Photo by Brittany Lee Artistry
Step 1: Trace Candy Cane Template on Insulation Foam
The first step is pretty straightforward, I created a template by blowing up a candy cane cartoon clip art from Google and then printed it out and taped it together. Then I traced it out three times onto 2.5 in pink insulation foam board. The original clip art I used as a base was about 7in wide after I made it bigger on my computer, which is why I used three layers of the pink insulation foam. You will definitely want PINK insulation foam (which Home Depot sells), NOT GREEN insulation foam (which Lowe's sells). From my experience, the green insulation foam tends to be of a higher density and is much harder to carve and sand. For this prop I actually drove thirty miles away to my nearest Home Depot because the pink foam is that much easier to use. Step 3: Use Rasp to Round Out the Shape & Sand Smooth
This step you absolutely need your respirator mask on because the foam particles will go EVERYWHERE! Please protect your body, and be sure to vacuum after you are done! Now that you have your candy cane pieces glued together it is time to round out the candy cane shape! To do this you use the wood rasp, which is basically like a cheese grater, and go ham on the edges until you get the rough shape you want for the candy cane. Do not worry about it being super smooth, that's what the sandpaper is for. Next, now that you have your basic rounded shape you will use your sandpaper or sanding sponge (I had two in different grits so I could do the lower one then the higher one after to further smooth it out) to sand the candy cane to get a smooth shape. This step involves a lot of patience, but you can get a really smooth finish with the pink insulation foam if you just put in a little work. |
Step 2: Cut Out Foam & Glue Together
Now that you have your candy cane templates all traced out, it is time to cut them out and stack them together! For this I recommend using a jig saw, although a craft knife is also an option if you cannot use a saw (although my saw is a cheap one I bought for $25). The reason a jig saw is nice is because you can get very clean and precise cuts so it is much easier to align the pieces when you stack them. Next, we are going to glue the three candy cane foam pieces together with mod podge! Insulation foam, unlike EVA foam, will melt if you use the wrong kind of glue (learn from my mistakes!)., so I like to glue insulation foam together with mod podge. Once you apply a thick layer to glue the three pieces on top of one another you can use your clamps or heavy textbooks to keep it in place while you let it dry overnight. Step 4: Prime, Paint, & Seal
This step involves a LOT of priming, seriously so much priming, because insulation foam is like a sponge and will just absorb all of your mod podge and you need several layers before it will be smooth enough to work with. I think I put on about 8-10 layers of mod podge to prime my candy cane before I was satisfied enough to start painting. The good news is that with all this priming the foam becomes much stronger so I didn't have to be super delicate when transporting it or anything. Once it is primed we can move on to painting it! I started with a base coat of white spray paint, then moved on to use 2in masking tape to measure out where I wanted my pink stripes to go. After taping off the stripes I used hot pink spray paint to add the pink coloring! Once the pink was on I did touch-ups with white acrylic paint to the places I accidentally got pink on, and then I decided for an extra touch I wanted to add small gold stripes on either side of the pink ones using a thin brush and some gold acrylic paint. The free-handing work isn't perfect, but it was close enough for me. Now that I is all painted, I sealed it with three additional coats of mod podge. I typically use three coats when sealing props because sometimes when carrying around your prop all day your palm sweat will start to get at the paint since mod podge is water soluble, but usually three coats is enough to prevent this. Overall I used over half of a 32oz jar of mod podge, so definitely buy a new bottle if you plan on doing a prop this large! |