They are called L200 in the US, Pro Foam S from Craftperium (a crafting shop in Germany) or EVA-PE45kg from cosplayshop.be, all pretty much the same products. If you have foam that melts, the cuts will disappear again when you heat it up!)Īside of high density EVA foam, you’ll also often find black mats, which are softer. Just order a sample and try this out, then you’re good to go for your upcoming material order! (P.S. This is extra helpful for adding details on armor and props. By cutting lines with a sharp blade and heating it up afterwards, the lines will widen. You can see why in the following picture.
Depending on what you want to build, it also helps a lot to find a foam which actually shrinks by heating it up instead of simply melting. That’s surely a bit more pricey than the cheap floor mats, but the material already comes smooth on both sides and you have a minimum of waste since you’ll get a single, very large sheet of foam and don’t have to cut away the puzzle borders.Ĭreating costumes with EVA foam might require some research. The largest size and thickness actually costs 60€/65$ for a sheet of 2mx1m, but it is already enough for a whole armor costume! Smaller sizes come a lot cheaper of course. This material comes in 10, 5, and 2mm sheets, is smooth on both sides and a lot more durable compared to other EVA foams. I heard the cosplay foam from TNT Cosplay in the US is good as well, but since they don’t want to sell me samples, I don’t know for sure. My personal favorite is high density EVA foam, which you can get from cosplayshop.be, a crafting shop in Belgium – they also ship the US btw. They are the cheapest version (6 mats for 23$), but it will cost you extra time and effort to built something (since you might have to get rid of the texture again). They are around 10mm thick, come in a puzzle shape of 60 x 60 cm (24 x 24 inches) and have a rough texture on one side. The most well known is probably cheap puzzle foam mats, which you can easily find on Amazon. In general, there are a million different kinds of EVA foam in various thicknesses, colors, densities and chemical compositions. So, if you’re searching for a good alternative to Worbla, think about switching to EVA foam!
I really like how these costumes turned out! Plus: Their armor cost me maybe $50 to $100 in total using mainly EVA foam! My other costumes in comparison were a lot pricer, less comfortable to wear and more challenging to transport. I think, all these projects show in a great way, that EVA foam is great for creating cool costumes and props! The whole armor was completely built out of simple EVA foam in different thicknesses and therefore I was able to keep the material costs pretty low.Īnother project was my Sole Survivor from the video game Fallout 4, which was my first complete foam costume and the first time I applied the rusting technique featured in my Advanced Painting Book.Īnd finally, my Zinogre armor from Monster Hunter, which was my most elaborate foam project so far. I got a little bit bored with it after a while though and switched to EVA foam, which gives me not only new challenges but also forces me to learn new techniques! So one of my latest projects was the Erazer Girl, a commissioned costume for the German computer manufacturer Medion. You might have noticed that many of my costumes in the past where made mostly with the brown thermoplastic Worbla. EVA foam is cheap, widely available and creating costumes and props with this material is super fun! So let’s check out out! This time though I would like to talk about the super affordable alternative. Many of you know, that Worbla is a great solution to create armor and props. Let me introduce you to the wonderful world of foam!