Home Decor, Upcycled Projects

Faux Metal Letters Made From “Melted” Styrofoam

Big foam block dissolved into plastic goo

I am a little obsessed with “melting” styrofoam lately. It is fun and crazy science and when you mix it with a little creativity you can make some interesting stuff.  It does take awhile to harden but once it does you have a lightweight sturdy shape that floats in water.

I am cringing a little as I think of all the times I have thrown away my take out containers and other foam packaging. But now that I know I can make hard plastic from it I will never have to do that again.

It is a simple process to “melt” the foam into a gooey substance using acetone but before you dissolve the foam you need a form to shape it. I have not tried a silicone mold and I don’t know if it would work as the acetone does melt some other plastics. Don’t ask me how I know this. 🙂

I have made the molds for my projects from cardboard boxes partly because I wanted to make my own shapes and partly because I like to re-use the boxes.

To make a cardboard mold start with a template. Trace the template on the a piece of cardboard.

Making a cardboard mold for styrofaom

Cut strips of cardboard and use hot glue to attach the sides of the mold. Be sure to keep the glue on the outside of the mold so it does not interfere with the finished shape.

Making a cardboard mold for styrofaom

Once the mold is completed it is time to dissolve the foam. Use pure acetone available from home improvement stores to dissolve the foam into a plastic goo.

Place the plastic substance in the mold and allow time to harden. (This shape and thickness took a couple of weeks.)

Dissolved foam in cardboard mold

Once the shape is hardened it is time to remove the cardboard. This is not very easy and does take some scraping, filing, soaking in water and scrubbing.

Removing foam shape from cardboard mold

(To be completely honest after all that I still didn’t get all the remnants of cardboard off but since I decided to paint the letters with a faux metal finish  I figured it would be OK.)

Plastic M made from foam

For the faux metal finish I used silver spray paint.

Plastic M made from styrofoam

To finish the antique look a small amount of black paint was brushed on and then dabbed off with paper towel.

Plastic M with faux metal finish

For more details, you can see the whole process here on a smaller project that I made a few weeks ago.

Just in case you didn’t think I was serious about my foam obsession, I made a second letter just for fun.

Faux Metal Letters made from styrofaom

Happy Upcycling

Faux Metal Letters made from dissolved foam