Habitat carved out of foam. What to seal it with?

[Nina]

I am carving a habitat base out of foam, and need to seal it with something before I add the dirt mixture. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks in advance. Nina

[Schmitty]

I got a video from Rhinehart and he sealed it with fiberglass resin just painted on and let dry, then apply glue and sand or dirt. I tried it and it worked good.

[Rich P.]

I sealed mine with a coat of elmers glue and it seemed to work fine.

[Jim B]

You don't want to put fiberglass resin on some foams like styrofoam or white polystyrene.It will melt.I don't seal the foam at all.I mix my dirt with Elmers/water mixed and get it to a troweling consistency,smear it on and blend with a wet paint brush.The glue locks into the pores of the foam(talking about urethane foam or styrofoam,with open pores).

[fishslayer13]

Hey Nina,  Why do you need to seal the foam first ?  If your foam is polyurethane foam like a deer head is poured out of, than cover in Elmer's glue add your dirt or whatever  pack it right on and  let dry . blow off extra dirt seal with satin gloss when happy with results. The dirt will dry darker so keep that in mind when choosing a dirt type.

[Nina]

Thanks for the advice guys. This is white styrofoam - the foam boards that are used to insulate buildings. I thought I maybe had to seal it first to keep the little beads from coming off all the time, and I thought they were too slick, but maybe the texture of them alone will be enough to adhere to glue and dirt mix.

[Laurier]

glue will seel any  foam then you can paint , or apply sand or mose , to the glued serface

[outwoods taxidermy]

just pva it.....

[mvernelson]

all the foams that are sensitive to laquers and resins can be painted with white plaster of paris too.

[Laurier]

latex paint over 2 part foam with ( skin ) no skin use elmers over first , to seal it up , when glue is dry , latex paint , then add surface you want to elmers glue again ,
problems , call me 705-476-0483

[roundman81]

I've used left over fish carving foam, just painted on Elmer's glue and sprinkled on sand. Shook off excess when dry.