guys i've made an amazing discovery...

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any one looking for a way to make cheap fiberglass well here you go

the materials you need are this:
wood glue and toilet paper
(yes you heard right)

lay your wood glue down on you desired surface then just put a bit of toilet paper on top then add more glue on top of that, wait for it to dry and you have a cheap easy fiberglass!
 
Fascinating, like a strong paper mache. Any idea if putting a layer or two on the inside of eva foam armor would be a good way to give it some strength?
 
This is a really good idea that will actually work. I've done something similar before where I would wrap cardboard in wood glue based paper mache. It's good texturing, and gives the cardboard a protective shell. For the most part it works really well, but the wood glue paper mache begins to peel because wood glue is meant to be absorbed into a surface.

In order for the fiberglass substitute to work, make sure that the wood glue is absorbed into the material, otherwise your armor will fall apart from the inside out.
 
Fascinating, like a strong paper mache. Any idea if putting a layer or two on the inside of eva foam armor would be a good way to give it some strength?

I'd be concerned about the durability of this method. Since foam has some flex I could see the hard inner shell wanting to separate overtime.
 
yes I tried this on a small piece of eva foam, it works great!
Awesome. If you can, keep us up to date on how it ages.
I'd be concerned about the durability of this method. Since foam has some flex I could see the hard inner shell wanting to separate overtime.
Possibly. Still might be worth testing out. I wonder if doing multiple layers and then plastidip would be a good idea.
 
Possibly. Still might be worth testing out. I wonder if doing multiple layers and then plastidip would be a good idea.
Adding a flexible paint onto a rigid surface that's glued to a flexible body doesn't really seem like an effective use of materials.

This paper mache alternative would be a good option for a porous material such as cardboard like LegacyAlloy227 suggests since the glue soaks into the outermost layers and creates a shell once dried. For foam that's been heat sealed or stamped (like on the reverse side of floor mats which I'd assume would be the location most people would try this) you lose the already small pores of the closed cell foam which leaves a less effective surface to glue to. Will it stick, probably. Probably. Will it last longer than a few wears out? Not too likely.
 
It's a great idea if those are the materials you already have, but is it really that much cheaper? One gallon of wood glue is $30 and a gallon of fiberglass resin is $40. But if we're talking foam then it's rather mute since people don't usually fiberglass foam.

Otherwise if you're talking coating interior of foam, then it would be a cheaper alternative than the recommended Shoe GOO method which is rather expensive. But, I would be curious how it holds up. Wood glue has a breakpoint of 5-10 years where it will start to deteriorate and become brittle. That's a long time for a costume though. Excessive movement however might speed up that timeline.
 
It's a great idea if those are the materials you already have, but is it really that much cheaper? One gallon of wood glue is $30 and a gallon of fiberglass resin is $40. But if we're talking foam then it's rather mute since people don't usually fiberglass foam.

Otherwise if you're talking coating interior of foam, then it would be a cheaper alternative than the recommended Shoe GOO method which is rather expensive. But, I would be curious how it holds up. Wood glue has a breakpoint of 5-10 years where it will start to deteriorate and become brittle. That's a long time for a costume though. Excessive movement however might speed up that timeline.
shoegoomeme.jpg
 
It's a great idea if those are the materials you already have, but is it really that much cheaper? One gallon of wood glue is $30 and a gallon of fiberglass resin is $40. But if we're talking foam then it's rather mute since people don't usually fiberglass foam.

Otherwise if you're talking coating interior of foam, then it would be a cheaper alternative than the recommended Shoe GOO method which is rather expensive. But, I would be curious how it holds up. Wood glue has a breakpoint of 5-10 years where it will start to deteriorate and become brittle. That's a long time for a costume though. Excessive movement however might speed up that timeline.
this is true, but for the people who say don't have it availible or don't want to use toxic material this is perfect
 
Awesome. If you can, keep us up to date on how it ages.

Possibly. Still might be worth testing out. I wonder if doing multiple layers and then plastidip would be a good idea.
yea that might work, I made this in my free time so I could harden the pep helm I am workin on and tried on a piece of foam and It worked really good.
 
It's a great idea if those are the materials you already have, but is it really that much cheaper? One gallon of wood glue is $30 and a gallon of fiberglass resin is $40. But if we're talking foam then it's rather mute since people don't usually fiberglass foam.

Otherwise if you're talking coating interior of foam, then it would be a cheaper alternative than the recommended Shoe GOO method which is rather expensive. But, I would be curious how it holds up. Wood glue has a breakpoint of 5-10 years where it will start to deteriorate and become brittle. That's a long time for a costume though. Excessive movement however might speed up that timeline.
well I find myself update costumes all the time, and I think you could add it to the process of updating?
 
Sound good sax092

Just a reminder to try not to double post (or quintapost?)

You can click +Quote and it will add it to a clipboard of quotes. You can even just highlight a section of someone's word and then click +Quote so we know which part you're replying to.

You can then insert all quotes into one post with one click.
 
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I will say, this method reminds me of something I did years ago. For my first expanding foam prop (HL2 headcrab), I covered it in gap filler which took a lot of time and made it quite heavy. Later when making Yoshimitsu's tachi from expanding foam, I found wrapping it in paper mache gave it a good surface that was more even, stronger and less porous.

So I can definitely see merit in the wood glue and toilet paper, think it just depends on the foam type and purpose.
 
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