# Tombstones



## QueenRuby2002 (Oct 23, 2011)

Just a quick question. (Is this is in the wrong place let me know and I'll move it.) You guys have wonderful looking tombstones that almost look real. I know everyone says they use the foam instulation board but the cheepest I have found in my area is $16 a peice. I get scrap plywood for free all the time and so far that is what I have used to make my tombstones. Any ideas on how to make them better looking or where to foam for cheeper?

One of my tombstones.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

If that price is for 2" X 24" X 96" foam board, that's pretty standard for places like Home Depot.

The one single change you can make to improve the look of your tombstone is lettering style or font. Back when I made my very first tombstones out of (gasp) cardboard (hey, we all start somewhere), I freehand painted the epitaphs directly onto the tombstones. Now we prepare and print them out from the computer, which almost guarantees a more professional (and definitely more even) look.

There are many threads here that discuss ways to age your tombstones to give them a more authentic look. SpookySam provides an easy technique here:

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=22856&highlight=aging+tombstone


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

QueenRuby, what tools or equipment do you have available to you? Saws, airbrush, paint sprayers, etc.
The way the stones are painted, as well as lettered, makes a huge difference on how they are perceived by guests.
What you put on them plays as much a role as how you paint them.


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## MotelSixx (Sep 27, 2008)

The coloring and weathering is the key component!


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## QueenRuby2002 (Oct 23, 2011)

Thanks guys.

As for tools I have a circular saw, a jig saw and a drill. I'd have more but for some reason my dad sold all his tools and I've had to buy what I can afford when I can afford it. I paint everything by hand with a brush.

As soon as I get them pulled in I'll try to update them and weather them.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

You might try giving them a good, solid coat of a basic light gray paint first.
If you have some white and black paint, you might look at using a stiff brush, even a cheapo plastic hairbrush or whisk broom, and use it to splatter fine drops of white and black paint onto the stones to get a granite effect. The more shades and layers of spatter you use the more realistic the stone tends to look.
You can make and cut stencils or patterns for lettering using your computer.
Print out the text and either cut out the lettering, or use a pin and perforate the outlines for the lettering, you can then use chalk dust, charcoal, or even spray paint to go through the fine holes and transfer the designs to your stones for painting. If you had or have an airbrush, it's by far the easiest way to add shading and shape that looks sculpted to your stones and props. You can also use conventional brushes and softly blend in colors to give you shadows and shape.
You can use the 2" wide blue painters tape and draw your letters on that. Once they are drawn you can cut them with an Xacto and peel away the letters. The parts that stay behind give you a stencil to do your painting that can give you clean lines and an easy material to peel away when you are done.
Hop that made sense.


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## Vlad (Aug 2, 2005)

Queen, I've never used the pink, green or blue foam for headstones. I always shop at Curbies (garbage night) and pick up the white stuff free. To cut it you can buy a non serrated (no teeth, smooth) blade for your jig saw and that cuts very smoothly without millions of those little white beads popping free. Like Roxy I print out my epitaphs and then apply them to the headstone with tape. You can then use one of those cheap soldering irons from the dollar store to burn through the paper and melt the letters into the foam. With practice they turn out nicely, and the lettering looks worn and aged. I've never been a fan of stones with lettering carved out with an exacto knife. A hundred year old stone does not have crisp clean lettering on it, it's aged, but some prefer it. After that I paint in the letters with black paint, then gray on the rest of the stone, The black in the lettering gives the letters depth and shadow. the stones look good and the cost is basically nil. 
If you're stuck with wood stones, you might consider an all "old west" themed cemetery where wood was standard. Good luck and have fun experimenting!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Just thought of something else for painting - there are stone textured spray paints available at places like Home Depot and Lowes that could work for a wooden tombstone. Spray paint is not good for foam stones (melts them) unless you use a good coat of primer first.


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## tcass01 (Aug 20, 2010)

Hey Ruby,
if you do get alot of plywood scraps, why not cut the letters out of one piece and laminate it to a second piece. You get recessed letters and a thicker tombstone at the same time. If you do this remember to clamp the boards really tight to get a good bond.
If you take your drill and start about 3" in on the stone, you can drag the drillbit backwards across the top to the edge while it is running on high rpm and get a pretty convincing "crack" to give more texture.


