Craft or L200 foam armor methods. Posted by Shawn on Oct 08, 2011
LJ was asking about L200 foam and it got me to doing yet another search and I found this interesting article on the use of the craft foam version you can find in hobby stores. It shows how you can make armor out of it which may or may not be useful for a puppet but what I found interesting where some of the methods they used. I've used coatings with the thin foam like this but have never heat formed it before. Also found it interesting that they used plain white glue to assemble the piece.
http://www.entropyhouse.com/penwiper/costumes/helmsdeep.html
Re: Craft or L200 foam armor methods. Posted by LJ on Oct 08, 2011
WOW! I would never have guessed that you could do that with craft foam! Thanks for sharing that!!
Re: Craft or L200 foam armor methods. Posted by Billy D. Fuller on Oct 08, 2011
That was pretty neat Shawn......... great find.
Re: Craft or L200 foam armor methods. Posted by Out of the Box Puppets on Oct 09, 2011
That's great. Our local mall has an Easter display in the courtyard where the Bunny comes to take photos. They have these giant flowers that are made from about 3 or 4mm thick craft foam. They back the petal with wire and bend bend/stretch the petal like those instructions.
Julie
Re: Craft or L200 foam armor methods. Posted by puppatrick on Oct 09, 2011
Thank you for this - I've got a bunch of sheets of this foam, now I know what I want to do next with it! Great resource, Shawn, thanks
Re: Craft or L200 foam armor methods. Posted by Shawn on Oct 09, 2011
Maybe we should start giving our ideas of how this could be used other then armor. For example the flowers are a great idea. Also I know that while it was not the craft foam you get in the stores we do often use it the 1/4" L200 foam to make hats and mask out of. Ok I don't but the I've worked with folks who do.
Re: Craft or L200 foam armor methods. Posted by Angel in Tx on Oct 10, 2011
Shawn, this is an amazing find. My mind is swirling with ideas. I don't know where to start. I can think of all kinds of possibilities with puppets and props.
Re: Craft or L200 foam armor methods. Posted by Out of the Box Puppets on Oct 10, 2011
This is a little off topic, but related. Let's say I was making teeth out of the thicker L200, can I use rigid neoprene to cover it to make the surface smooth and more durable? What about semi rigid neoprene?
Julie
Re: Craft or L200 foam armor methods. Posted by Shawn on Oct 10, 2011
Hmm... since L200 is pretty firm and you are using it in a smaller piece, I bet the firm would work. I try to not combine a ridged product with a flexible one. In this case I think it would be fine though.
Re: Craft or L200 foam armor methods. Posted by kyledixondesigns on Oct 11, 2011
This is great! I've used this craft foam to make props for years, but I had never thought of heating it up to bend it. So cool! I DO know that if you need something a little sturdier, you can double it up. Craft foam comes with the peel-off sticky backing. You can stick/stack several pieces together to get the thickness you need, and the sticky backing is VERY durable. I've stacked up to four pieces and you can still cut it with a good pair of scissors.