Foam Works.

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Marc uses a lot of foam under the fur to give him his unique shape.
Most of it is simple upholstery foam brought as off cuts from a local rubber store.
There are many types of foam –
Reticulated foam - which have a very coarse cells structure and thus sheds water and lets air in easily.
Standard foam rubber - which can trap water. Cheap and easy to use.
Closed cell foams – this floats in water and remains dry and can be very dense. But also provide no airflow through it for cooling.

Tools - Electric Carving Knief.

The eletric carving knief is perfect for making long straight cuts.

A simple trick is to keep a bottle of liquid soap on hand to lubricate the blades.

This works far better than oil.

Other cuttings items can be scissors, standard knieves, and if necessary - tearing hunks of foam.

With most foams you can sand them to give a better smoother effect.

Tools - Hotwire Cutters.

Hotwire foam cutter, soldering iron, transformer, and foot pedal.

I made several of my own tools to work with the foam. My hot wire cutter is a small hacksaw handle with the nichrome wire stretches across it with a spring to add tension. Nichrome will expand a little when it is heated and this helps give a nice straight cut to the foam.

The soldering iron was a small 12 volt unit that I took the tip off. This is great for cutting holes etc where you don’t wand to go through the side of the foam to make it.

The transformer is a heavy duty one from a car battery charger. Rating 12v at 4 Amps. To power it I managed to get an old foot pedal from a industrial Sewing machine and this helps vary the temperature and cutting speed nicely (it also is great for circular saw, drills etc.)

I got the first batch of foam for Marc as off cuts from the foam rubber shop.
There are many types of foam but until you feel comfortable with working with this medium I’d recommend experimenting first.

Also.. Don’t Do This work in an Enclosed Area. The Fumes are TOXIC!!!!

Glueing

I use contact cement to glue the foam together.
On most foams this is excellent but you will need ventilation!!!!

Contact cements can be brought in small tins and you might need a lot if you have a lot of foam, and also in different viscosities.

You can get it in very liquid form where you can paint it on a surface, or as a Gel that is great for difficult to reach area where you don’t want drips.
Its also good for gluing fur to foam as it will not seep through the fur fabric.

The fur on Marc muzzle is glued this way.

Although the instructions do recommend doing two surfaces and then applying when they are dry – I often ignore that and apply and stick.

I have not had any trouble and it does give you the ability to move sections around to get a better fit.