Goldfish EVA Foam Bag

I recently discovered that my local craft store carries EVA foam and had been wanting to try it out. In researching a bit, it was clear that I needed some Barge contact cement. It was clearly the standard glue to use on this foam. Ultimately, I really enjoyed working with both the foam and the glue, so much so that I now bring you the...

Top 10 Reasons Barge is one of my favorite glues now:

1. It can be messy but cleans up easily on non-porous surfaces. While it's sticky, it peels off skin without pain or lasting residue.
2. It doesn't dry clear, but we're painting this project, so it doesn't matter if it shows a bit. The paint will cover it.
3. You don't have to hurry. You actually have to wait for it to dry a bit before you can press the pieces together, so you don't have to be in a hurry.
4. It's really strong. When I made a mistake and had to pull a piece apart, it ripped the foam. The glue did not let go.
5. It works on lots of different materials.

Bonus: If you pour some out on parchment paper and let it dry, it looks like fake vomit and is super fun to trick people with. (My husband and daughter didn't find it as amusing as I did when I put it on the couch and they thought the dog made a mess.)

Now on to the project! I opted to make a bag shaped like a goldfish. It's totally impractical, but super fun and was far easier than I expected it would be.

EVA foam

Barge contact cement

acrylic paint (ideally Plaid FX, though not required)

Dremel with sanding bit

boxcutter or X-acto knife

paper, pencil, and marker

heat gun

ball or other firm spherical object

masking tape (optional but helpful)

1/8" plywood (optional but helpful)

To start, decide on the shape of the body. Sketch it out on a large sheet of paper or tape a few pieces together.

Lay another sheet of paper over the body and draw out the shape of the face.

Lay another sheet of paper over the body and add a dorsal fin. The dorsal fin needs to overlap the top of the body by about a half inch.

Add one more sheet of paper for the tail.

Lastly, draw out a couple small fins for the sides.

To create the pattern for the belly of the fish, you'll need the length of the bottom of your body. Wrap a piece of paper around the bottom of the body starting at the base of the face and extending around the back end of the body as shown with the blue line in the first image of this step.

Take that measurement and mark it on a new sheet of paper. Fold that paper in half and draw a curved line from one end to the other as shown.

Refine your drawing by tracing it in marker, and cut out all the pieces.

Using a pencil, trace the following pieces onto EVA foam twice. Cut them out using a boxcutter or X-Acto knife.

• body
• all fins (not the tail)
• belly

For the tail and face, you're going to create a fold point. Trace the tail once, then flip it over and align the center top before tracing again. See image.

You'll do the same for the face. Align the top edge on this piece. See image.

I scored the scales on my body with my laser cutter. If you don' t have a laser, cut one scale out of paper and trace it repeatedly across the body with a pencil. Score along the lines gently with an X-acto knife or boxcutter.

Regardless of how you create these score marks, go over them with a heat gun to widen the marks and make them more prominent.

Fold the face in half. The front edge of the face will glued together. Sand or cut the point off the inside of that edge and apply Barge to both sides. Allow it at least 5 minutes dry time and then carefully stick it together.

Now, sand all the edges round to give it a smoother appearance.

Sandwich the two body pieces with scales facing out and wrap the face around them. With a pencil, trace the edge of the face onto the body on both sides.

Apply Barge to the inside of the face and the area where the face overlaps the body.

When glue is dry/tacky press the face onto each body piece.

Sketch out some detail lines and then score them with your blade. Apply the heat gun to widen the score marks.

Sand down the inside edges of the tail from the center to where they will connect with the body like you did on the face.

Glue that edge together.

Use masking tape to hold the belly in place on the inside of the two body pieces.

Hold the tail in place where you want it and mark where the belly overlaps the tail.

Apply Barge to the inside edge of the body pieces, the edges of the belly, and where the belly overlaps the tail.

When the glue is dry/tacky, start sticking the belly at the base of the face.

Work your way down until you get to the last quarter or so.

Stick the tail in place.

Apply Barge to the top of the tail where it enters the body and on the ends of the body pieces.

When dry/tacky press the ends of the body together over the tail.

Cut two large circles from the foam. I cut mine on the laser cutter, but cutting by hand is fine. You don't need the score marks for the pupil, but they're helpful when it comes time to paint.

Sand or cut down the bottom edge as shown.

Heat with a heat gun and press around a ball or other spherical object. Keep pressing and moving around it until it feels cool and keeps its shape.

Trace the eye where you want it on the face.

Apply Barge, wait, and stick on the eyes.

Sand down all the edges on the fins.

Apply score marks for detail.

Mark the placement on the body with a quarter-sized circle.

Apply Barge, wait, and stick.

Now that the glue on the belly has had a bit more time to set, we're going to shape it similarly to how we shaped the eyes.

Heat the belly and the base of the body with a heat gun.

Stick the ball inside the bag. With one hand on the ball and one hand outside, press the ball into your outside hand to round out the belly. Continue to heat and repeat until you're happy with the shape.

Sand down the sharp edges of the belly.

Tape a single dorsal fin in place on the inside top edge of the body.

Sketch out a handle hole.

Cut the hole out.

Trace the hole onto the other dorsal fin and cut it out.

Add score marks for detail.

Apply Barge, wait, and stick.

If you have a Glowforge, like me, you can trace the hole onto a piece of paper and use the trace function to cut out wooden handles.

You could also trace it onto plywood and cut it out with power tools.

You could also skip this step entirely. It's pretty sturdy as it is. I just thought it would be nice to reinforce the handle.

Next to the EVA foam in the store was this FX paint designed specifically for it. All acrylic paint is flexible, so I'm confident any acrylic would be fine. However these paints had a beautiful sheen to them that worked beautifully on my fish, so I can definitely recommend them.

Add layers of paint until you get the desired result.