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## nixie (Sep 17, 2008)

A nice coat of monster mud can make wood look more like stone. I use foundation coating instead of joint compound in my mud so it's automatically water-proof. You can then paint them using one of the many techniques discussed around here. I make my smaller stones from foam, but we made our large monument stones with plywood and monster mud. They're heavy, but I'm happy with how they look.


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## Hellvin (Jul 6, 2008)

I would second the use of monster mud (basically a mixture of laytex paint and drywall compound). It helps create a flexible, solid surface that helps "disappear" the otherwise obvious wood or foam surfaces that it covers. I get all my laytex paint from Home Depot's mistint section - prices are certainly reduced and I have even picked up "free"quarts too (I guess the colour was sooo ugly, nobody could possibly want it).

Use a less-expensive foam such as the "white" less dense foams (usually about 1/2 the price of the pinks and blues). Yes, they "bead" a bit more, but a sharp box-cutter will give a clean cut without too much beading. Note - if you plan to use spray paint on any foam surface, either be prepared to have it dissolve the foam (which can create an interesting aged look) or seal the foam with latex paint beforehand (the latex will prevent the aerosols in the spray paint from dissolving it).

Again, you can find spray paint going for reduced prices ($1 - $2 per can as opposed to $5 to $10 for more expensive brands) in department and hardware stores.


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## angel3210 (Oct 10, 2011)

*my 1st post on site*

yes the ways mentioned above are great and maybe better in a lot of ways ,but heres my cheap way i made grave stones in 1989 and they still in great shape and use every yr (2011 present) i used plywood cut the shapes i wanted. stappled loop of waistband elastic on back to be slide over a wood stake pounded into ground. i used paint 3 colors. but heres my trick for depth and texture i added lumber sawdust to the white and gray paint.(i didnt have any sawdust so went to homedepot and asked the guys that sweep the floor around cutting area to bag me up a bunch.) i painted all boards white first, this gave a nice rough surface dont over add sawdust just a handfull or so but you decide amount in paint. then i used the gray paint and lightly dabbed that over all boards.(you can do a dark gray and light gray for more color speckling effect. the sawdust creates highs and lows and even tiny shadows. from a distantance stones look like some real grave stones. i used scrap carboard wrote the words on that - when it looked good i cut the letters out and used the carboard held against the gravestone and filled in the voids/words with the black paint. think black spray paint might do a better job. but i had bought gal of white paint and a pint of black. i mixed the grays. oh and i didnt put the saw dust in gal of paint i poured it into a paint tray then mix then add tiny black amount to get grays. also paint one coat of paint on back atleast so boards dont warp.(or look bad if seen from back by accident and paint 2/3 of stake white helps too) well thats it they stack well for storage and have over 2 decades of use. great for starter/extra graves . but i do like the more detailed tomes that many make here and they can be center focus and my type as mass graves to make a killer grave yard. my cost 1 gal white paint 1 pint black everything else was scrap items or things i had. u could glue card board details to wood before 1st coat of paint. (or other lite items like jute)


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## The_Caretaker (Mar 6, 2007)

My first tombstones were made from plywood, I also used 2 x 4s to give the stone thickness, I have reworked them by rounding over the edges and used a router to do the lettering.


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## nixie (Sep 17, 2008)

angel3210- great ideas!


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## tcarter (Aug 18, 2006)

http://www.stolloween.com/?page_id=38

Try papier Mache to build up detail on top of the plywood. It's pert-near free.


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## QueenRuby2002 (Oct 23, 2011)

I need a good image of 'The Heart of Damballa' From the Chucky movies. As that is the first stone I'm revamping. I've searched the internet and can't seem to find anything. Thought maybe some of you might have an image laying around some where. I'm taking pictures as I go. My son is laughing as I am covered in those lovely white beads.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

I just did a quick search using Google for "The Heart of Damballa" and found lots of stuff, including a link to someone who sells replicas for $12. But the stone doesn't appear to be a tombstone, more of an amulet. Were you going to incorporate this into a headstone design?


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## QueenRuby2002 (Oct 23, 2011)

Yha it was used for the 'childs play' movies and I'm working on The bride of Chucky's tombstone. I was thinking of having it carved on top above her name.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

Are you just looking at enlarging the design to make it a tombstone, or are you going to have it at life size/normal size as part of the ornamentation?


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