# Almost Free Foam Barrels



## fravak (Dec 11, 2006)

Using a Dremel with a router attachment, the top is cut down. I only routed out the top, but you could do both ends.






















The top is sanded down and the edges are tapered.








Using a soldering iron, I cut the individual pieces of wood on both the top and the sides of the barrel. 








Using quick and light strokes, I added wood grain with the soldering iron.








Paper mache strips are made from newspaper (about 6-8 layers) and hot glued to the barrel.















To hide the seam, I covered it with another piece of newspaper. 








A small piece of foam is added for the plug. I used blue foam because it is easier to shape small pieces with it.


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## fravak (Dec 11, 2006)

Because the girl at the Lowe’s paint counter couldn’t run the color matcher, I matched an old piece of weathered wood to an off-the-shelf Olympic flat color (Bronco Brown). Total price: $10.87 a gallon.








The barrel is painted with the base color (Back barrel. I forgot to take a picture for this step...). The top is covered with a black wash. As it dries, I touch my fingers all over the flat areas to make the color more uneven.




































The metal straps are painted black with some red mixed in for rust. 








Everything is lightly dry brushed with white mixed with a little bit of the base color to tone it down. The bottom two are dry brushed a little heavier than the top two. 








That’s it. I’m still playing around with different paint colors. I haven’t found the perfect color yet…


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## Screaming Demons (Sep 15, 2008)

These look fantastic!


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## mspears (Apr 29, 2011)

Great idea!


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## HallowweenKat (Sep 29, 2010)

Great tutorial & love the barrels.


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## Terra (Sep 23, 2007)

Terrific technique on how to build these. Simple yet the result is outstanding! 

Also love your lathe


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## KayosTheory (Sep 26, 2011)

Thanks for the tutorial! Did you also build the cannon out of foam? Can't wait to see the entire project put together.


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## billman (May 1, 2006)

Excellent!!


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## fravak (Dec 11, 2006)

The cannon is made out of foam and paper mache. I scored two 10' long 5" tubes from a roofing company last weekend, so I will be making a couple of larger cannons soon. I will do a tutorial on them also.


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## Hoodoo_Hermit (Nov 4, 2009)

This is amazing! Thank you so much for an awesome tutorial Fravak. This will be added to my bookmarks  Now I just have to see if my local stores are as accommodating lol. A question (you may have answered already) about how tall are these? They look like they're good sized.


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## fravak (Dec 11, 2006)

Thanks everyone! The blocks are 1x1x2 feet. Finished, the barrels are about 18-20" tall and about 11" in diameter.


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## lucynt (Sep 24, 2007)

What exactly is meant by "black wash". Is this a paint or stain?


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## fravak (Dec 11, 2006)

It's a little squirt of latex black paint in a couple of cups of water. Just a little more paint than would be in a jar of water you've washed a couple of brushes in. There's no magic formula. Basically, it is thin enough to flow into the low areas while mostly running of the high areas. I play around with the ratio as I go and use a paper towel to soak up the wash that's too thick or thin.

I'm impatient so I help dry it and "push" the wash around a little with a heat gun.


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## Spooks-Magee (Jul 30, 2011)

Incredible! And it doesn't hurt you are obviously talented


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## Phantom Blue (Sep 28, 2008)

awesome job! Thanks for sharing.

PB


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## Papa_K (Oct 15, 2008)

Awesome, thank you very much for this prop. I've been looking for something and this was inspirational.


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## Hoodoo_Hermit (Nov 4, 2009)

fravak said:


> Thanks everyone! The blocks are 1x1x2 feet. Finished, the barrels are about 18-20" tall and about 11" in diameter.


Awesome thanks!


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## Papa_K (Oct 15, 2008)

I've been looking for a way to stand up my skeletons I got from Walgreens. Of course I'm going to corpse them and dress them all up like some sort of zombie pirates or whatever, but I needed a way to provide a third foot for a tripod effect and anchor. Using these foam barrels I can cut out an area the size of a gallon can which I can then pour in cement and rebar or something to use to hold up the skeleton. I put a hole though the foam and insert the dried gallon can with the rebar sticking out, paint the rebar black, then attach it to the skeleton. With the skeleton 'articulated' (wired), I can pose them and use these coolest of props to set them on my roof. Too awesome. Thanks and thanks again.


