Making Foam Armor - Part 2

Shaping and Sealing the foam

If you are using  1/2 to 1 inch foam you may want to get a heat gun to form your foam. Since I was only using thin craft foam, I just used a blow dryer. For a woman's breast plate I used a glass ball, heating the foam and then stretching it over the ball. I shaped the knee pads over the ball as well, to give them a rounded shape.

  

 

I pinned the breast plate and the back plate to my dress form, and shaped it some more.

 

 

After it was shaped the way I wanted it, I sealed the foam. For the breast plate and back plate I wanted them to be harder, so I used a mixture of wood glue and gesso.

 

                    I felt they were a little plain, so I used some foam letters I had laying around.  By using
                      the F's on the breast plate, and L's on the knee pads  I make this cute design.

 

For everything else I used a mixture of wood glue, school glue, and mod podge.

 

                                                Foam Armor will be finished in Part 3