www.clay-it-now.com/coldporcelainrecipe.html
http://www.figurines-sculpture.com/cold-porcelain-recipe.html

but there are a lot of resources out there.

~Neroon

wow! thanks for these! will try them out! thanks!

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From my experience with green stuff, it will likely stick to the foam while sculpting small details, but it will need to be glued on once it dries.

i see! will try to look for some of the green stuff if it's available here. thanks!

 

[SimplyTim]

This may sound crazy, and I wish I still had my research to back this up, but I have had really good results at using actual epoxy as a sculpting compound. I've found Devcon sticks to just about everything, and once fully cured you can Dremel, sand, hobby knife carve, dental pick carve you name it, once the outer surface looses it's adhesive property. And, while I haven't tried using it on foam, it is fairly flexible when cured just from my tests pulling it off my mixing card to play with.

 

[mdb]

Yeah, epoxy will bite through the grease that EVA exudes that makes it resistant to a lot of paints etc.

Also Holler! The page on clay-it-now mentions humidity. I can't use most recipes as I live in a mild but very damp environment. But I was still impressed with cold porcelain. I had a lump of it in my workroom in a plastic bag and it neither went bad and very slowly cured over about 2 years. So. Generally anything food based would have gone bad in that time.