Dan's World Portfolio Pages

1 Intro
2Starting out
3 You and me together again at last
4Product Design
5Rubber mold
6 Be a Sculptor
7 Marbleizing
8 Getting Ahead
9Paint techniques
10 Foam carving

 "I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don't need."      pg10  

- Francois-Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), when asked how he managed to make his    remarkable statues

Dan's World Foam fabrication page

The sinister character above is carving a dragon's head out of urethane foam.  This is an example of direct carving in foam.  Unlike the casting method for making a foam item the direct carving method starts out with a solid block of foam.

If a large foam block is not available you can glue several sheets of foam together as in the photo. (You'll have to squint to see past the blinding light on this guy's head.)
 Spray glue made specially for foam is available at our Demand Products Site.

 
 To make the job easier I have pre-cut  these foam sheets into the desired shape of the animal to be sculpted.

 

 

 

Ordinary wood working tools can be used to carve  foam.  Hand saws, files, rasps and sandpaper are useful in refining a foam shape. Here I am using a coarse rasp to quickly take down this urethane foam figure. Sorry about the shirt. The state institution for the criminally insane now forces its prisoners to wear green striped uniforms when on work release.

 

Wood that you could.

You can fabricate a foam model with wood working tools just as you would with wood and that's good.

Making a Square Planter Model out of Foam

 Here I have briefly outlined the fabricating process for making a square planter model. Those who feel competent in doing a similar project can forge ahead and do so. 

This is a piece of  Urethane foam. You can use urethane foam or EPS foam. The urethane carves and acts more like wood. I cut 4 pieces measuring 11"X 6"X 1-3/4" the size specified for the sides of the planter by the client. Then I cut a piece for the bottom.

hoilding-foamSFW.jpg (8820 bytes)

You can use power  wood working tools to cut foam.

thisisfoamSFW.jpg (6709 bytes)       

shopsmithcuttingSFW.jpg (5725 bytes)

 

        

foamcut-on45SFW.jpg (6092 bytes)

 

Cut the edges at 45° Angles. Then taper the side pieces so the inner walls of the planter will be drafted  as shown in the cross section diagram below.

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Then glue all the parts together with Foam Loc adhesive spray.  assemblefoamSFW.jpg (4489 bytes)

 

foamboxSFW.jpg (7253 bytes)

After assembling, apply 2 coats of shellac to the foam box.  I use USG all purpose joint compound to fill voids. Sand the joint compound smooth with the surface. Then put a coat of shellac over the thoroughly dried joint compound. Your model is now ready to have a mold made of it.

 

 

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Dan Kijak   4308 Shankweiler Rd. Orefield PA 18069

610-391-9277

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