Uses of Styrofoam in Sculpture
Styrofoam is an incredibly versatile material. It is waterproof, impervious to pests and rot and extremely lightweight. When it comes to sculpture, styrofoam is a very useful media. It can be purchased inexpensively in large sizes, shaped with common hand tools and transported with ease. Its flexibility lends itself to many uses, from mocking up sculptures to be created in more expensive media to use as an armature or a base for molds.
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Fine Art
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Styrofoam as a media for fine art sculpture can be shaped to look like either stone or wood, making it perfect for mockups and mold casting.
Mockup a large sculpture to be created in stone from a large block of styrofoam. Get your proportions and details precisely right before you ever pick up a mallet.
Create a sculpture to be molded for casting in bronze, fiberglass or other media. Create your sculpture using hot knife, chain saw, dremel tools or almost anything with a blade. Coat the sculpture with an architectural coating to seal it for your mold medium, and cast your mold directly off of the styrofoam model.
Use the styrofoam as an armature or base for the sculpture itself. Coat with architectural coating, stucco or liquid latex to get the effect you want.
For sculptures in protected areas, or indoors, the styrofoam can be used as the primary medium, then decorated with paint or other coatings.
Theatrical Uses
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Styrofoam can be sculpted to mimic almost any material. Its light weight and low cost make it invaluable in theatrical scenery construction.
Sculpt stone, brick or other masonry for scenic elements. Combining the high detail of carved styrofoam with theatrical painting techniques can give a high degree of realism that can even fool the human eye at close ranges.
Sculpt wood beams, window frames, fireplaces and other architectural elements for your sets. Add textured coatings to get an authentic feel.
Trees can be sculpted from large styrofoam blocks in life size. No more representing forests with cutout backdrops. Light enough to be flown or wheeled on and off the stage easily styrofoam trees will add a new dimension to your productions.
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Architectural Elements
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Styrofoam has been used in architecture for decades. Architectural elements sculpted from styrofoam can be made faster and easily installed on standard facades. With the right coatings, styrofoam is rugged enough to survive even the roughest weather and abuse.
Sculpted styrofoam moldings can change the look of your commercial building, school or church. Large, cove, dentil and other capitol moldings with the look of solid stone can be added to the top of existing structures to completely change the silhouette without the need to reinforce the structure.
Sculpted styrofoam columns, planters and stone trim accessories can be added to homes with construction cement and a few screws.
Interior trim and faux beams can be sculpted from styrofoam to add details to your décor. The cost is often less than half that of traditional trim and no trees need to be cut down to get the look you want.
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References
- Photo Credit face sculpture image by timur1970 from Fotolia.com
