That was a very cool art . Great honor to the work you do and the happiness you bring . Thank you.

You would get a more consistent thickness by cutting your bricks by width and length and then cut them by thickness. Since your pieces are very wide, you are bound to get a variation in thickness.

Use some of those cheap plastic gem stones. The ones for fish tanks that are usually with the leds from dollar store. Cut some of the points off to vary them. It might work and no dust or wrenches. To texture your foam.