What kind of crafts can be made from Styrofoam?

Polyfoam is one of the easiest and cheapest materials to process. For its low weight and the absence of difficulties in carrying it, the price is low strength and flammability. Even children can work with him.

Preparatory and basic work with foam plastic will not require any physical fitness and training from a person. For women, this is also an undeniable plus. The material is insensitive to water and frost - products made from it are placed anywhere that is not protected from the vagaries of the weather. Damaged craft can be easily restored.

Working with styrofoam does not require a special tool. For thin layers, ordinary scissors are suitable, for thick ones - a kitchen or stationery knife.

Styrofoam products melt easily - exclude them from being near fire or hot metal. At room temperature, the foam is neutral - safe for humans, the vapors released are within the permissible limits. But at elevated temperatures, it is highly toxic - boiling and burning, it emits poisonous volatile hydrocarbon compounds, during combustion - soot and soot that did not burn out during open combustion. To exclude ignition, foam products are covered with fire retardants that do not support self-combustion.

Styrofoam perfectly holds any paint; it can be colored when manufactured at the factory.

Styrofoam figures can easily replace expensive decoration and design elements - they are even used to make foam suspended ceilings and cornices that are glued to real ceilings. It is extremely difficult to sell foam products due to the easy availability of the material: The damper for transport packages, for example, from under the refrigerator or washing machine, is easy to find in the trash.

Large figures and designer items are often made from small ones. This makes it possible to avoid the additional purchase of foam plates in a hardware store, reaching a size of 2 * 1.5 m. By gluing several thin plates, it is easy to cut out the ornament requested by the customer and other elements from the resulting thick one.

After cutting out the necessary parts and gluing them together, the material is covered with putty before priming. It will give it more surface stability: an accidental poke with a hand or foot will not immediately damage the fragile material. In the manufacture of custom-made massive figures, in addition to PVA glue, rubber sealant, "liquid nails", foam glue, facade adhesive, and assembly foam are also used. Dimensional figures are cut using a saw and a cutter, which is larger than a simple knife.

Foam crafts are voluminous and flat. The possibilities of making from this material are limited only by the ingenuity and imagination of the embodiment of real wonders in the world of jewelry and things. The options are as follows:

• playhouse for children;
• a blue and white swan in a pond or an artificial lake on the territory of a summer cottage;
• figurine in the form of a puppy, painted with silver or golden varnish;
• Christmas decorations (balls, houses, etc.);
• snowman or Santa Claus;
• artificial owl or crow;
• styrofoam basket;
• fruit and mushroom or leaf artificial herbarium;
• toy dolphin;
• ladybugs and beetles, enlarged a hundred times or more;
• penguins, hares, moles, etc.

A variation of the snowman is Olaf - a modified version of it, featuring a more "live" face, front teeth, etc. A spring, summer or autumn option can be a foam stuffed animal that scares the crows away from the garden.

You can make a spider from foam balls and wires - and plant it, for example, on an artificial spider web made of nylon threads and young lignified shoots of trees and shrubs. In this case, the autumn theme is complemented by one or more maple leaves made of dyed and varnished paper or similarly treated cardboard.

Showing ingenuity and imagination, the rudiments of something similar to caring for elders, children and adolescents themselves can make them some souvenirs as a gift. For more freedom of activity, give the younger generation freedom of action and choice, taking care of their safety. When they have difficulty at any stage, suggest possible options.

So, to cut out letters for the alphabet, the young "apprentice" uses the lightest materials - the same foam or even large remains of dried foam glue. A child of 5 or 6 years old can learn letters not only according to this alphabet book, but also made independently. For example, any letters can be easily cut from the remaining foam boards removed from the old false ceiling. A template is drawn or drawn on the cardboard. The cut stencil is used as a guideline for cutting the expanded polystyrene sheet.

To make a boat, you only need a piece of foam in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped. The individual components, such as the mast, are cut separately and glued with any glue.

The hull of the artificial mini-ship is cut out of the piece before the rest. The stern and bow are glued to each other. Then the wheelhouse, the mast with the sail are made - and also glued to the newly made base of the boat. Additional decorations will be the name, flag, waterline and painting of the sides of the boat - at the discretion of the child.

