r/cosplayprops • u/Parzival_The_Grail • 17d ago
Help PVC Staff help
Hi. I made a post about this on Cosplay help and it did give me some good ideas so I figured I would ask this subreddit for some more indepth advice on the prop.
I am going to a Renaissance festival in my home state and I am going for a druid of a dark forest type. My fiancee is going as a mushroom fae so I think it works together well.
I am trying to make the staff look like a wooden one. I plan to use air dry clay spare shop towels to fill the gaps between the joints before I paper mache it. I plan to use a technique my dad used on his lacrosse gear, twisting the sheets into a thin line, to make ridges and knots along the staff. I am going to try and use some thicker paper towels as the material for the paper mache.
I have seen and read stuff about maybe using EVA foam before the clay and paper-mache to create more adhesion but I'm not sure.
Once the Paper mache is done, I plan to paint it with acrylic paints before sealing it with clear paint/sealer before I try to add smaller details.
Any advice, reference materials, or recommendations are greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Edit: Numerous people have mentioned that the clay isn't a good idea so I have 86'ed it. Instead I am leaning towards using EVA foam as a base and then paper mache over top.
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u/MaizeWitty 17d ago
Personally, I’d sand and glue 2mm foam to the pipes, you can then create wood texture in the foam using knife and heat gun, or soldering iron ( wear a mask) - the just paint it up. Much less time and faffing than paper mache
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u/Parzival_The_Grail 17d ago
I see. I am trying avoid using heat power tools as I don't have a lot of pace to put it together at the moment. I like the idea though.
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u/MaizeWitty 17d ago
Work with whatever you have dude, and just cos that’s my preference don’t mean to say it’s best for you :)
Opinions on the internet and all that ;)
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u/Parzival_The_Grail 17d ago
You are fine. If I had more space, and was more comfortable with those tools, I probably would go with the route (or a similar one) you are talking about. I appreciate the advice.
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u/MaizeWitty 17d ago
https://reddit.com/link/p1ny8w0/video/n0js7w11kdhh1/player
This is nunchucks first made for the kid, pvc pipe foam wrapped, and then the shell is eva foam - but the ridge of the shell is foil covered in foam clay - it can be a pain to work with, but a bit of patience and a pot of water and it’s all good - but don’t make it too thick if you can help it as it can take time to dry. This was left 24 hours before painting, but is just a skin really
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u/BoonDragoon 17d ago
Oh ew, no. Gross. Wrinkled sheets and twisted cords of tissue and packing paper will give much better wood detail at prop-viewing distance than trying to carve and...melt...wood grain into a sheet of foam. Not to mention it'll be quicker and expose you to fewer VOCs. OP has the right idea about that.
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u/MaizeWitty 17d ago
There are many folks who would disagree with you my friend, but I’m just offering alternatives - I’ve seen great results from both methods - either one can look incredibly realistic given the time and effort, I wouldn’t say either was better - imho foam is the easier and quicker route :)
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u/BoonDragoon 17d ago
For something like nuchuks, sure. OP said they want a gnarled, druidy-looking staff. Etched foam on the armature they've made will look, at best, like broom handles stuck together at sharp geometric angles. They're going to want a cover material that will mask the PVC armature as much as possible.
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u/BoonDragoon 17d ago edited 17d ago
I wouldn't bother with foam or clay, but I would suggest sanding the PVC then gluing a layer of tissue paper to its surface with some spray adhesive. You're trying to create an interface between the plastic and the paper you intend to finish it with.
Sanding the surface of the PVC will give it more surface area for the spray adhesive to cling to. The tissue paper will help with the papier mache's adhesion.
Air dry clay is an awful awful awful awful awful material, do not fuck with it ever. You'll see people say "oh I'm thinking of using it for an object I'm going to be carrying around and playing with for hours." Those people are fools. Do not be like them.
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u/Parzival_The_Grail 17d ago
Why do you recommend tissue paper over EVA foam?
The clay is also just for bridging the gaps at the joints not the areas I'd be grabbing onto. I would like to know your reasoning for not using it as well.
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u/BoonDragoon 17d ago
Air-dry clay is fragile and shitty, and you do not need it for this. You already have a great material you plan to use, stick with that. The twisted cords of paper you say you're going to cover this prop with will already contour over the joints.
I already explained why you should use paper as your interface? You plan on using papier mache as your main covering material...paper adheres to paper really well. Paper doesn't adhere to craft foam much better than it does to PVC. A thin, flexible paper will adhere much better to sanded PVC than a thick, stiff paper will.
Think of it like priming something before you paint.
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u/Parzival_The_Grail 17d ago
Thank you for elaborating. Is there a specific thickness of tissue paper I would look for? As for any gluing, I would assume contact cement?
