Blue foam

[sevans]

Anybody ever done signs out of blue foam? If so, can you advise on how to finish? Many thanks!

[steve_g]

Sara
I've made many things out of blue foam... usually backdrops for church and school plays... The few signs I've made and coated with "Sculpt nouveau" have looked amazing but were put down in disgust as no weight means no perceived value...

The attached photo is a wall hanging prototype for a organization in town... It's 36" X 36" X1" I'm having an issue with it bowing out several inches in the middle. Possible causes include: many more and different coatings on the front than the back and pierced V carving has more surface area facing forward than back. Just guessing really...

In the end I guess that after a good latex paint primer... it can be top coated with most anything.

SG

[billp]

Sarah,
For years many of us have used Blue/Pink/Green/Yellow polystyrene for everything from signs to statues. We've gone through a litany of coatings ranging from the expensive (and slumping) Styrospray, MAS epoxy, Magic Sculpt, Apoxie, and the least expensive-"Durham rock hard water putty" ( http://waterputty.com/creative/ )
You NEED to use something to fill in the "pores"on the foam, or your top coat will "transmit" the rough surface once you coat it ( simple latex paint can do that)Then you can use most of the above for your topcoat. Remember your coatings can NOT have any solvent in them or they WILL eat right into the foam. Zinzer "water based primer"works well here...I've got a bunch of various projects posted all over the Forum in which I have used just about ALL of the above. A search should give you some good idea of the range of possibilities.
MAJOR consideration- HOW much detail is in your work, and how much of it will you "lose" with some of the thicker (Styrospray in particular) products ?
While the initial cost seems tempting you HAVE to factor in the time/value of your labor, and because of that in the long run it MAY be less expensive for You/your client to use one of the different "flavors" of HDU instead...
It's a false economy to think that ALL polystyrene ( "styrofoam") products will result in a less expensive product. If you have specific questions, fire away !