Balsa Foam, a new material for aspiring stone carvers with limited space or strength for whacking away with a hammer and chisel. I came across this material on the Flicker space of icklebird ( a pseudonym for a girl named Su in Las Vegas – which is a pseudonym for…)

From what I can tell, Su is a middle school art teacher – what I would have given to have an art teacher like her! From my middle school art experience, I remember a hot attic room and drawing brown paper bags and bleached cows skulls – for months. She has some wonderful school projects at Flickr!

I love the expressions and the detail on these sculptures! Trying to find out more on this material, Balsa Foam, Dick Blick glowingly describes it: “Balsa Foam is an amazing plastic foam that carves like butter and paints like wood. It’s ideal for sculpting and model making because it can be carved, chiseled, sawed, textured, or embossed with sharp-edged detail.”

A more detailed technical report on the stuff tells us: “With the 7 lb. density, a fondue skewer makes an effective stylus. Any kind of hand saw will cut easily through Balsa-Foam I and II. You can also use a steel ruler to make push-cuts. A series of push cuts will enable you to cut out complex interior shapes. Just be careful to keep the ruler at a 90 degree angle…..Since Balsa-Foam has no “memory” or rebound, it will hold an impression. This means that you can create many different types of surface detail by simply pressing the appropriate object into the surface. Surface texture can be enhanced using a tool to make impressions. The rounded end of a thin paint brush handle, for example quickly dents the foam for a brown stone surface effect. If you need a specially shaped rectangular, triangular or odd-shaped hole, consider carving the positive counterpart for a piece of wood. This technique, which is unique to Balsa-Foam, can save a lot of time on repeating detail. Balsa-Foam III is too hard to impress easily, but the right metal tools can make effective small impressions.”

Sounds like a trip to my local art supply store is in my near future!