A playhouse can be placed in any room from 16 m2 - or in the summer at a summer cottage anywhere. For its manufacture, several thin sheets of foam are used. For windows and doors, cut openings in it. Glue them with a plinth of the same material - along the perimeter of the walls from above and below. The roof is decorated with fine white chips. Glue all parts of the house together. The scattered crumb is smoothed with a heated knife. The use of fire to smooth out irregularities is prohibited - even an experienced craftsman, adjusting the distance according to the results of shrinking and crushing the foam under the influence of a temperature of more than one hundred degrees, can damage the structure, as a result it will look ugly. An artificial tree made of the same material can be placed next to the house.

Foam crafts affect the area of ​​its unusual use. A fireplace with electric lighting - no fire - is used to hide defects in the walls of the house: holes, chips, cracks that cannot be repaired right away. Using a knife, components are cut out on a sheet of polystyrene, drawn with a construction marker and a square ruler. The resulting parts are connected using (foam) glue or knitting needles, pieces of thin wire, etc.

The fireplace is complemented by a sheet of plywood - thanks to the latter, the horizontal part is used as a shelf for light things and objects. Polyfoam is used as a masonry imitator - it is enough to paint and varnish these linings.

The decor for external (landscape) design can be a model of a large bird enlarged up to tens of times, for example: a crow, an owl, a peacock or a rooster. The bird model can be made flat - it is easy to cut, since the volumetric one will require a high-speed milling machine for making depressions and protuberances. After cutting, the bird's figure is covered with putty. The latter is applied in the form of a two-layer coating - after the first has hardened, the second is applied. Then, with the help of sandpaper, all irregularities are removed. For coloring, a paint based on a water-dispersion reagent is used. After the paint layer has dried, varnish is applied - it will finally protect the figure from the influence of precipitation and ultraviolet radiation.

A peacock made of polystyrene is made as follows: a bird's carcass is made of a volumetric piece, a tail is made of a flat piece, then they are glued together, puttyed, painted and varnished.

The foam mushroom can be cut in any size - up to the height of the garden bench. The hat and the leg of the mushroom are cut out separately - at the end of the dressing, they are glued together with (foam-) glue. To prevent the product from collapsing, use a waterproof paint, for example, on an acrylic base, and then apply a transparent varnish.

Kindergarten décor also includes artificial birds and lizards made from foam and wood. They are installed near the playground for children - on the territory of a particular institution.

Styrofoam paintings are made by means of relief cutting of this material. Curly cutters may be required - and the same scissors, these tools will simplify the work of the artist-carver.

To save some money on Christmas tree decorations, you can make some of them yourself - from scrap materials.

Factory blanks suitable for Christmas balls are sold in specialized stores for people who are keen on needlework and home dressing. For example, the tree is decorated with shiny sequins - they are distributed around the ball or pricked with pins.

A round blank for a ball is painted in different colors, sprinkled with decorative chips or sparkles, and previously covered with an adhesive base. A separate place is occupied by decoupage of products.

Making large snowflakes will require any - even the cheapest - Styrofoam ceiling tile. They are painted according to a pre-created stencil. Holes are drilled in the center to insert a loop of fishing line or thread there.

A large snowman is made mainly for the yard, dacha, or installed on the street. Small - several times smaller in size - will serve as a substitute for Santa Claus and / or Snow Maiden or supplement them. It is made in the same way as its enlarged counterpart. To make a stable figurine, you will need a layer of foam plastic with a thickness of at least 5 cm. Eyes and a mouth, buttons, and a hat are drawn on the cut out blank. A hole with a diameter of up to 2 cm is cut in place of the nose. You can make a wooden nose - like Pinocchio's. The snowman's nose is glued to the foam (snowman's head) with an adhesive. The back side remains intact - guests can write congratulations and wishes on it.

Foam residues can be used as filler for new crafts and DIY things. For example, to act as a damper (padding) for a beanbag chair, a chair with a padded seat, etc.

Another way to create a foam snowman is presented in the next video.