Carving the foam

Carving polyurethane foam is pretty easy (compared to other carving mediums like wood or stone). I started off using a keyhole saw to open up the nasal passage and eliminate the obvious globs. That done, I used the scale drawings to guide me. I actually taped the drawings directly to the piece and lifted them long enough to carve and cut.


After a short time I realized that I had not built up the foam thick enough in many places. Simple enough to resolve, just add more foam.








Once the second coat of foam had cured I went back to the cutting and carving. When I needed to shave down areas I’d use a wood rasp/shaver-thing. Turns out that many tools made for woodworking work well on foam.



When I got the main lines of the skull formed I removed the scale drawings and used a realistic-looking plastic skull as reference and carved in as many small details as I could.

Tip: Another tool that came in very handy for carving the foam was a cheap butcher’s knife that I got from a thrift store.







The mess: The worst part of the carving part of the project was the mess and the clean-up. The bits of foam from the carving were light and wisped around very easily. Additionally the little bits were very static-ey, they stuck to everything. I regularly left a very clear trail of foam bits leading from my workshop, up the basement stairs, into the hallway, across the dining room…

My wife was none too happy about it.