# New Tombstones



## phillipjmerrill (Mar 19, 2009)

Well, I finally finished carving and engraving my first batch of styrofoam tombstones. I used stencils that I made with my wife's Cricut machine for the lettering. All of the detailing was done with a soldering iron. Some very minimal shaping was done with a hacksaw blade. Each of these tombstones is named for each of my four kids.








This tombstone reads: Samuel (our oldest son) and then: Sam Bones (his nickname because of how freakishly skinny he is). His cause of death is listed as: wasted away. The skull detail was made by cutting the back from a Great Stuff foam skull that I had laying around. I attached it with some hot glue. The shaping around the skull was done with a hacksaw blade.








This tombstone reads: Abigail (our oldest daughter) and then: Abbiecadabra (this seemed almost too cute; but I went with it anyway). Her cause of death is listed as: burned at the stake (duh). The pentagram detail was just one that I found with a Google image search for pentagram. I pretty much just free handed it with a Sharpie and then engraved it with a soldering iron.








This tombstone reads: Noah (our youngest son) and then: Noah Constrictor (this was his nickname when he was a toddler because he was a major hugger. He liked to get his arms around you and just squeeze as tight as he could). His cause of death is listed as: stuffed and mounted (bummer). The snake detail is based loosely on the logo for the TV show Millennium. I did quite a bit of detail work with the soldering iron trying to get the snake to look more three dimensional. It should really pop out after it is painted. Again I did a little shaping in the center with a hacksaw blade.








This tombstone reads: Emma (our youngest daughter) and then: Emma Sue The Littlest Zombie (I know it's a mouthful; but trust me, it fits her). Her cause of death is listed as: her fate is unknown. This was the simplest design out of all four tombstones. I just did a Google image search for girl silhouette. All the detail work was done with a soldering iron.

These tombstones will get a coat or two of Dry-Lok and then a nice paint job (hopefully this week).


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## MapThePlanet (Nov 12, 2010)

very cool, can't wait to see them after the finishing


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## Uruk-Hai (Nov 4, 2006)

They look great! I really like the one with the pentagram.


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## Dixie (Feb 18, 2009)

Your family has the most fun nicknames!!  Great carving work on the white beaded foam, I seriously don't have the patience for all the little snow balls that fly off when I'm working - great job, can't wait to see them painted and ready to go! Your kids will be famous with the school bus crowd!!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Awww, that's so sweet

Your kids must think you're the coolest parent around.


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## phillipjmerrill (Mar 19, 2009)

Here are some progress pictures of my new tombstones for this year.
































These pictures show the tombstones after a base coat of grey outdoor latex paint.


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## phillipjmerrill (Mar 19, 2009)

These pictures show the tombstones after a blackwash with watered down black outdoor latex paint and then a drybrush with waterd down grey outdoor latex paint the same shade as the base coat. The last picture is of a tombstone that was just meant to be a practice tombstone, but it turned out looking OK. I decided to make it a part of the cemetery. I will be doing some weathering and maybe adding some moss to these tombstones. I will post pictures when I am done.


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## HalloweenZombie (Jul 22, 2007)

Nice! Abigail is my favorite, but they're all pretty great looking.


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## phillipjmerrill (Mar 19, 2009)

Thanks for all the positive comments. It really boosts my confidence.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

I noticed that you have a kind of crescent with two lines crossing it. Does that signify something in particular?
All the stones are nice, Did you add/glue on the half skull on "Samuel"s stone?


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## phillipjmerrill (Mar 19, 2009)

To fontgeek- The little curved line with the lines through it is just something I freehanded on there to kind of break up the lettering a little and make it less boring. Yes, I did just glue half of a great stuff foam skull on Sam's tombstone. My carving skills are not good enough to carve the skull on there.


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## Death Wraith (Mar 23, 2006)

What I love about these stones is how they all tie in together visually. The circle motif is just slightly different on each one. I love that approach. Simple and stylish. They have like an ancient/futuristic type of feel to me.

And the Abagail stone is almost like looking at a Tool album cover.

Exceptional!


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## fick209 (Aug 31, 2009)

I very much like all of these stones. I actually just used that same little girl silhouette on a stone I'm working on. Wonderful job on these & I also like how they all kind of tie in together.


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## tenbuck4 (Aug 31, 2011)

these are incredible!! is that columns I see in the background?
g


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## phillipjmerrill (Mar 19, 2009)

To tenbuck4- Yes, those are columns in the background. They are hollow plastic ones that I scavanged for free from my previous employer. I have posted a couple of thimes about them and my misadventures at trying to incorporate them into my cemetery fence project.
here: http://phillipjmerrill.blogspot.com/2010/03/please-consider-me-as-alternative-to.html
and here: http://phillipjmerrill.blogspot.com/2011/08/cemetery-fence-20.html


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