Forest, carving foam

[beccaparker]

Hi there,

I am currently one of the designers for a haunted theater. The director wants to build a haunted forest around a camping/campfire scene for one of the rooms. I have the camping part designed, but am stuck on the trees for the haunted forest.

This theater has next to no money, but there is a lot of foam sheets in the basement that I was told I could use.

I am new to the world of foam, so if someone could give me an idea or two as to how I could use this to create trees, I would be grateful.

Becca Parker

 

[Van]

you could simply carve the trees out of foam. Depending on the thickness of the foam panels you might need to laminate them to make thicker parts of the trunk. then draw out the 'Front' of the trunk pattern. Grab a Hacksaw blade wrap a bit of tape around one end and use it to slice through the foam. once you've got thepieces cut out start laminating. put the layers together with spray 77 or or 3M's foam spray. Once you get all the foam togetheryou carve it down to the cylinder shape or trunk shape you want. Then you can wrap the foam tunk in muslin or cheese cloth. Soak the material in either latex paint or a mixture similar to VSSSD < Van's super secret scenic dope Look for the recipe in the wikki>
after your wrappings have set up you can paint and final texture your trees.

 

[derekleffew]

RE: cutting/carving foam
I recently saw a hot knife used by electricians to cut foam sheet insulation on Hometime. I think the show is sponsored by Home Depot, but couldn't find anything on their site. Amazon has one here:

Instructions are also available on the 'net for building one's own. In either case, be sure to observe all precautions and use appropriate PPE.

 

[zmb]

Also look into a hot-air gun if you are working with foam.

 

[kicknargel]

In either case, be sure to observe all precautions and use appropriate PPE.

To clarify, heating foam (with a hotknife, heat gun or even power saw) produces noxious gases that must be properly protected from.

 

[Fronz]

I personally have no idea how this would look realistically but in my mind it seemed okay... You could get a hot wire cutter or a hot knife, cut out the tree, get a hot glue gun and heat it up and run it over the trunk to give it a bark pattern, then if you have "rough foam" (with a lack of a better word) thats really rigidy, you scrape some together and glue it on to the actual tree part and paint it green... Id have to actually look at your resources and stage to give good ideas for all its worth :|

 

[Bogo1229]

Ive seen scenic artists use mini electric chain saws to carve foam. if at all possible, stay away from using heat on your foam. not only does it smell bad and create toxic fumes, foam will melt and start to make "spider webs". This is a huge pain to clean up especially if you have a bunch of props to make.

 

[Gretsch]

Try using an electric carving knife to cut the foam and depending on the foam you can texture it by spraying it with spray paint...

 

[MNicolai]

For EPS foam, I used a Demand Foam Cutting Systems' hot knife with various blades. I then used a hand plane to sand down the edges. If that's not good enough, I'll used sand paper to make it look even nicer.

I last carved foam to create columns from ancient Greece. Carving the base shape of the pillar didn't take terribly long, but planing it out to be the correct circular diameter and keeping the shape smooth and consistent took several hours of work per pillar. Either expect to have it be a little rough or asymmetrical looking, or plan on spending much more time on detail work. The law of diminishing returns completely applies when it comes to foam carving, particularly for beginners. The more work you put in, the less added quality you'll receive from each additional chunk of work.

Be warned, fire departments don't like the surprise of having a huge EPS foam set without prior discussion. Be sure to provide them a sample of what you're using. For my last set, I provided them with a dozen different samples, featuring different ways I applied a hard-coat, paints, and flame retardant. The winning mixture was two coats of latex paint with a Rosco FR paint additive. Because EPS foam gives off lots of black, toxic smoke when it melts, AHJ may limit the amount you use depending on the size and ventilation of your space.

Don't surprise your fire dept. with this. I've seen an entire set have to be rebuilt the night before curtain because the scenic designer didn't get the EPS foam installed and approved properly. I've also seen the same foam be completely okay with fire departments, but with a different way the paint and flame retardant are applied. Play nicely and your use of the material won't come back to bite you.