Ⓕ How To Make Styrofoam Look Like Brick (ep65)

hey guys welcome back my name is Nick this week I wanted to show you how I turn this plain sheet of styrofoam into this cinderblock wall you guys want to see how I did it stick around for this technique you're going to need epi so more expanded polystyrene the pink or sometimes blue extruded polystyrene won't work with this technique so make sure you're using EPS expanded polystyrene foam sometimes you can find it where there's no particular coating on it but a lot of times it has a film on it it's not a problem to remove that film you can just peel it off in small sections and it only adds about five minutes or so then it's time to get started on layout the most typical pattern that I do is cinderblock wall those cinder blocks measure 16 inches by 8 inches so using a tape measure I can mark out eight inch increments to be able to come over with a drywall square and Mark eight inch on center horizontal lines then I measure for 16 inch on center vertical lines in a staggered pattern once you're complete this is what it should look like there are several different methods you can use to put the grout lines into the foam one of the quickest methods is to use a router with a half-inch core box bit this is the quickest and probably most consistent method however it's the messiest the EPS foam flakes kind of build up a static charge and they get everywhere so you get consistency in speed but it is pretty messy the next method works really well and it's probably the cheapest it's just an Olfa knife or a snap off kind of utility or craft knife you just make a 45-degree cut in either direction and kind of make a V Channel next is my favorite method of all it's a hot knife forming tool basically you plug in this little tool and the wire heats up and you can actually melt through it you can actually conform the wire to the exact shape or size that you want it's a little bit slower and you want to make sure to do it in a well-ventilated area but it's probably the most realistic effect but also the most expensive but you're also not dealing with the mess and you get a kind of a cool almost a rustic result with the cinder blocks and then here I'm just showing before any of the sculpting the knife the router and then the hot knife they both look different at this point but just about any method works and there's not much variance but I'll show more on that later once you have all the grout lines or mortar lines cut out this is what it should look like then moving on to adding some texture to the surface of the cinder block again I formed the wire for this hot knife cutting tool you know just kind of made a couple random spots and just make some depressions in the cinder block if you don't have the hot knife tool you can use again the Olfa knife works really good for this or even a wire brush this stuff is pretty soft and right now you're just going for kind of a roughing texture I also had a hot knife itself and that you can use to cut out a couple slots or divots the main tool for this is going to be a heat gun I like these digital heat guns because they have an auto cool down feature to them and this style heat gun lasts a long long time some of the heat guns that don't have that feature burn out prematurely I'll make sure to leave links to all these tools and supplies and the website article and that link will be down in the description below this heat gun shaping technique is one that I've been working on for a few years you can play around with the temperature settings in the distance and everything but you know it's pretty easy and straightforward you just use the heat gun to get approximately two to three inches from the grout line and you can visually see the grout lines changing and becoming more like mortar or a cement I like to start with the grout lines because when you start the foam is relatively soft but when you do the grout lines first it almost creates like a shell or a hard coating and that way you can go back to forming some of where you carved out with either the knife or a wire brush the longer you sit in one particular spot the deeper any type of feature that you're adding is going to be make sure to leave it varied and kind of organic looking and some of the corners and whatnot you know make those a little bit deeper and if you don't like how the brick particularly looks after just one pass you can go back over that at a later time this is something you can definitely play around with different heat settings and all that and just play around with it do a couple sample boards and and kind of figure out what works best for you here you can see the grout line that was just with the knife the snap off Olfa knife here's the one with the router and then here's the one with the hot knife there's not a dramatic difference at this point it just all depends on kind of how much you want to put into the process as far as budget and then also as far as the cleanup goes like I said the router beam by far the messiest now before we talk finishing let's talk about a couple other ways in which to get a texture into the styrofoam one being spray paint or aerosol paint the spray paint eats away at the foam on the surface one of the reasons I don't like this method is because there's not a whole lot of control also once the paint is dried it creates kind of a protective shell so you can't really alter it after and it's almost too consistent of a texture why does it eat away at the styrofoam most aerosol paints have acetone in it so another option would be to put acetone directly in a spray bottle that way you can spray it right on the surface of the foam and the acetone will essentially melt the styrofoam probably my least favorite method because the fumes are really bad and you have almost zero control just a few light spritzes and you can see right here I've already burned through the styrofoam so I would say stick with the heat gun now we can move on to finishing using a small paint sprayer I'm able to go through again starting with the grout lines and just lay down kind of a base coat you don't necessarily have to get full coverage at this point it's just to kind of cover up some of that white you're going to want to use a water-based paint because as I pointed out just earlier any type of aerosol paint that contains acetone or a naphtha in it is going to eat away the styrofoam and wreck the texture that you want it to get with the heat gun and here you can see it after its first coat of base coat I actually left one corner unpainted and lightly textured just kind of as an example to show from the beginning styrofoam to light texturing heavy texturing and then to paint then I just added a little bit of black paint to the base color and using an airbrush I could go into some of the grout lines and some of the heavier texture features and just make it look a little bit darker almost give it kind of a shadow line appearance and here you can see a before airbrushing and then after with the grout lines I also then came back and painted some of the crevices kind of just gives the appearance of shadows and gives the overall piece a little bit more depth and here's the panel pretty much done I also went back towards the bottom of the panel and mixed up some green I mixed it down to where it was almost the consistency of water this was just kind of an added effect that I would like to do when kind of creating a medieval or Castle type feel you add a little bit of that green and it's almost like a mold or a moss towards the bottom of the panel depending on your theme I like to use a little bit of floral wire cut into one-inch chunks and that way you can just bend it over with your fingers and attach some fake ivy makes nice little staples that push real nice and easy into the styrofoam in case you're going for any type of a medieval or old-world type effect the ivy is a nice added touch well that's all there is to it I think it's a pretty cool effect I've been doing this for a few years and it'd be perfect for any type of like Halloween decorations a haunted house or like a basement bachelor pad I used it for a set piece when I built the tower for the musical Shrek you can click the link here to see that that was pretty cool there's like 20 or 30 sheets of it and those two stories tall and I definitely dig stuff like that if this is something you do want to try I'm going to have all the tools and materials listed in the build article at Nick fairy comm and I'll have a link to that article down in the description also if you have any questions about the process itself definitely be willing to answer any questions that I may have answers to I've been doing it for a few years and it's just an easy process and if you guys got any tips tricks or questions like I said leave those in the comments section below also while you're at Nick ferry comm go ahead and sign up for that email newsletter as I have a ton of other stuff out there that's not on YouTube and if this is the first time that you're here this channel go ahead and hit that subscribe button as I try to put out build videos on a fairly regular basis well until I see you guys next time you guys take care thank you I don't like the term mancave maybe a basement bachelor pad it's definitely a cool effect and it doesn't take a whole lot of money and it looks really cool and it's awesome and that's all you need to know

Channel: Nick Ferry

Views: 614,139

Keywords: nick ferry, DIY, how to make, styrofoam to brick, turn foam into bricks, styrofoam into brick wall, sculpting foam into stone, making styrofoam look like brick, make styrofoam look like stone, carving foam into bricks, carving foam into stone, brick wall from styrofoam, carving foam into brick wall, making a brick wall from styrofoam, faux bricks from foam, styrofoam faux brick, foam to brick, styrofoam to look like brick, styrofoam look like rock, styrofoam look like brick

Id: LLa45WLdt3o

Length: 9min 24sec (564 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 29 2016