Paining Foam

Calling all the wise folk for making gear.

I am a non-creative, unartistic, painfully bad handyman. Unfortunatly as must happen to all LARPers I have dicieded to make something and I would appreciate advice.

My Plan is to take a bedroll piece of foam 8mm thick, fold it in half, cut a hole for a head, cut the sides under the arms to fold it round and then run two belts round the outside, buckles on one side to do it up. I have half of it done and with the belts done up but not connected to the foam yet it looks ok.

Two questions

I am thinking of getting a second piece of leather on the inside of the armour and then riveting the belt to it so that it has a nice solid hold, and using 5-6 rivets per belt on the front and the same number on the back so that flexing shouldn’t cause the foam to tear. Will this be enough or should I plan for more, are there any issues I need to be aware of using this method?

I will need to paint the foam to look more leathery, what do I need to take into account before I buy paint and what can I do to ensure the paintjob lasts a decent amount of time? Sealants etc?

Any and all advice welcomed :slight_smile:

I’m assuming that by ‘bedroll’ you mean ‘camp mat’? I.e. “closed cell” or EVA foam?

If so, I think that stuff takes spray paint OK, but you may need to do touch-ups over time.

You can give the foam a better paint surface by brushing over a layer of ADOS and letting it dry. It’ll also help minimise damage to the foam from scrapes and rubbing. And give it a much nice texture than bare foam.

Or use SprayDos

For painting EVA foam (campmat) I like to cover it with a black spray primer first. It helps everything stick and not de-laminate later.

If you’re trying to paint sponge, like the stuff used in sofa cushions and mattresses, you can use latex to give it a painable surface first. You basically dip the sponge into the latex and let it soak some up. It uses a massive amount of latex, but it gives a fantastic texture on the outside.

Awesome, thank you all for the hints and tips. Have a good feeling this build is going to work and look pretty cool once finished :slight_smile:

I’ll be keen to see how it turns out - I was thinking of doing something similar for some cheap “flak” armour.

Jon

Fantastic. I didn’t know they did that. :slight_smile:

Fantastic. I didn’t know they did that. :slight_smile:[/quote]

You should find it right next to the stuff in tins. I use it for shields, and to get paint to stick to things.

Fantastic. I didn’t know they did that. :slight_smile:[/quote]

You should find it right next to the stuff in tins. I use it for shields, and to get paint to stick to things.[/quote]

No, not right next too as it turns out. They have a “Spray Adhesive” section and thats where it was lurking.

This guy’s tutorial on how to make leather armour out of closed-cell foam is pretty good. He uses hot glue to make raised detailing, spraypaints the foam brown then dry-brushes with gold paint over the hot glue. I don’t like the straps he uses for this, but I do like his technique for working with the foam.

youtube.com/watch?v=b769n6gcr74&feature=plcp

[quote=“amphigori”]This guy’s tutorial on how to make leather armour out of closed-cell foam is pretty good. He uses hot glue to make raised detailing, spraypaints the foam brown then dry-brushes with gold paint over the hot glue. I don’t like the straps he uses for this, but I do like his technique for working with the foam.

youtube.com/watch?v=b769n6gcr74&feature=plcp[/quote]

Glad you found that Jackie, I looked for that link and came up blank. And I agree, the straps are pants, maybe would last a few hours before tearing free.