So

Heres the short story. Im making some puppets out of HD foam. Its kinda oragami with foam. I fold them in shapes then i glue or stitch them together.

 Now im trying to make lil hands, they dont need to function but look like hands. Yes for some reason im stumped.  looking to make them 2in long by 1 wide

Allllsooo
Is there an easy way to paint HD foam? can i airbrush it? Im getting to the point of finishing them up but i dont want them to be generic green.

of course im trying to make these for next to nothing :-/ and I see a lot of top notch work on here. Any clever ideas would help. This site is a wealth of knowledge that i enjoy a great deal.

Look forward to hearing from you!

I have things like liquid latex, barge, thread etc.

wire form covered in paper clay or polymer clay?  rolled/twisted paper?  floral wire and floral tape?  I have a rainbow of colors of floral tape or you can paint it.

Hope this helps the ball rolling!

Aloha,
Nikole

Foam covered wire has potential. These pupps will be done by friday and ill have pics of them soooon!

sure!  If you are using contact cement, it would be very easy to just set the glue on the foam and then add the wire and pinch together.  Somewhere on this forum is this type of technique and I think a youtube video to match.

Can't wait to see your new creation.

Aloha,
Nikole

I am not sure what you mean by HD Foam but I assume it is a poly foam. You can use Design Master or any other floral paint on poly foam. Since the foam is green you may have to give it several coats. Another trick that sometimes works on hard to cover colored foams is to spray them with Silver first as a base coat then the actual color you want.

I have found that a nice coat of Plasti-dip seals the paint very well. It comes in a spray form now that is awesome. Othewise I used Createx paints and mix a little latex in. Then use a single action airbrush. It will clog but the result is more lasting.

by HD foam I mean High Density, the green stuff we're all familiar with.

For the hands im trying to avid making them "gonzo" like just flat flaps that i cant really control yknow?

For painting the foam... Im attempting to airbrush but not sure how many layers it will take, and if thats an economical course of action. I also have to wait for this first layer to dry to see if the airbush paint im using, a cosmetic body paint, will hold and not crack or flake. thanks for help! keep the good advice coming

Does it have a plasticy service with no holes.  This might be a bit of a challenge to paint if I think I know the foam you are using and hopefully Sonny or another painter will be able to add more light to this subject and give you some ideas. 

Daryl H

Does it have a plasticy service with no holes.  This might be a bit of a challenge to paint if I think I know the foam you are using and hopefully Sonny or another painter will be able to add more light to this subject and give you some ideas. 

Daryl H

Challenging to paint indeed.

Good news is I succesfully made a very nice wig of human hair for my cher inspired pupp!

I dont mind them being generic green, the only prob is due to some of the foams age its faded from its original Bright green, so the green palor isnt consistant yknow?

grr low budgets!

I use what is called EVA foam which is pretty much the same thing as you are using for all my puppets as a rule. It is a High Density foam.  It can be painted with Design Master (name brand of a flora paint) with ease. I also use the spray Tool Dip paint that Sonny mentioned.  I have used the clear version of it as Sonny describes over the floral paint to give it a slick rubbery look and just the basic colors that it comes in. You can even use a base color of Tool Dip then plain acrylics to shadow and highlight then a clear coat over that to seal the acrylic.

The only problem is that floral paint and tool dip can be a bit pricey but It well last you a while and can be used on more then one project.