Where to get foam for making poppers

[Onebad06vtx 0]

Where can I get foam rod for making poppers?

I want to make my own poppers but will not pay for the colored 6 pieces from fly tying shops.

There must be another source.

Thanks for your replys

 

 

[Jolly Red 0]

Sources of foam for poppers include: flip flops, kneeling pads, foam letters, coozies, etc. Any closed cell foam will work for floating poppers, use the open cell foam for sinking patterns. The cylinders can be cut out with punches, and shaped with a lathe or dremel tool. There are several threads on the forum about this. Do a search and you should find a lot of information.

[mikechell 0]

If you're close to a Dollar Tree, they have shapes. They come in a package with 50, give or take ($1.00 per package) ... and they are 5 or six colors stacked. The shapes are about 1/2 inch square, so you can punch out popper bodies that are already glued.

 

You can by individual pieces and glue them, too.

[Fish For Life 0]

Hey welcome to the forum!!! I haven't tried it myself but i here that slot of people use cheap flip flops. You can usually get them at the dollar store cheap and they come in a range of color. Another option, again i havent tried it but ive heard alot of people do it, is to go to a hardware store and pick up some foam window and door insulation pipe(i think that's what it is). Its normally grey or black and as a diameter of like .5" i think.

Most of the poppers that i have made were done using balsa wood. Its easy to shape with sand paper if you mount it into a drill press or a dremel tool, and the end results turn out a really nice popper body.

Good luck

[add147 0]

Wine corks makes good poppers too. I got 100 of them on Ebay for 5 bucks. The synthetic kind are better than the cork ones.

[FlaFly 0]

does anyone here know whether the foam sleeves the box stores sell to insulate water pipes are made of closed cell foam? It seems malleable enough to use for a popper or slider head.

[utyer 0]

I have use foam pipe insulation, it does float. So far all the comments have been about soft foam. If your after hard foam body material, Get some Comal brand floats. simply slice the small ones in the middle on a diagonal, and you have the start of two popper bodies. I have made dozens of poppers with those. They can be further shaped with sand paper, or a Dremel tool.

[FlaFly 0]

Good idea Utyer. They have those long ellipsoidal ones that are ready made for a popper head from each end. You could do like Mike does with beads and fill the hole thru the middle with nail polish or epoxy, etc.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

I've got to second Utyer too. The hard foam floats are great. You can even find different shapes in lure supply catalogs that are used for walleye fishing where they use small hard foam near their bait between the sinker and hook to keep the bait suspended off the bottom. Can't think of the company off hand but there are a variety of sizes and shapes.

For ease of acquisition, the Comal floats are ideal. The list of materials that can be used to make poppers is pretty extensive.

 

Kirk

 

These are size #6 poppers made with Comal hard foam floats painted with acrylic and topcoated with 30 minute cure epoxy.

 

These are size #6 & #8 poppers made from a block of foam I made by gluing a number of 2mm sheets of foam together.

[ditz2 0]

I make some 1/4" diameter poppers for sunfish out of craft foam buy using a paper hole punch to make small foam circles. I then take the small circles and use C/A glue to glue 3 or 4 together to make a small cylinder.....Sometimes if I want rubber legs on them I will sandwich legs between the small disks.....red and black sharpie to put the eyes on them. I make the bodies while sitting and watching the tube. .......On foam poppers I just cut a slit in the bottom of the body with a knife and slide a kink shank hook into the slot and spread the slit and put just a little C/A in the slit and squeeze it together for about 10 seconds or so. This all holds very well. If you want indestructible hook to body bonds use epoxy. C/A is almost as good with foam and much less messy. And we'll have fun, fun, fun, till daddy takes the T-bird away.....

[ditz2 0]

If it will float and you can shape it and the glue won't melt it you can make a popper out of it

[FlaFly 0]

Ditz .... your last one was an idea I hadn't heard of before, and I've made mucho poppers (some were poopers). I want to try that idea. I like being able to insert sili legs without having to use a needle.

[Hatchet Jack 0]

Good stuff

 

 

http://www.sleazysteves.com/products/foam/

[FattyMatt 0]

All craft shops sell craft foam which is great for gurglers and sliders, super cheap too. There's a lot of good discussions on this forum, if you do a quick search you'll be able to read all about it

[banks 0]

I've got to second Utyer too. The hard foam floats are great. You can even find different shapes in lure supply catalogs that are used for walleye fishing where they use small hard foam near their bait between the sinker and hook to keep the bait suspended off the bottom. Can't think of the company off hand but there are a variety of sizes and shapes.

For ease of acquisition, the Comal floats are ideal. The list of materials that can be used to make poppers is pretty extensive.

 

Kirk

 

These are size #6 poppers made with Comal hard foam floats painted with acrylic and topcoated with 30 minute cure epoxy.

 

These are size #6 & #8 poppers made from a block of foam I made by gluing a number of 2mm sheets of foam together.

Kirk would you be able to tell me were you find that multi colored foam that you make these poppers out of . Thanks Banks