Foam board bricks

[Spooky Dave]

Hi all,

I thought I'd share my first foam board project. It's carved and painted bricks for my popup cemetery column project. Pretty straightforward. I measured the bricks and cut out the gaps for grout with a dremel. The trick was to find the right paint combinations, and I cruised through lots of test batches (on scrap pieces) before I found what I was happy with.

In case anybody else can use a strategy on brick coloring, here's what I did. The key to it all, I found, is starting with a good red brick color. Once I had a color I was happy with, everything built on top of that. The grout color was mixed by combining two parts light gray and one part red brick. The base coat is simply the red brick color. Then, for the highlights, I started with some of the grout mix and made two other colors. I added yellow to the grout mix for the lighter tones, and black (a pretty decent amount) to the grout mix for the darker tones.

I allowed the base coat and grout to dry completely, then used a wet washcloth to apply the lights and darks. Kind of trial and error, but I had a lot of fun. I will definitely do more foam carving in the future.

Haunt on!

Spooky Dave

http://hauntforum.com/picture.php?albumid=962&pictureid=11121

http://hauntforum.com/picture.php?albumid=962&pictureid=11122

http://hauntforum.com/picture.php?albumid=962&pictureid=11123

http://hauntforum.com/picture.php?albumid=962&pictureid=11124

[jaege]

Looks good. Like real brick.

[CreeepyCathy]

wow! they do look real. :)

[Spooky1]

Nice job. I looks like a real brick wall.

[bishky67]

very very cool. cant wait to see it on the pillers.:eek:

[RoxyBlue]

Holy moley! That's one beautiful paint job, very realistic.

[Dark Star]

I agree, the paint job really makes it.

[MapThePlanet]

WOW! Looks fantastic! now just ship it and I'll cover the house with them :)

[fick209]

holy crap, great paint job!!!

[Dixie]

Yes, I agree - I really, really like this - great coloring, makes it look so realistic.

[niblique71]

Geezzz... How did I miss THIS one??? Great Job. I work with brick and am amazed at how realiztic you made these look. AWESOME!

[pagan]

Very nice work.. My columns aren't even finished and now I want to redo them!

[Terra]

They look exactly like brick. Outstanding!

[Spooky Dave]

Thanks for the comments, all. Somehow I missed most of the replies! Heh. Got too tangled up in other projects, I suppose. :)

Hey, I've finished the main central part of the column--with the plaster--and will post some pics of that in here too. I had a lot of fun with this one.

Dave

[Spooky Dave]

Hi again,

So here's a quick picture of the bricks on the project. Again, this is a pneumatic project where the top portion of the column will rise with a monster inside. (That thread is here: http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=26878)

http://hauntforum.com/picture.php?albumid=962&pictureid=11345

If anybody is interested in the plaster technique, it's pretty straightforward. I found the basic premise here on HauntForum, but for tombstones. You just paint the foam a dark base color, I used dark gray. Let dry completely. Then paint a light color on top and start spraying it off with water (lightly... I use a hand sprayer) a tiny bit at a time. For mine, I then let it dry completely and added some grime/smudges with darker paint--as it turns out, the dark accent color on the bricks--with a wet wash cloth.

Really lovin' that wet washcloth application technique. So simple, and useful!

This will probably be my last update in this thread, but I'll have plenty more to add in the coming days/weeks on the pneumatic one... that is, once I can figure out all the picaxe roadblocks! Heh.

Haunt on!

Dave

[samhayne]

Awesome work!
Can you tell me what the exact dremel attachement you use and if it made all the little foam particule ?

I use a router for mine and me and the whole garage and yard end up blue !!! Living hell to clean up. I need to do a whole facade this year using the same technique and i'm really not looking forward to it.

any advice would be good .

thanks and here's my brick work

http://i322.photobucket.com/albums/nn420/samhayne1975/gate%20and%20fence/IMG_7260.jpg

[Spooky Dave]

Hey Sam,

Awesome job on the bricks! Those look great! As for what dremel attachment I used, it was a dremel grinding stone. Here's a picture of what it looks like, approximately.

http://hauntforum.com/picture.php?albumid=962&pictureid=11355

This is a single piece, mind you, not the kind where you slip sandpaper over the top and tighten in place with a screwdriver. I liked the grinding stone because a lot of the time I tipped the bit on its end diagonally to use the corner, something that wouldn't work with the sanding bit.

I don't own a router, so this was my only recourse. I know a lot of people router their foam. The dremel method had its drawbacks, too. One of them was that it tends to melt the edges a bit and thus you end up with crusties that you need to peel or sand off. For me, I actually didn't mind that so much as it made the edges a bit rougher. Ended up looking kind of grungy.

Again, I think your routing job looks terrific. Would love to see the finished product!

Dave

[Bone Dancer]

Excellent job, with a change of colors and bit reshaping you could do a stacked stone wall as well.

[howlin mad jack]

Awesome job on the columns!!! That really is amazing, great job!!!

[samhayne]

Thanks for tips Spooky dave, i will have to experiment it very soon.
you can see some finished work on this tread.

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=22773&page=5

thanks for the nice comments.

[drwilde]

I am planning a new room and need some brick walls. About 8 panels of 4x8 solid brick. I can't decide if I want to use sheets of foam and carve and paint them or just use the ready made brick paneling from lowes. It costs more but will save alot of time.

[Spooky Dave]

I am planning a new room and need some brick walls. About 8 panels of 4x8 solid brick. I can't decide if I want to use sheets of foam and carve and paint them or just use the ready made brick paneling from lowes. It costs more but will save alot of time.

Hi DrWilde,

Sounds like quite the project! I can only speak for myself that it took an awful long time to measure/mark/carve the bricks, and that was for only one column. I'm betting the time would go faster--foot for foot--on a larger surface, but that's still a whole lot of carving! If you do take the plunge and start carving, I'd love to see the finish product.

Good luck!

And Sam, I checked out your finished bricks. Very cool! I'd thought that was still a WIP. So what are your plans for the next brick project?

Dave

[samhayne]

Hi Dave.

I'm actually on the drawing board to do a castle type facade to cover up the garage and front porch. I need to do a 36 linears feets long by 9 feets tall facade. I always wanted to cover the whole house but now i have a 2 story house, would be big to do or to store.

I will start a tread on this project very soon.

i'll keep you posted on how went the brick work.

sam