Help needed: "Florist Foam" sculpting

[Neilkalman]

I'm just starting to make my first project using florist foam. I calculated the size of foam I needed and I went to the shop to buy some... but when I came back with my foam it didn't quite look like the foams from other ppl on prop making blogs....


so first I wanted to ask: is the stuff I bought the same kind as the thing this guys using? because mine is kinda crumbling on touch, and the density in my pic in comparison with theirs looks more dense.

the other question is.... does anyone got some experience with this stuff? any advise on what tools to use to sculpture this?

This is the stuff I bought:

and this is an example of the stuff I saw on volpin props flickr account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/volpinprops/3245979417/
Thanks!

Oh and nice meeting you all since this is my first post here ^_^;;;

 

[Zat German]

Your foam looks like it is a different density than his to me. The pictures of the foam for the portal gun looks like the foam you can get cheap at Michaels or any hobby/craft store. It cannot really take fine detail and is mainly used for structural reinforcement for fake flower stems or simple craft projects. This is just styrofoam. People call it "floral foam" some times because of its association with building arrangements of fake plants/flowers.

The stuff you got looks like what you use to retain water for real plants when you do not want to have worry about liquid water. It really is not that suitable for projects.

As far as carving styrofoam, you can use a serrated knife and/or a rotary tool to cut and carve it.

 

[Fudz073]

Yeah, I'd have to agree with Zat German. What you have there is soft floral foam. What you want is the green foam that won't give if you press your finger into it. It comes in either green or white and comes in variety of lengths and thicknesses. You can achieve rough to medium detail with it, as long as your patient. I made a few halo starships (cruiser, frigate, etc...) from this foam. A very handy tool is rough rasp or file. If you want, take a look at one of my posts -

http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/33484-Any-one-else-making-halo-starships

This is the limit to what detail you can achieve with the foam before adding decals and such. Hope this helps and good luck!