Styrofoam is something that is ubiquitous in our everyday lives. It comes with the packages that come in the mail, in the boxes of items bought at the store--everywhere. As you try to reduce, reuse, recycle, Styrofoam creates its own challenges; not all communities will allow you to recycle Styrofoam, which means it ends up in the landfill. You can break the cycle: Create a figurine from Styrofoam.
Instructions
1. Decide what figurine you wish to make out of Styrofoam. You can find inspirations in books or on sites like "stryofoam sculpture art" or Styrofoam Sculpture (see References below).
2. Draw a few possibilities on paper so you have a road map to follow. Take into account the level of your abilities. Making a figurine from Styrofoam is challenging, so you might wish to start with a simple design first, then make more complicated and intricate ones as your skill and confidence increases.
3. Gather pieces of Styrofoam from which to make your figurine. This will depend on the size of the figurine you wish to create. If you don't have one large piece of Styrofoam, glue pieces together to create one larger piece.
4. Use a sharp knife to carve the Styrofoam into the shape you've decided upon for your figurine. Take your time and carve little bits away at a time instead of larger pieces. It's far easier to remove more Styrofoam with your knife than add it back on.
5. Sand the Styrofoam with sandpaper when you are finished carving.
6. Paint your Styrofoam figurine. This step is optional, and the colors are entirely up to you. As you can see in some of the pictures in "stryofoam sculpture art," it is quite possible to make your figurine look as though it's been created from nearly any material imaginable.
