Making a mold/casting an eva foam costume piece

Hello All,

I recently made a Bucky Barnes/Winter soldier cosplay with an EVA Foam Arm, which I was very happy with - but the foam arm and the paint did not hold up super well after wearing it to a con (Otakon 2017) - and I was hoping to try and make a more durable/permanent version. I was hoping to use the existing arm as a base, and make a mold/cast of it. Unfortunately, I am fairly new to molding/casting, and was hoping some of you fine folks could give me some suggestions! I was hoping to do it for under $100 - so I imagine the mold would probably be plaster or something of the sort, but would love some advice/help. Picture of the arm below.



If there is any more info I can provide - let me know!

How did you seal and paint it? Plastidip? What did not hold up well? Just curious. I'm building a suit now and with 3-4 coats of Plastidip the foam is now like rubber.