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Spent about an hour yesterday shredding up an old Foam Cushion that was 2ft. by 3ft. & 6in.'s thick. made 2--5 gal. buckets full packed down. Tomorrow, going to WM & buy 2 quarts of Acyrlic Latex in Med. Green & Deep Yellow to soak the foam. This stuff is really fine. Great for Tree's.
I used an old elect. motor w/course wire wheels clamped to a plant stand.
Also, had to wear a thick dust mask & googles. Then when I finished I swept up all of the stuff that flew all over the porch & added it to the buckets by hand.
The club I was in while I lived in Mobile, used to use an old blender to make ground foam. They would dye it with Rit dye, not paint. Sometimes the foam wouldn't take the green dye too well. Made the foam look like leaves beginning to turn in early autumn.
I put 1 quart of Latex paint in the bucket & added 2 quarts of water. Mixed it up for about 2 minutes & let it sit for about 3 days. Mixed it up again today & then spread it out on newspapers. Here's what it looks like. After it dries for about a week, I'll break up the clumps & bring it back to the original texture & put each color in zip-lock bags.
I make mine with the wire wheel also. I used some green dyes on mine, had to let the stuff soak for a few days and it turned out OK, but I do think the latex will make a better job of it. Probably less messy in the end.
Guess I should get back at it now that I have new glasses. Seems I'm getting cataracts, doc says it's not bad enough for surgery but normal for my age. Ah well tomorrow he's going to put some drops in the eyeballs, have no idea of what that's for but I'm not supposed o drive for awhile after that.
Cheers
Willis
I make mine with the wire wheel also. I used some green dyes on mine, had to let the stuff soak for a few days and it turned out OK, but I do think the latex will make a better job of it. Probably less messy in the end.
Guess I should get back at it now that I have new glasses. Seems I'm getting cataracts, doc says it's not bad enough for surgery but normal for my age. Ah well tomorrow he's going to put some drops in the eyeballs, have no idea of what that's for but I'm not supposed o drive for awhile after that.
Cheers
Willis
Willis,
I've used the Dyes in the past & it just never worked for me. This time I used a quart of flat latex & that in itself would have worked, but I cleaned out the can w/water & that took almost 3 quarts of water to do. The yellow mixed better than the green. It takes a lot of mixing w/a wood paddle or a pc. of PVC pipe. I stirred it up for about 15 mins. & then let it soak for about 3 days. Every morning when I went into my MRR workshop I would stir it up real good & did that for the 3 days. I scooped it out of the bucket w/my hands & squeezed out as much water as I could & then spread it out on a thick layer of newspapers. Let it dry for a cpl. days & then put it on another layer of dry newspapers. Let that set for about 3 days & then spread it out on some thick soft cardboard in the sun for a day. It finally dried & I put it back in the dry bucket. I figure I would make some tree's in about a week w/some plants out of my yard. I'm also looking for some medium Pine Cones to cover w/the foam. I also soaked some Polyfil balls that I made last year in my liquid mixture of Matte Medium & water & I will make some clump tree's out of those. I use 4 parts water to one part Matte Medium for a dip for my tree's when I start making them. Then when they dry on my clothesline I spray them w/a spray bottle w/the same mixture.
I just got another foam cushion yesterday to grind up.
Willis,
I've used the Dyes in the past & it just never worked for me. This time I used a quart of flat latex & that in itself would have worked, but I cleaned out the can w/water & that took almost 3 quarts of water to do. The yellow mixed better than the green. It takes a lot of mixing w/a wood paddle or a pc. of PVC pipe. I stirred it up for about 15 mins. & then let it soak for about 3 days. Every morning when I went into my MRR workshop I would stir it up real good & did that for the 3 days. I scooped it out of the bucket w/my hands & squeezed out as much water as I could & then spread it out on a thick layer of newspapers. Let it dry for a cpl. days & then put it on another layer of dry newspapers. Let that set for about 3 days & then spread it out on some thick soft cardboard in the sun for a day. It finally dried & I put it back in the dry bucket. I figure I would make some tree's in about a week w/some plants out of my yard. I'm also looking for some medium Pine Cones to cover w/the foam. I also soaked some Polyfil balls that I made last year in my liquid mixture of Matte Medium & water & I will make some clump tree's out of those. I use 4 parts water to one part Matte Medium for a dip for my tree's when I start making them. Then when they dry on my clothesline I spray them w/a spray bottle w/the same mixture.
I just got another foam cushion yesterday to grind up.
Yowzer, yowzer, that sound's like a lot of work, but I'll be trying it anyway. There's much I've forgotten about just what I did. I don't remember if I heated the dye water mixture (there's a hot plate downstairs ?? It's likely I did) I'm not sure of the length of time in the dye (it was more that a few days) nor how much dye I used. I do have a lot of unopened packages of dye left on the shelf. Looking through some pictures I spoted a food grinder I burned up grinding chunks (when I got the material too close to the wire wheel I got small chunks) of dyed foam that was dyed. I did all the dyeing in one of those stock pots (I believe the proper use for them is for making soup) Anyway a couple of pics of the dyed foam (it was not rubber type foam) just the cheap stuff
Cheers
Willis
Funny, I just saw this thread and I was wondering what a cheaper alternative to commercial ground foam would be...I think there's a destination for the cushions on the couch that is currently (and extremely temporarily) occupying future MRR space.
Well yes monetary and material wise it is, but read Larry's post carefully, time wise and work wise it is quite costly
But then again it's a hobby, go for it
Funny, I just saw this thread and I was wondering what a cheaper alternative to commercial ground foam would be...I think there's a destination for the cushions on the couch that is currently (and extremely temporarily) occupying future MRR space.
When you remove those cushions, be sure to put something else in their place to keep the spouse happy, like a pile of dirty clothes next to the washer.
