Has anyone tried EVA Foam?

[Dakarn]

http://www.industrialpolymers.com/pr...st/styrospray/

Awesome! Thanks Fender!

[Haloeclipse]

I just started using EVA foam last summer to build a hasty version of Jedi Armor from the Old Republic MMO. I am not a crafty person and have only in the last year started indulging my craftier side. The EVA foam was super easy to work with, most important thing is a hot knife (I used a soldering iron with a hot knife attachment), a heat gun and hot glue. The trick is finding some that has at least one side without a pattern on it, however I found that although the box I picked up had a pattern on both sides the more shallow pattern could be erased with the heat gun, leaving it nice and smooth.

Again this is my very first real costuming project, I learned the painting and weathering techniques as I went. The cod piece turned out best as it was the last peice and I learned from a LOT of mistakes (fyi, make a freakin template or draw out what you wanna do BEFORE you start cutting, I learned that the hard way....)

Eye candy:
Completed Armor:


Shoulder piece:


Cod piece unpainted with basic battle damage


Cod Piece finished


Shoulders and chest assembled, minor details, no damage, no paint


chest complete


I never bothered to take pictures with the costume on, which I didnt think about until AFTER I had taken it off at put it all away. My 6yo daughter LOVED having her dad be a jedi though If you have any questions I'll tell ya everything I know.

[The Yin]

I'm late to this party, but I also have some Jedi Armor I just finished last year for San Diego Comic con.
This armor is made from Sintra foam board. Just another idea to work with, I've never used this EVA foam, but Sintra wasn't so hard to work with. Once heated it flexes easy, and when it cools it is harder then before. But like Haloeclipse said, make templates, out of paper or card board, so you don't waste building material.

[vaderjeff1744]

Hi. I'm new on here, but I thought I'd share a little of my experience with making armor with EVA foam. I've been working on a Lord Starkiller costume from TFU Ultimate Sith Edition for my son for several years now. Initially I made the shoulder armor from sintra, but I was unhappy with the results, as it is hard to get it to conform to complex curves, like that on the shoulder bells of this armor. I did a bit of research on other alternative materials, & discovered EVA foam. It is VERY easy to work with, & SUPER light & FLEXIBLE. This makes it an ideal material to use for making armor for costumes. I used 1/2" thick sheets that are 2ft X 2ft. You can pick a 6 pack of these up at your local Wal-Mart for about $20 in the exercise aisle of the Sporting Goods Dept. Sears sells 1/4" thick rolls of EVA foam that are 5ft. X 25ft. for about $26, if you're looking for something thinner. I believe they sell these rolls over near the tool section. That'll make A LOT of armor!!! I'm going to use this thinner EVA to make my Sith Acolyte armor. Once you have your flat templates cut out, it's just a matter of tracing them onto the EVA foam, & using a sharp exacto knife or hot knife to cut the pattern out. Then you just use a heat gun to heat the foam up, & begin forming it over the shape you want the piece to be in, holding it in place until the foam cools. It may take several times, reheating the foam, & then letting it cool before you get it to hold the exact shape you want. Just be careful not to heat the foam too much, as this will damage & harden the surface. With a little patience and care, this can be done fairly easily. It took me approx. 1-2 hours to achieve the shapes I wanted for my son's Starkiller armor, & then another 4-6 hours to paint & weather it to my liking. The other cool thing is that if you want scarring & battle damage, as I did, it is easily achieved with a wood burner or soldering iron. Just touch the tip to the surface of the foam, & it will literally melt the desired scare into the foam. It can really be A LOT OF FUN! Just be creative, & you can achieve some SPECTACULAR RESULTS! I haven't actually tried it, but I've heard that coating the pieces with plasti-dip after forming everything into the shape you want will seal the foam, thus allowing a nice smooth finish when painting the pieces. I personally just used spray paint on my son's armor for the base color, & then did a dry brush technique over that with acrylic paints to give the pieces an aged & weathered appearance. It's held up fairly well, but I may try plasti-dip on my next project (a Sith Acolyte), & if it works, I'll recoat my son's armor with it, as it's starting to show some cracking on the paint from repeated use over the last year. Here's some pics of the armor in it's present condition & a few of the entire Starkiller costume I made for my son. Enjoy the pics!

[Haloeclipse]

That armor looks amazing. Well done.

[The Yin]

wow, that looks really cool. Thanks for the details on pricing and build tech.
I might have to try using EVA foam for some armor. I'm going to be needing some for my exercise room anyway.

[Skinnerman02]

Wow! Fantastic replies! Thanks a lot for sharing your experiences. If I ever stop being a grunt t work and can afford to get back into the game, I'm totally going to work out some custom EVA armor for my Jedi and Sith.

[Haloeclipse]

I did a new costume for halloween this year, I had about 2 weeks to work on it but in the end it worked out well, especially with the lessons learned from last time. Here are the pics, sorry for the generally crappy resolution:
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