EVA foam - UK

Friends - I am new to the cosplay scene and have been watching a lot of YouTube videos on how to make armour etc out of EVA foam.
Most of these are made by cosplayers in the US - where it seems to be easy to walk into somewhere like Hobby Lobby and pick up all sizes and thickness of craft foam.

Here in the UK we have Hobby Craft. That’s it. And all it sells is A4 sheets of 1mm foam. It’s rubbish.

I have the floor mats - they are easy enough to find but where in the UK can you easily get hold of 3mm or 5mm sheets of EVA.

I have been trawling the Internet for weeks and can only find stuff from China.

Any suggestions please?

https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=150951 certainly about 3 or 4 UK options on that thread that should fit the bill.

What with Festival season in full swing, keep eye out in likes of Home Bargains as well as B&M. The yoga, sleeping mats they usually stock were perfect for me and come in range of colours (Which may help you stay organised, planned out).
Good luck.

equib said:

What with Festival season in full swing, keep eye out in likes of Home Bargains as well as B&M. The yoga, sleeping mats they usually stock were perfect for me and come in range of colours (Which may help you stay organised, planned out).
Good luck.

Click to expand...

I would offer a warning about yoga mats. They're not all created equal. Some are decent but you'll find that the quality can vary hugely. And it's not easy to tell by looking how it will behave when you start cutting.

Cormac said:

I would offer a warning about yoga mats. They're not all created equal. Some are decent but you'll find that the quality can vary hugely. And it's not easy to tell by looking how it will behave when you start cutting.

Click to expand...

Very fair point, I've never had any issue (other than realising the elastic which keeps the foam tightly rolled up wasn't a loose wrap around but was glued at one end to the mat/
A cheap option for those on a budget, if it's not quite right, least you have something to kneel on when cutting out the eva foam/ gluing or otherwise ripping your hair out with your first build.

Really can't be said enough, change your craft knives far more often than you think you should.

Search for' foam converters' in your area.