Why dilute PVA?

[bummer6]

I'm currently in the process of coating my foam armor in PVA glue, and most people are telling me to dilute it. Is there any benefit to doing this other than saving some glue? I get that it might be a bit smoother if you dilute it, and you might get rid of some brush strokes that would otherwise show up, but is there anything more to it? Does it bond better with the foam if it's thinner? Cause I have noticed that PVA does tend to become like a skin over the foam rather than bonding with it properly.

 

[collinE83]

It's not really about saving glue. It's all about the brush strokes. I'm sure there's also benefit to having it thin enough to get deeper into the pores of the foam, but I don't know if it is as big of a deal. Some people try to save time and build up layers faster by doing a couple layers of undiluted PVA, then even out brushstrokes by doing a couple more layers of diluted PVA on top. Eliminating brush strokes only matters if you're going for a really nice finish to your costume. It takes longer, but important if wanting to take it to the next level

 

[bummer6]

I see. I was hoping I could make the PVA bond better with the foam by diluting it to make it more like Plasti-dip. I can peel off the PVA, but good luck trying to peel off plasti-dip! That stuff becomes one with the foam. That's why I don't really understand why people "prime" the foam with PVA and then spray plasti-dip over it... Sure, you save a few layers of plasti-dip, but you eliminate the main reason why I prefer using plasti-dip instead of PVA.

 

[collinE83]

I agree with the bond plasti-dip has. If you have really smooth foam, it's almost better just to do plasti-dip. If your foam has imperfections and lots of little holes, I think it fills in better and smooths out better with the glue.

Plasti-dip costs more, but obviously much faster to spray on than coating layers and layers of glue, so it's like I always say - it's only cheaper if your time is worthless.