In my first foray into making a costume using foam floor mats I admit that I went a little overboard.
Foam is a great material for making all kinds of complicated props and costumes, it is cheap and easy to work with. All you need is a few rolls of foam flooring and some hot glue and heat gun and you can make just about anything.
This armor took me about 4 months of off and on weekends to complete. I’ve always been a fan of the character Brainiac from the Superman comics so decided to make a unique costume of what I thought Brainiac would look like in the a future version. After many hot glue burns and wasted foam from mistakes I got the hang of it and completed the work! After trying to paint the foam I did some research and discovered that it needed to be sealed before you can paint it, and turns out you can just use watered down wood glue in a couple layers to give it a smooth surface and a nice shine. It took the paint well and remained flexible. I added some LED strips and a few AA battery packs to put a little more of a wow factor and to complete the “future” look of the costume.
The Head piece was made with some el-wire (a florescent wire that runs off a 9v battery) that I formed into shape and then covered in a basic tub and tile silicone. I got some green face makeup and completed the look.
Halloween was great this year as when I walked into the local gathering in my foam armor people couldn’t stop coming up and asking me about the character and how I made the costume. Not one person believed it was made of foam floor mats. I believe I’ve convinced quite a few other Halloween goers to try out using foam for costumes.
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