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## Crunch (Oct 23, 2008)

Would work great for a pirate theme!


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## obcessedwithit (Jul 13, 2009)

outstanding will have to try this, thanks for sharing................


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## Kustomnut (Jul 20, 2011)

Great tutorial...Thanks!


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## Rxtorres (Sep 28, 2011)

thanks for sharing, those came out amazing. how I wish to run across some of that free foam...not lucky enough


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## The Halloween Lady (Jul 17, 2010)

Good job. They turned out fantastic. That's really creative, I would never have thought of that.


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## ryanlamprecht (Oct 8, 2009)

Those look so awesome. Love how you really nailed the wood grain. Very Nice!


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## Rclsu13 (Aug 23, 2011)

The drill is an ingenious idea! Like a make shift lathe, love it!


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## Bobbywan (Dec 16, 2011)

WOW!! Fantastic job!! 

Bobby


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## geyser463 (Nov 14, 2011)

Looks really good! Would make some if I knew where to put them!


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## Defenestrator (Jul 27, 2009)

I'm not quite sure how I missed this post originally, but I'm glad to have found it now!

I'm going to put out an A.P.B on these foam blocks, and use this idea for sure....thanks so much!


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## crazy xmas (Dec 30, 2008)

Again very nice work!


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## Defenestrator (Jul 27, 2009)

We found four blocks on our first excursion! 

They were at Tractor Supply, and the staff indicated we could have as many as we wanted whenever we see them.

I'm anxious to give this a try!


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## Joiseygal (Jun 10, 2009)

I thought the first picture you posted was a picture of the actual wood barrels. I can't believe that you made the foam barrels look so realistic. Great job! Oh when I watched you carve the white foam I was thinking of the big mess you had to clean up after you were done. Yike! It was worth it though!


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## Guest (Mar 12, 2012)

Wow! Great job!


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## fravak (Dec 11, 2006)

Thanks everyone! Defenestrator, nice find. I found a couple more blocks blowing across the Lowe's parking lot last week. When the weather warms up a little more, I'm going to try to build a better lathe. I visited a professional prop house in Denver and they gave me some great ideas on building a hot wire lathe.


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## Scully (Nov 22, 2011)

These are amazing!! I have never seen big foam blocks like that at Lowe's but I am definitely going to keep an eye out for them.


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## Arronaf (Sep 9, 2008)

Thanks for sharing! Now to find foam blocks in Germany.... Fantastic results though.


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## rebelxwing (Oct 7, 2008)

These are fantastic! I have got to figure out where to get some of those blocks to make a couple of these for my pirate display. I'm aiming to increase my yard haunt into a two yard, two house seaside town with zombie pirate invaders and I'll need lots of props to fill in the details, these barrels will fit the bill nicely! Thanks for posting this tutorial, you've inspired us all!


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## fravak (Dec 11, 2006)

Thanks. Rebelxwing, that sounds like an awesome display! I'm hoping I can make some larger barrels this year for very little money, but I haven't found the right materials yet. I need more filler props too.


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## bkgaz (Aug 14, 2012)

Awesome! Amazing work. Thank you for sharing


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## Ryiinn (Sep 12, 2008)

Oh wow...what a fantastic idea! Must make some of these!!!!


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## Darrin Plank (Sep 21, 2012)

cool I can see lots of uses for this. Thanks


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## bringjoy (Aug 28, 2005)

Tomorrow is TLAP Day, so I'm resurrecting this thread! Also, this is a great looking project and great tutorial=) So YARR, go forth, drink the rum, hoist the sails and make some barrels!


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## Ghost Ninja (Aug 25, 2013)

This is great! I've rumors of finding these blocks at these kinds of places ... and now it's confirmed. I am now on a mission to find a local source to hook me up again.


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## Frightshow (Sep 14, 2015)

Fantastic how-to! Now I need to find me some foam blocks!


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## Hauntings by Design (Jan 2, 2010)

Great idea and even better on how to get the foam for free.


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## pureevil548 (Jun 28, 2013)

that is a spectacular job.


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