/cgl/ - Cosplay & EGL

TYPES OF FOAM

Foam comes in different thickness with the regular craft foam being around 2mm which is floppy and good for things like joints, but not good as a chest place or shin guard. Either double up or head for the thicker foam like 4mm-10mm. In general, the more flexibility you want (like fingers and neck) the thinner the foam while those with less mobility you can get away with thicker (like 10mm for the chest or back).
EVA (like those in camping and yoga mats) is the most common after craft foam but make sure the texture is what you want however nearly any foam in the 'closed cell foam' category will work like polyethelene or polyrethane sheets. If you want the smoothness like craft foam, look for crosslinked polyethelene foam, like volara or minicell/microcell. All of these should be easily heat shaped as long as they're not 1-2" thick.

WHERE TO BUY:
Very few places carry foam thicker than 2mm and even fewer in large rolls. You can either go to your autoshop, wal-mart, home improvement stores, or sears to get camping or anti-fatigue foam mats such as this ( http://www.sears.com/best-step-antifatigue-foam-floor-mat-black/p-00914118000P)) or this (http://www.walmart.com/ip/Ozark-Trial-Camping-Pad-Blue/16783660)) or you can go online to find various thickness like ebay (http://stores.ebay.com/Wandy-foam)) or online shops like (http://www.foamforyou.com/Closed_Cell_Foam.htm)) and (http://www.foambymail.com/closed-cell-foams.html).). The big advantages that come with online shops is that they can usually give you one big sheet or roll.