Foam and Plaster Prop Tutorial (part one)

Hey what's up, this is Commisionanigans and this  is a quick tutorial about using spray insulating foam and plaster to make props. This will just be going over the foam part, if you want to just   see plaster go on to part two. Anyway this is a  technique I use for a lot of my big props because   it's fairly lightweight and decently durable, and  it's also comparatively cheap and fast. So you   always want to start with the same basic steps,  which is make a cardboard shape and then coat   it with foam. And of course the more complicated  your shape is the more complicated your cardboard   is going to have to be. So for this tutorial I  made a wearable Spartan helmet. All the steps are   basically the same no matter what it is you're  going to make, and you're always going to need   a knife with a fairly long blade, spray insulating  foam, and cardboard. So step one is make your shape. In this case like I said a wearable Spartan helmet  so I just coated a hat with tinfoil and then built   my cardboard up around that. Step two coat it with  foam. So you always want to start on the most   horizontal surface you've got and then build your  way fairly systematically outwards from there. And that'll just save you some time later because you won't have to worry about kind of splotchiness of   gaps and everything like that. Remember that this  stuff does expand kind of a lot, so you don't have   to be too worried about filling in every single  gap before it expands because that'll just result   in you having to carve down a lot more later.  And if you do end up with gaps in your foam   don't worry this stuff sticks to itself and you  can just add some more. Actually! This stuff sticks   to everything. It's strong enough to be used as a  glue, don't touch it when you're working with it   and also put down a piece of paper because that'll  save you the grief of prying this off of your   floor. So once you've coated it with foam you just  gotta wait for it to set up. If you don't want   to wear it you can just wait 24 hours before you  start doing your carving. If you do want to wear it   uh the next step is poke it. So you just want it to  have a skin so that it won't stick to you, but you   do still want it to be fairly squishy. And that'll  just allow you to put it on whatever it is you   want to wear it on and then it'll mold perfectly  to whatever it's on. So in this case since it's a   helmet, obviously my head. And then just wait for it to set up the rest of the way which will take about   a half an hour or so for it to finish expanding.  After that, like I said, 24 hours because if you   start carving too soon sometimes the foam will  collapse on you and that sucks. Be patient. Just   wait. And then, go in and start carving. You want to  take off all of the outer skin first, get down to   the porous foam. Once you've carved down that outer layer of skin then you want to start using your   cardboard as your guide. And basically you cut down to the cardboard and use that to carve down the   rest of your shape. And I know that's not a very  good description but um... ha that's what videos are   for! And... yeah I don't really have a better way to  describe it. Basically what you're doing is you're   cutting off every single corner, starting with  your cardboard as your guide... because once you've   cut off all the corners you will, in fact, have  a curve... Tada! Anyway... as you carve down finer and   finer you want to start doing thinner slices, and  that'll just give you a little bit more control   and allow you to make sure that you don't carve  off too much. Basically you want to get as close   to your finished shape as you can by carving it  that'll just save you time later when you do your   sanding because sanding sucks and gets everywhere. Speaking of which! Wear a dust mask. It's not great   to inhale, it's just-- it's tiny little pieces of  foam it's not going to break down, so try not to   inhale it. Next step, sketch your details: So I use  a jumbo crayon to sketch out my details and that's   just because I don't want it to press into the  foam too much. Basically any broad marking surface   will do because you don't want to carve into the  foam until you're doing your actual carving which   is the next step. So you want to slice into the  foam using your sketch as a guide and then carve   towards those slices and that'll just give you a  really nice sharp 90-degree corner and you'll be   able to cut out your details pretty quickly and  easily that way and it's basically just the same   step over and over again. And what this does is  it gives you a guide for when you do your plaster   application, and just means that you won't have a  whole bunch of plaster built up that you'll later   have to carve down and you know you don't want to  have to deal with that because foam carving is a lot   than plaster carving. So carve out your details now  and then move on to well... next step is finish it   uh-hum which is a great broad description, I know... but basically you just want to add on anything you   haven't added on before. Anything that you carve  down too deeply, and you're not happy with the   shape of just add on more foam and then carve it  down again. It's always the same basic steps: make your cardboard, add your foam, carve it down. Really fairly simple when it comes right down to it. And then of course add your details if you've got them. And once you've got all of your details, and you're   satisfied with how everything looks, that's when  you move on to sanding it. I tend to use a kind   of medium [180-220] grain sandpaper. You can work with coarse sandpaper, I've used 80 grit sandpaper before. It's a little bit rough on the foam, but it works if  that's all you've got. So once you've sanded it   that's it for the foam... good luck, hope this helped,  and I will see you in part 2 for plaster, whoo-hoo

Channel: Commishenanigans

Views: 174,452

Keywords: props, Cosplay (Hobby), Plaster (Visual Art Medium), spray insulating foam, expanding insulating foam, tutorial, how to, Foam, Making, diy, Crafts, Do It Yourself (Hobby), Halo (Video Game Series), Homestuck (Comic Strip), Red Vs. Blue (TV Program), rvb, League Of Legends (Video Game), jinx, fishbones, grand highblood, horns, Tutorial (Media Genre), large props, cheap, spartan helmet, grif, dexter grif, juggling club, spray insulation, costuming, costume, halo, spartan, prop making

Id: JF8OVw9WrPw

Length: 5min 24sec (324 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 11 2015