I've watched many youtube videos now about using EVA foam and I have to say "omg! where's this been my whole life?!" this is awesome. Most of the videos show some application of the foam being cut to fit a basic shape and then heated to bend it into a curved form. I even saw a member here that created a body cast of herself and bent the foam over the body cast to acheive the correct shape. My question is this: If I'm making a mask which has more complicated curves than simply bending, could I create a positive and negative mold and press the foam between it? Would air-dry clay be sufficient for the mold or would i need something stronger so I could press upon it with more weight? Using this method I'd only really have one application of heat. Would that be enough such that keeping it pressed in the mold would complete the process?
EVA foam help
- Thread starter mavryk76
- Start date
Bob McCormick
New Member
A lot will depend on how complex a curve and how thick a foam. The term "EVA foam" is used rather loosely on boards like this to refer to a number of different foam products ranging from the thin craft "foamies" to garage floor tiles and camping mats. Some of these are more flexible and "curvable" than others.
I've found the craft foamies are pretty good at taking a curve. You could easily do a curved helmet shape, breastplate, or bowl shape. They're also cheap enough that it's definitely worth it to just pick some up and do some testing to see if it'll meet your needs. I've also worked with some garage floor "anti-fatigue" mats (these actually), and I'd be super surprised if you were able to get them to take a complex curve because of the rubberized coating that's on one side of the mat. :-(
If you've got a chance to pickup a small quantity of your target material I highly recommend running some small scale tests before you get to far into your project.
I've found the craft foamies are pretty good at taking a curve. You could easily do a curved helmet shape, breastplate, or bowl shape. They're also cheap enough that it's definitely worth it to just pick some up and do some testing to see if it'll meet your needs. I've also worked with some garage floor "anti-fatigue" mats (these actually), and I'd be super surprised if you were able to get them to take a complex curve because of the rubberized coating that's on one side of the mat. :-(
If you've got a chance to pickup a small quantity of your target material I highly recommend running some small scale tests before you get to far into your project.
Bob McCormick
New Member
Wonderflex and Worbla are awesome, but they're also a lot more expensive that craft foam. Besides, you might be surprised how much you can do with craft foam. Here's a couple of youtube video's that demonstrate getting surprisingly good curves out of simple craft foam. The second one is even a mask, which is what the OP was asking about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj-WC35cxgs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv5SXqgFRV8
Very Cool!
See, this is the sort of thing we need a sticky thread on to post links to tutorials and videos of the most commonly looked for stuff on here.
Similar threads
