Here’s a little tutorial on how I use Eva foam. 1. You’ll need to get all your measurements and draw out your templates. 2. You’ll want to trace them onto the Eva foam and then cut them out. (1st image) 3. Once they’re cut out, you need to heat the pieces from the back (the patterned side) with all heat gun one by one. I always say the back because sometimes it can get too hot and get a small melt smudge. It won’t be noticeable on the back. You also want to form the pieces as you go so they dont cool off on you. Hold the pieces to the proper shape on your body for a few minutes. Eva foam seals when heated. This should make it fit you perfectly. ( 2nd image ) 4. Priming! Eva foam absorbs paint. So always do a coat of primer. For this project I just used gesso, an acrylic primer. In the past I have used plastidip and flexidip. ( 3rd image ) 5. Base coat, I use my darkest color and build up. If your armor is light I don’t reccomend using black. ( 4th image ) 6. Painting. I always use the dabbing technique, this is where I dab on my second darkest color and built it up with white. The dabbing allows it to look weathered and used. More so a dirty look. (5th image) 7. Sealing. I seal my armor with anymore gloss sealant from hardware stores. It leaves it shiny like armor. It also darkens it a little. This will protect my paint from moisture, however chipping can still happen. You can really see the difference when it’s not sealed and sealed. ( images 6 and 7) 8. Now straps. Straps are extremely stressful, remember how I said heating the Eva foam seals it’s particles.. well that’s where the stress happens. With trial and error I had to re glue all my pieces and straps, I went to put on my armor and it all fell apart. Image 8 is my saving glory. A miracle glue meant for hard projects like foam, plastic, wood… etc. I used this and it released all my worries. I feel more confident that my armor won’t fall apart with this. I’ve pulled on it and the foam bends! Which is awesome because a light tug pulled off my straps previously.
Image 9 is my finished project, I hope this helps. :)
