Express Your Creativity With The Foam Factory Arts and Crafts Foam

While incredibly varied, the uses for foam are often thought of functionally, in terms of a utility material that performs its job well. Be it insulating a hot tub, providing a comfortable sleeping surface or deadening sound reverberation in a room, foam is a performance material that measures up for many jobs. Unlike the people who use it though, foam’s duties don’t end by clocking out at the end of the end of the workday. Foam is excellent in many recreational applications as well, and in particular, it serves as a fantastic material in arts and crafts at home, in school or in activities at parties, camps or workshops.

Colored XLPE Foam Sheets

The Foam Factory offers many varieties of foam for arts and crafts and one of the most versatile is durable, closed-cell cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE). Flexible and resilient, it is available in black and white in addition to five other vibrant colors: red, green, blue, purple and yellow. XLPE can be cut in sheets as thin as ¼ of an inch or as thick as desired, making it a practical material for many crafting projects.

One of the most enjoyable and accessible crafts for any age is stamping, and many types of foam can be made into custom stamps. When dipped into ink or paint, open-cell craft foam like poly or super soft can leave a spongy, bubbly-looking pattern that makes for a great stamp for children as well as painters after a particular style. Foam can also be used as a brush for broad strokes as well as blending areas together. Open-cell foams are also able to be cut into unique foam shapes like stars, animals or symbols for a kid’s craft project. For a cleaner look, closed-cell foam can also be made into stamps. Because of the foam’s consistency and smooth surface, closed-cell varieties are fantastic for creating your own homemade stamps. When placed on a safe cutting surface, scissors or a utility knife can be used to trim a design from the foam sheet, which can then be adhered to a base for your own unique stamp. Neoprene and cross-linked polyethylene are two closed-cell foams that work well for stamping because of their flexibility and their fine cellular structures allow clean cuts to be made.

Another craft project that has exploded in popularity in recent years is card making, and foam can perform multiple roles in this activity. As mentioned before, foam can be used for painting or stamping one-of-a-kind designs on the card. But in addition to painting and designs, foam can also literally add another dimension to a homemade card. To create raised designs or images for a 3-D look, adhering thin cuts of foam, such as 1/8 inch polyethylene roll foam, can boost the card’s profile and make it stand out. While other materials can be used for a 3-D look, foam has the benefit of rebounding after compression in the mail, where paper or cardboard boosters are permanently flattened even if gently compressed.

Open-Cell Colored Foam Letters

Interior decorating and organization or labeling projects are other craft applications foam is perfect for. Because of its consistency and resiliency, closed-cell foam allows intricate designs, numbers and letters to be made for endless design possibilities. Scrapbook covers, picture frames and storage bins can all be decorated or accented by foam cutouts. These are particularly fun projects around the holidays for creating a little seasonal flair in the home. With their waterjet cutter and die cutter, The Foam Factory can produce foam letters and numbers as small as a half inch tall or as large as the sheet of foam it is being cut from. With no minimum order requirement, these can be made in quantities small enough to stock your own personal collection or large enough to outfit an entire crafting workshop. Letter cutouts are also a great way to let children design door hangers to personalize their bedroom or let them play a part in welcoming guests to the home for holidays or social events. Foam number and letter cutouts can also function as a great teaching tool. By attaching Velcro to the back of the forms, children can practice spelling or arithmetic interactively, by sticking them to a sheet of felt.

Yet another way foam can be utilized in the world of arts and crafts is as masks. Closed-cell XLPE is flexible enough to flex around the face comfortably but strong enough to not tear away from the areas where headbands are attached. These can be as simple as masquerade masks on sticks, or cover the entire face for more involved projects. Foam masks can make for an exciting and affordable project during Halloween, an interesting party activity or just a fun family activity for whenever. The Foam Factory has even seen their foam products used on a larger scale during Halloween. Through careful cutting, gluing and painting, one customer created a full-size Gumby cartoon character costume from soft open-cell poly foam sheets.

These are just a few of the uses for foam in arts and crafts. In reality, the only boundary for how foam can be used is what your imagination allows. When the next great project or activity comes to you, let The Foam Factory provide the right materials to make it successful.

Tags: Arts and Crafts, Color Foam, Craft Foam, Custom Cutouts, DIY

Posted in DIY, Other Products