Forming a mask out of EVA foam

Greetings all.

I recently posted that I was interested in alternative methods and materials to make my Jack of Blades mask from. I believe I've found the answer. EVA foam comes in a variety of colors, thicknesses, and patterns. For the masks I purchased a few of the 1/2" mats that hook together like a puzzle. I also bought a heat gun because I have been wanting one for a long time and It gave me a reason to buy one. I started more as a test than anything to see if this method would work for this project. I have been researching how to form EVA foam from a variety of sources. However, this post will cover some of the helpful things I've learned through trial and error.

I took one of the test masks that I sculpted from clay (that were too heavy and fragile) and used that as a base to form the foam mask from.

I then cut out a large oval from the foam sheet' and started with the oven method. I was dissatisfied with using the oven for these reasons:

1. Using the oven takes too long. The instructions I read said to preheat your oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit and leave it in the oven on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes before trying to form the foam.  
2. If you are using EVA foam with a textured pattern on one side the oven will make the foam curl while heating. I believe this happens because to make that textured pattern in the foam the companies use a heated roller and stamp into the foam. This changes the feel of the foam and as a result both sides take heat differently. 
3. Because you are sticking the entire piece of foam in the oven again and again to form it to your specifications; any forming you were able to accomplish before the foam cools is then undone because it gets reheated. 

With very little success this was the result after trying to form the mask using the oven method:

As you can see there are some very basic facial forms happening (which for some applications may be just what you need.) But I wanted more contoured shapes to match my research images. 

I then switched to using the heat gun method which I like much better. The heat gun seemed to do the trick. I was able to spot heat portions of the mask to form them individually. and over time the mask started to take the shapes that I wanted. I did find that you should heat the foam gradually with the heat gun by going back and forth over the surface of the foam. If you heat one spot the surface of the foam will burn even on the lowest setting of the heat gun. 

I want to be clear, I do NOT advise trying to form foam masks to your own face! I did try and use my face after a while to make sure the fit was okay, however, I did this only after the foam was cool enough not to burn me. 

On that note. using the oven and the heat gun can be dangerous and they are obviously hot; please execute caution when attempting anything like this. 

After using the heat gun I came up with something like this: 

I then decided that I needed to increase the contours in specific places to make it look even more face-like. I drew circle areas on the mask with a felt marker (no pens as they will leave dents int he surface of the foam.) Specific areas like the eyebrows and cheek bones and the chin needed extra attention in my mask. 

HELPFUL HINTS: 

I made the mistake of using pen to draw lines on the mask and this left a dent. I found out by accident that if you gently heat wrinkled or dented areas of the foam that the air in the foam heats up and expands to fill the gap. I don't know how well this works on deeper dents though. 

More progress posts to follow. But if you liked this post or any other posts of mine feel free to follow me here or on Twitter or Pinterest. Also if you have questions I'd be happy to answer them for you.