Question on foam

[fishin' fool]

I am thinking about heading to the craft store this weekend. I know, its a slippery slope LOL. One of the items I want to look for is some foam for tying different things from poppers to gurglers. Being new to this, I have no idea what to look for in foam. So can anyone give a quick tutorial on what to look for, what to stay away from, and what size(thickness) I should be looking for?

[Cold]

Thin foam sheets. They're cheap, so grab colors for beetles (black, brown), hoppers (tan, yellow, green), and gurglers (your choice...for me, I just use what I alread have for the other two). I think the stuff my craft store sells is 1/8" foam, which is a bit too thick for some of those tiny dry patterns you see (foam emergers, etc), but for anything #12 on up, its fine.

[CoachBob]

Here are the A,B,Cs of buying foam.
Sheet foam comes in four thicknesses. 1.5mm, 2mm, 3mm and 6mm. You can get 2 and 3 anytime at Wal-Mart, Michael's and Hobby Lobby. 1.5 is available occasionally at those stores but always (in limited colors) at the Dollar Tree. Sheet foam comes in full sheets and half sheets and often the best buy (outside of Dollar Tree) is a pack of 50 half sheets for about $7. This will give you a rainbow of colors -- which is good and bad. Good because you now have a wide variety, bad because you may not use some colors.
Cutting sheet foam is easiest done with hair scissors (Tweezerman, ConAir, etc.) available at any drug store, Sally's, Wal-Mart or Target for about $7. If you try and cut with fly tying scissors you will have to make several scissor closures and may not get an even cut. You can also cut sheet foam with a paper cutter.
Sheet foam also comes two other ways: sparkle and sticky back. Sparkle is nice to make pretty flies, but the jury is stil out on whether or not it helps catch fish. Sticky foam is good for several uses including doubling the thickness of a foam piece, adding dots or color shapes to another foam piece (you can cut sheet foam with a hole punch). Both of these are more expensive, but price varies by location and possible sales.
1.5mm is noticeably thinner and more flexible. It also has less flotation. 6mm has very limited uses because it is so much thicker and much more expensive (about $1.50 a sheet -- http://www.craftsuppliesforless.com/...amsheets2.html.
Foam for plugs comes from flip flops or from floor mats. Be careful in buying flip flops because some have closed cell foam top and bottom and sponge in between. This won't work. Foam sheets are cheapest from www.softtiles.com in a variety of colors or from Sam's or Wal-mart in grey (6 sheets for $20). You cut foam plugs with a hollow punch (www.harborfreight.com) which come 9 in a pack for $6. You can make other drill bit punches, but this is the cheapest way to start.
You glue foam together with CA glue. See my articles about this.
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/arti...se20100118.php
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/arti...se20100215.php

[fishin' fool]

Thanks, I appreciate it.

Out of curiousity, what size foam is most often used for say gurglers or the like?

[quivira kid]

2mm will work great for 90% of things. Big patterns, I'd use 3mm. Look for boa yarn while you're at the craft store and make some leeches! Bead chain for eyes..... Craft stores are a dangerous place for a wandering mind.

[tailingloop]

Sheet foam is also available in 0.5mm and 1.0mm thicknesses. I have not found a bulk source for these sizes but some fly shops have small sheets. "Razor Foam" is one of the product names.

I use the 1.0mm foam for micro gurglers and mini crease flies.

You can also get foam cylinders and blocks that are useful for creating poppers. Thinner foam cylinders ar available for creating bug bodies and wing posts.

[George Emanuel]

Don't overlook the free foam which is often used to cushion electronic devices, cameras, computers etc. In fact this was the original material Jack Gartside used to tie his Gurgler. He was notorious for using run of the mill recycled items in his fly constructions and his invention of the Gurgler was no exception.
He wanted two things in the Gurgler when he designed it the first was that it should make the characteristic gurgling sound for which he named it, and the second was that it be as aerodynamic as possible. He achieved both with what many of us would simply have thrown away.
The fly was originally tied for Stripped Bass, but has proven itself as a surface lure for almost any species which will attack top water flies.
Tight lines,
George

[Bass_Bug]

Sheet foam, no matter what thickness, can be glued together like previously mentioned, however you'll want to make sure whatever glue you use is flexible. I used Pliobond until some of the guys here turned me on to 3M spray adhesive. When laminating, the 6mm comes ion handy for building up like colors. 1 sheet of that obviously equals 3 sheets of 2mm. thats 2 less sheets you have to glue together.

See my post on laminating sheet foam for popper bodies:
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/s...t-foam-poppers

See this thread:
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/s...ht=foam+sheets
for a discussion on cutting foam.

Incidently there have been many threads here on FAOL on foam. I'd suggest spending a few minutes using the search feature here and see what you can find.

By the way, the foam George mentioned that is usable is also know as Evazote foam. This is the flexible stuff most often used now for packing material. Available in colors in small sheets at most fly shops, but the packing stuff is usually white.Don't confuse this with polystyrene (aka styrofoam) Think foam cups.

[boutdoors]

just bought a 40 sheet pack of 2mm foam at Walmart for $4,all kinds of colors 6"x9". I wasn't loking to get that much but thats all the had. I'm making some foam gurglers in size 8 and 12.
Robert

[fishin' fool]

Thanks guys I appreciate the help.