Green Floral Foam

Green floral foam can be hazardous. Many of these may contain chemicals intended to keep dried flowers fresh. Some of the green foams are worse, in that they produce a fine dust when carved, cut etc., which is easy to inhale, and hard to clean up. There is a white form of foam similar to what the author used in his article, that I would recommend as being safer.

Other than that, nice series. I have enjoed it.

Two kinds of green florist foam

Stogie. Interesting point. I do know there are a couple of types of florist foam. One type can be easily compressed, and I believe this is for holding flower arrangements with water. It is called Oasis Wet Florist Foam. This does crush into a very fine dust, and does NOT work well for scenery. 

The stuff I use is not that type, it is much harder. It might also be made by Oasis. Bottom line, I keep a vacuum handy and suck up the excess material when I am carving it. I've never experienced any difficulty cleaning it up. As a matter of fact, it cleans extremely easily, and does not create dust in the air. I think the material you are speaking of is the wet stuff I described above, and I do recall trying that once and it WAS hard to clean up.

Mike Confalone

Where can I see more photos of your layout?

Mike, 

I am also modeling Maine, though of an earlier period. You apparently are doing this on a shelf layout, much as I am doing  and I would like to get some better ideas of what you created to help in planning my own scenery.So where could I see more of your layout. You sees to get a lot of  the look using very little space. I am working with a 30 inch wide shelf myself. As I live way out in the desert of New Mexico, I am not certain what works well as scenery for Maine, but I like what I see you doing.

Christopher Blackwell

Clifford Railway

HOn30

Floral foams

Mike,

The foam you used may just be colored green, but it was my understanding that both types of green foam were hazardous. I am going to see if I can acquire MSDS sheets for some of these. I have used the plain white foam (similar to the green one you used) and is is messy, but no where as messy as EPS. 

I will let the group know what I find out.

Not true

Every bit of that is BS. Wife worked in floral industry 30 plus years, That last 10 we owned our own shop.

Oasis is very dense. When soaked in water it is used in arrangements of fresh flowers.

The Styrofoam is used when arranging silk flowers.

Each is green so it will better blend with the flowers and greenery.

It is not necessary to keep dried flowers fresh. They are dead already.

Your comment...and your professional opinion

Bob,

Not sure, but was your "BS" comment directed at Stogie or me?

What is your opinion on the points Stogie raised about the toxic nature of this stuff? Just about everything we use, from paint thinners to other material can be toxic if not handled with care. Like you said, every florist uses this material to hold both fresh and silk flowers.

For me, the stuff works so well for holding tree material, I'd be lost without it.

Mike Confalone

Rash of Florist Deaths

Florists work with the foam every day. If there is a danger then we would se the obituaries filled with dead florists.

Interviews with dead florists

When all of the dead florists where asked "Do you think the green foam is hazardous? " the entire group was silent!

Sorry......

Rick

MSDS Sheets

I will let you be the judge. Here are some MSDS sheets. Awaiting others.

/sites/model-railroad-hobbyist.com/files/users/stogiefiles/SO-OasisFloralFoam%206-08-09.pdf

/sites/model-railroad-hobbyist.com/files/users/stogiefiles/SO-OasisSaharaFloralFoam%206-08-09.pdf

/sites/model-railroad-hobbyist.com/files/users/stogiefiles/SO-OasisSaharaIIdryfoam%206-08-09.pdf

One comment worth making, is to look at all the people who have worked in certain industries only to find out that they developed medical problems from the work, because employees and employers did not know or understand the dangers. Some may have used floral foam for terrain use and been exposed to something that may come back to haunt them in later years. Styrofoam is not safe either, but if you use a hot wire to cut the foam, most of us do the work outside.

Superglue and chainsaws

Superglue is also dangerous like this. One of the worst issues is heating superglue - when boiled it can release cyanide gas, which is deadly.

The point is that many things we use can be very dangerous if not treated carefully or misused.

A chainsaw also comes to mind - very powerful and useful when used properly - extremely dangerous if not used with care.

Decide for Ourselves

There are some who are alarmists and some who throw caution to the wind. 

If I were working in the floral industry using this stuff all day every day I'd be concerned but occasional uses (in good ventilation with good clean-up discipline) may not cause too much sustained health risk. Informed, each of us must decide for ourselves. 

I've tried the white foam (bead board) and hated it, too messy and inexact when shaping. I've tried the blue and pink foam for land forms (its ok for broad expanses, but miserable to shape w/o a hot knife). So I'd defiantly try this and see how I like it. Then I'd probably use each in moderation and to their strengths.   

Overall I liked the article and have enjoyed the series, picking up a number of good ideas to try (and that despite having read model railroad hobby magazines for 40 years (man time flies...)). 

Bob 

Fantastic article