# Broken Colonial Tombstone Prop



## Fright Boy (Oct 1, 2014)

I have been collecting foam from construction sites around town for about a year and I have ended up with some really cool pieces for making tombstones. One piece in particular is broken in a way that I think I can utilize the break for a nice looking broken tombstone. I started off with two pics I found online that I want to work from.
















I then tried a rough drawing of the carving along the edges.








Here is a good detail of the broken section.








I plan on making a broken off piece to lay on the ground in front on it. I will also cut the bottom so it will lean forward.

NEXT STEP: Font


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## Fright Boy (Oct 1, 2014)

Then I had to decide on a font and size for it to fit landscape on a 8.5x11 piece of paper. Once that was done, I then mirrored it for printing. The font I used is Blackadder ITC.








Then I positioned it and used an iron to transfer the ink to the foam. I used a Sharpie to darken it in for engraving. 









NEXT STEP: Engraving


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## Dolly (Oct 30, 2016)

Awesome


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Looking good, FB!


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## Hairazor (Mar 13, 2012)

Looking like a great piece


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## costumetiger (Apr 2, 2019)

Really quite impressive skills there


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## Fright Boy (Oct 1, 2014)

Well, it took me some time to get back to this. I had a lot of other things come up and a surprise trip to the beach. 
I knew I needed some (or rather just wanted) new bits for the ol' Dremel tool for engraving the scroll work on the sides.








I used bit 107 for the font and bit 117 for the scroll work on the sides. I found that even with a steady hand, it was very easy to go too deep with the Dremel. I then took an old piece of 80 grit sandpaper and went over all of it to smooth off the edges; they looked too sharp and new for what I am wanting. I want it to have a aged and weathered look; worn down from the elements.








Also, included just for fun, a sped up video of my engraving the words.





*NEXT STEP: Matching a piece for the broken top*


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

You make a good point about smoothing off sharp edges. Makes a huge difference in the authenticity of the aged look.


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## Fright Boy (Oct 1, 2014)

RoxyBlue said:


> You make a good point about smoothing off sharp edges. Makes a huge difference in the authenticity of the aged look.


I agree. If you look closely, you can see that I took a little too much off of the middle of the word Aged, but a stone of that age will be weathered quite a bit. Actually, I should probably sand off more. I am going by the Bob Ross mantra "There are no mistakes".


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## Lizzyborden (Sep 7, 2012)

Looking good!


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## Fright Boy (Oct 1, 2014)

So, I had a bit of extra time yesterday and was able to size, cut and shape the piece I plan on using on the ground.
Here is the spare piece of foam that I chose. Goes to show that even a small broken piece can be of some use at a later date.








I used a tombstone template that I had lying around and it wasn't what I was wanting; it was close but didn't match the original image. So, I ended up getting the shapes I wanted from a mixing bowl and a Taco Bell hot sauce bottle. :lolkin:
I used my Styro Cutter Plus to cut and then the 80 grit sandpaper to smooth it off. It doesn't have to be exact, I imagine it broke some years ago and the pieces have worn down and little small pieces have fallen away.








Oh, I also discovered that I can get a nice beveled edge by holding it at an angle and rubbing it on my driveway.









*NEXT UP: Aging and Painting*


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## Aquayne (Sep 1, 2008)

I'm so grateful that people are posting good tutorials.


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## Fright Boy (Oct 1, 2014)

Aquayne said:


> I'm so grateful that people are posting good tutorials.


Thanks!!! I was afraid that people really wouldn't notice or care. It actually is taking more time to take pics and post than it is to do the actual work. Please Rate and Subscribe to my thread so you don't miss any steps. Plus it helps me to know if I should do more of these. I have some pretty cool stuff in mind for the future.

I just put black paint in the font and am waiting for it to dry so I can do a base coat.


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## Fright Boy (Oct 1, 2014)

I finally got around to painting this thing. My first step (which I forgot to take a picture of) was to fill in the letters and as much of the cracks as I could with Flat Black latex paint. I even hit it with some Flat Black spray paint, just to get in the crevices and eat away at them a bit. Then I did a light coat of a Dark Grey Valspar Stormcoat Acrylic. 
I am sorry I don't have the actual color, it was a gallon of CLEARANCE paint that I grabbed one day.








The little dots on it are from where I like to sling and flick my brush on it while cleaning up. I feel that it breaks up the solid color a bit. The paint on the underside of the Bottom is where I thinned out the paint off my brush when it got too thick.
I was about to dry brush with some Light Grey until I saw that I had a small can of a Dark Olive Drab Green Valspar Ultra eggshell downstairs; again, CLEARANCE paint from Lowe's. To help blend it all I hit it with the Black Spray paint, from a distance of about 3 feet and let the wind carry the paint onto the tombstone.
















The Green paint turned out a lot lighter than I had expected; it almost looks Tan.
I believe my next step will be to add some moss or pour my brush cleaning water on it. I'm not real happy about the spots on the piece on the ground where the paint was rather thick on the brush. I'm still learning dry brushing, so any tips you all can provide will be greatly appreciated.

*Next step: Finishing touches and Mounting*


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Dry brushing is definitely an art that takes a bit of time to master. It works best when you have a textured surface that can be highlighted using that technique. With flatter surfaces, I use a fairly dry brush and stipple the paint on (as opposed to actually brushing).

Looking good so far. I do agree that a little more color would be good. If you'd like some inspiration from tombstones of the era you're depicting. take a look at my thread with slideshows of stones in Evergreen Cemetery in Gettysburg. The first video in the first post of that thread has examples of broken tombstones that are relevant to your project:

https://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=24582&highlight=Gettysburg


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## Fright Boy (Oct 1, 2014)

Thanks Roxy for the link to the albums; they were great. 
I'm not sure if you knew this or not, but I believe the one in the Tall Tombstones album at 1:16 is a Zinc (zinchy) or "White Bronze" tombstone. 
I don't know how close you live to this cemetery, but next time you are up there, go up to it and rap on it with you knuckles and see if it sounds hollow. 
These are pretty awesome to hunt out in your local cemeteries; I have found three in one of my local cemetery. They are actually quite rare and pretty cool to search out.


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## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

This is looking really good!


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## Fright Boy (Oct 1, 2014)

Got around to cutting and gluing the pvc inserts for the stakes. The pvc was free from when my neighbor had his plumbing redone, it's 1/2" CPVC. I used a 3/4" paddle bit to bore the holes. 
I had my girlfriend keep an eye while drilling to make sure I didn't angle it and break through the side of the tombstone surface. The holes you put in the styrofoam will end up a bit bigger than the OD of the pipe. I put the pvc in the holes and marked them for cutting. A jigsaw was then used to cut the pieces to the correct length. 
Then I used Gorilla Glue to keep them in place. Make sure you use enough glue to make sure they stay in place, but not enough that it runs down the center of the pipe. I ran into this problem and had a Hell of a time getting the glue out of the center of the pipe so the stake, made from 3/8" rebar would fit inside.








Thanks Jdubbya, I hope it helps give some people some good ideas. I'm always open to hearing how others do theirs as well.

*Next Time:* I will hopefully figure out a good way to keep the broken top from sitting on top of the grass and look like it has some weight to it.


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