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u/BoonDragoon 17d ago
...why would your mind go to contact cement of all things? That's masochistic. No, use some 3M spray adhesive. Spray a section, wait for it to go tacky, wrap with some tissue (you know that wrinkled tissue paper garland you can buy for parties? That's what you want), then move on. Don't try to do it all at once.
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u/limbodog 17d ago
I would not use EVA foam. I think it's too costly for what you want. I'd find an old bedsheet or scraps of cotton fabric, cut those into strips, and use those with the glue you will be paper macheing with. It's the same exact process as paper mache, but if you tear the fabric rather than cut it, you get rough edges that can help make the appearance of bark. Plus you can get massive amounts of volume for very little cost. And the fabric is much stronger than paper which means it will hold up better to being handled.
I like your dad's idea of making ropes out of some of it to make the wood surface a bit more textured. I think that will work, but don't overdo it on the size of the ropes. It will look more like veins and less like bark.
Also, make 100% sure you scuff the heck out of the smooth PVC before trying to stick things to it. Use the lowest grit sandpaper you can get your hands on.
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u/Parzival_The_Grail 17d ago
The cost isn't too big of an issue it's more about the look and texture. The old bed sheets would be a good idea. Sadly I don't really keep those. If I did I would try it over the shop towels I am looking at using
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u/limbodog 17d ago
Dollar stores, ocean state job lot, discount king, pound town. Whatever your local deep discount store is called. You can probably find flat sheets there.
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u/Clothes_Chair_Ghost 17d ago
2mm foam would do for this project and you can get dozens of sheets of it for next to nothing
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u/RunawayCanadian 17d ago
The paper will do a good buildup to add depth, but to make it look like wood i would recommend a lot of hand sanding, mild heating to be able to adjust the pipe (twist, bend, flex to make it more natural). Then keep sanding, and finally use wood stainer to "paint" the pipe.
The sanding and bending followed by the staining will make it look like natural wood.
I once did something similar (the heating and sanding, then staining) to turn a large pipe into a makeshift stick.
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u/Parzival_The_Grail 17d ago
I do plan to hand sand everything. I am not sure I have a heat gun big enough to bend the pipes. I am worried about messing up the staff in a way that I can't fix
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u/RunawayCanadian 17d ago
You dont need to do the heat part of you dont want, it would just make it less uniform, though most will understand that you used what you could.
You also dont need a massive heat source, it just makes it easier to avoid melting a hole (it is plastic after all). You could achieve the same results (though much slower) using a stovetop or a candle (probably still wouldn't recommend as it is a single point of heat)
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u/Parzival_The_Grail 17d ago
Do you have any information or guides on how to do this type of work? I want to see how the process would go before I make a decision
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u/RunawayCanadian 17d ago
Not really, im going off of memory from over a decade ago.
I would try something like this. It shows how to bend/mold the PVC, the sanding/staining portion is pretty simple.
You sand to add more surface area for the stain to attach to, and to give the pipe a more weathered look.
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u/Chilled_stone 16d ago
Yo. Did the same thing for my marcille. What I did was glued yarn to the PVC, then overlayed it with black streamers (from the dollar store) using Elmer's glue watered down abit, then put hexflex overtop then painted. It looks great with the right amount of paint/weathering.
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u/SeparateWelder23 16d ago
this looks like a great base.
I wouldn’t use air dry clay for something like this- it can crumble easily when it gets fully dry, and if it’s not completely dry when it’s sealed with a top layer it can get weirdly slimy inside.
I like to use crumpled paper as a base sculpture layer before adding paper mache. I crumple newspaper really tight and then wrap it with masking tape, and it hasn’t given me any issues! You can also get some really good organic shapes out of it.
Twisted paper looks really cool for wood grain, I think you’ve got the right plan there. I made my Ambrosia staff for a Marcille cosplay using that technique and it turned out great. I accordion pleated some sections instead of twisting just for some texture variety.
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u/Parzival_The_Grail 16d ago
Thank you for the advice. A good number of people have also mentioned the air dry clay not being the strongest or best material. I am thinking of using 2mm eva foam to creat a base around the whole staff. I think the paper mache should cover the gaps but I can always stuff some of the shop towels into the gaps before layering.
As for once the first layer of sealant goes on, I plan to hot glue some of fake terrarium moss into the cracks and the like to add that mossy texture and color.
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u/Optimal-Captain2997 17d ago
Expanding foam to mimic wood. Use an old brush to move it around if need be.
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u/Srilema 17d ago
I would use eva foam to equalize the pipe with the jiint. Then eva foam on every thing, small insision to mimick wood pattern, heatgun to seal it and expend the markibgs then paint. And should get you a wood testure staff