LarryI expect you have already thought of his and put the idea aside – 

In the past, I have used an ‘industrial filter foam’. It is available in sheets and in various thicknesses and was always easy to keep clean. In a past ‘engineering’ life, occasionally I would have to make up intake filters for compressors and the like using expanded metal and this foam sheet. It has a slight stiffness and can be shaped and then glued if required. I’ve attached a couple of rather poor pics of some I’ve recently used to make filters for a pair of DCOE Webers. Hopefully, you can see the density.
Cheers
Paul