Expanding Foam and You: Wrap it up

After a long break due to events season, I am back in the blogger seat. I'm breaking my rhythm to start with a cosplaying blog to wrap up my expanding foam cliff hanger. As we've learned, a lot of this project is based on feel. There is not a formula for how much to carve or where to paint. I can only hope to provide tips to help.

When we last left off, I had finished carving the staff and wrapped it in masking tape. (You can catch up with part one and part two.) We are only losing detail from this step forward so work hard to retain what you have.
When wrapping the staff in tape, make sure to use smaller pieces to help you retain that detail you have carved in. Take your time with this step! Push it into your gaps and massage the tape around the edges.

Half tape -- Half paper mache staff

When you finish wrapping the foam in tape, then you start to cover it in paper mache. Same rules-- use smaller pieces when necessary, push into gaps, and massage around edges to keep the rounded and pointed details. I used good ol' fashion newsprint and watered down some elmer's school glue for this step. The final product was one layer of tape and two layers of paper mache.

Let your staff dry between each layer. Especially let it dry after your final layer. Paint and wet glue mix poorly. 

** Here is where I skipped a step the professionals do. I did not cover the paper mache layer in something like clay to smooth the project out. Depending on your time, budget, and level of scrutiny, you may want to add that step in.

I spent my drying time buying multiple shades of brown to get started -- dark brown, light brown, normal brown, tan, cooper. The first layer of paint was brown everywhere to give it a base. 

After that, most the staff received a second layer of brown because the newsprint was still showing through. But after that I got into using the different colors. Working with slightly wet paint on the second layer helped me blend in other colors, especially the lighter ones. 

The final finished product! I was very proud of how it turned out.  From a distance and even a conversational distance, it is hard to tell this is made from foam and paper mache. Up close with a LOT of light, you can see the outline of the strips of newspaper. For my use though, it works great!

Missed a part? Go back and read:
Part 1 - Foam Art
Part 2 - The Carving

Expanding foam and You: The Carving

Welcome back! To recap, I covered how I created my expanding foam monstrosity in part one.  Now we go on to what I found to be the fun part-- carving the staff out!

Here's what I had to start with. A large and in charge piece of foam that looks like a horror show.

This is a messy process. Be sure to lay down a well anchored tarp to control your shavings as your cut foam off. You can see the start of my work at the bottom of the staff where it is smoother than the rest.

This is also a risky process because you are working with sharp blades.  Using Kami Cosplay's example, I used a box cutter to widdle it down.  She used a cutter with some weight but I really preferred the lighter and cheaper version. You want a sharp blade, which also made the cheaper cutter easier to work with and then discard as it dulled.

This is a whole $1 at home depot.

I've had knife accidents before so I was careful to ALWAYS carve away from myself, not towards me. It is too easy to slip up and slice yourself.

I would gradually bring the staff down the size. My first go around was taking off the first quarter to half inch to start to see the shape of the staff. I continued to do a pass through from top to bottom, taking off 1/4 to 1/2 inch each time. By the third pass, some areas lost more and others lost less as I worked out the thickness. My vision was to have a skinny bottom that expanded into a thicker head.

For the divots and dips, I used sharpies to draw out where I wanted dips to be. As long as I could see the sharpie, the dip wasn't deep enough.

I messed up several times, but you'll see later those errors added character to make the piece look more natural. If I really messed up, would stuff discarded foam into a gap.

Remember in my first post where I glued green foam to the staff? You can see it showing through as the green lines running up the staff. When I hit the foam, I knew I was 1 inch away from the wooden center and need to slow down the shaving. It also helped me gage circumference. I cut down and into the foam at the bottom of the staff but barely scraped it at the top.

The final step was to shaved off a bit more than I wanted because it will be getting covered in paper mache to bulk it back up.

To celebrate being done with carving, I covered the staff in masking tape to prep it for part three - painting. Be sure to really pressed the tape in and around the staff, otherwise you lose those details you made.

Smooth tapped up staff. 

Part 3 will be our final segment. I'll cover the prep and painting of the staff for the final outcome.

** This is a multiple-post article on creating a mage staff for a final fantasy white mage out of expanding foam.  Be sure to catch them all pokemon style!**

Expanding Foam and You: Creating a Mage Staff with Expanding Foam

Do you sense a theme with my latest cosplay posts? That would be prop making. I like to pick one things I want to learn that year and commit to making cosplays that help me learn it. Last year, it was props so I can now share what I have learned with the masses!

My big prop last year (literally!) was a mage's staff. After lots of research, the best material choice for me to follow my three tenets of prop making was going to be expanding foam. Two tutorials sold me on the idea:

• Kamui Cosplay, a goddess of prop making
• MyCuteBow's Etwahl Making

Each project is different so while these served as good guides for me, I still ran into unique issues I had to battle. 

I nailed the first step to create my prop core and outline. 

I got a wood pole from Home Depot to serve as the core for the staff and drew a lot on a piece of craft foam until I found the approximate size and shape of the staff head. I would constantly hold the piece up to myself in a mirror to ensure I liked the scale. (Note: There are a lot of tutorials about using a lot of math to scale props online. At the end of the day, I go with what looks right on me.)

 I went outside with a tarp to start step 2-- attaching foam to my core. 

Expanding foam should be handled with care. Lay down a tarp to protect surfaces and be sure to wear at gloves to protect your skin. Outside application is best for large amounts because you will want the ventilation. 

Look Ma! I even made some guides to 1) help give the foam something to attach to and 2) give me a stopping point in carving.

 From my handy dandy sketch, I knew I wanted the staff to have an approximately two inch diameter. I cut and hot glued on foam pieces that are two inches. When carving, if I saw green I would know I have gone far enough. 

You'll see most people use cardboard in other tutorials. I chose craft foam because it was easier for me to see and glue to my core. I was cutting a lot of pieces out and craft foam is way easier for that than cardboard. 

The expanding foam quickly rebelled against me. 

You see, it is very sticky when it meets cloth or plastic. It does not like to stick to itself after a certain point. The foam would start to build, then slide off the pole as it settled. After one bottle of foam, I was left with a half-covered mess of a staff. 

The solution was more cowbell and more guides. I hot glued craft foam everywhere to create 'V' channels the the foam could rest in.

Now I'm guessing you could also show more patience than me and wait for a smaller amount of foam to dry before applying the next.  However, this method totally worked. Sometimes I would jam a piece of craft foam between hunks of expanding foam - no glue needed. 

It still took several layers and some patience to create the necessary bulk on the staff.

The good thing about bright green guides is I knew to cover the staff until they were not visible. If I could see them or guess where they are, I would add more foam. 

It took between 3-4 bottles of foam to create the staff. Or rather the hunk of foam that would become the staff.  Next post will be about the carving and covering process!

Part II is live! Click here to ead the next steps.