# My first attempt at tombstone making



## abaron13 (Sep 25, 2011)

This is my first attempt at tombstone creation so far. I used a dremel to carve out the epitaphs. I made the letters too small on the first try, so I changed the font and increased the size on the second attempt. It's hard for me to do because of my arthritis, but I want to expand my graveyard this year. I'll post some pictures after paint, which won't be for a while because I'm working on 9 more tombstones besides these two and I want to paint them all at once.


----------



## Lord Homicide (May 11, 2012)

I would never have guessed you had arthritis. The letters look amazing.


----------



## CoolDJTV (Jun 28, 2011)

looks really good


----------



## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

You're off to a very good start


----------



## Draik41895 (Oct 25, 2008)

theyre looking good so far, cant wait to see them finished


----------



## MapThePlanet (Nov 12, 2010)

what a great way to start! get them puppies finished..only 88 days left!


----------



## graveyardmaster (May 14, 2012)

hey your tombstones look fantastic abaron13,can"t wait to see your pictures when you are finished,well done...


----------



## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

No worry's being your first attempt because they look great!


----------



## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

Nice work!
Keep taking photos of your work at various stages of completion.


----------



## abaron13 (Sep 25, 2011)

Thanks everyone! I'm still slowly working on them, and I'll keep updating as I go. I'm taking a break from the dremel for now though because I'm starting to develop blisters from using the darn thing so much lol.


----------



## abaron13 (Sep 25, 2011)

I decided to go out and paint the couple that I had done lol. This is just a base coat, I'll try out various ways of painting these things and see which one works best.


----------



## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

Looking good so far!


----------



## Wildcat (Nov 3, 2007)

Stones look great!


----------



## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:Hey Abaron13, they look really good! I like your painting as well. I have a dremmel but for the wording on my tombstones I find an exacto knife works really well...I don't know if you have thought of that....It may be easier for your because the vibrations from the dremmel can kind of wear on you. Just a thought....but your work is looking so good. You really knocked it out of the park for your first try!


----------



## CreeepyCathy (Mar 28, 2009)

great job on those!


----------



## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

These are really nice!! How thick is the foam you're using?


----------



## abaron13 (Sep 25, 2011)

jdubbya said:


> These are really nice!! How thick is the foam you're using?


Thank you! The foam is 3/4" thick. I wanted thicker, but that was the best option at the time lol.


----------



## abaron13 (Sep 25, 2011)

The aging process has begun! I'm trying out a few different ways to do this, but props go to Spooky Sam for this one. I'll touch up the letters a tiny bit when this dries.


----------



## Sawtooth Jack (Apr 9, 2011)

They are looking good!


----------



## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

thay look great so far and having dif sized lettering on some makes it look more real. keep up the good work!


----------



## Dixie (Feb 18, 2009)

I think they look great, I really do. And I totally agree with Lilly about varying the sized of the fonts... not all of your stones need to be in-your-face readable.... several of mine are definitely not readable, by design, and it does add a lot of realism to the graveyard.


----------



## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

Awesome job for your first attempt. Well done.


----------



## abaron13 (Sep 25, 2011)

This is how they look after I've aged them a bit. I'm still debating on touching up the letters with a slightly darker color or leave it how it is. Ideas?


----------



## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

are you lighting these up , test it and see you may be able to see them better in the night with light, they look good if you do touch up leave some lighter for older look?


----------



## abaron13 (Sep 25, 2011)

Lilly said:


> are you lighting these up , test it and see you may be able to see them better in the night with light, they look good if you do touch up leave some lighter for older look?


good question! I may or may not be lighting them up depending on my budget when I get to that point. There will indirect light on them, but they might not have spotlights on them.


----------



## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)

You are off to very good start!

Feels good doesn't it? 

If you are looking for a cheap way to light up your stones, take a look at those cheap led tap lights that are in the dollar stores, Walmart, heck even the Halloween stores. You can take one of those lights and duct tape it to a bamboo skewer or a piece of wire coat hanger and then set it up in front of your stones. They work great and cover a lot of ground.


----------



## abaron13 (Sep 25, 2011)

Jaybo said:


> You are off to very good start!
> 
> Feels good doesn't it?
> 
> If you are looking for a cheap way to light up your stones, take a look at those cheap led tap lights that are in the dollar stores, Walmart, heck even the Halloween stores. You can take one of those lights and duct tape it to a bamboo skewer or a piece of wire coat hanger and then set it up in front of your stones. They work great and cover a lot of ground.


Thanks for the idea!


----------



## abaron13 (Sep 25, 2011)

After looking at all these lined up I think I really have to touch up the letters with darker paint. I also realized that the paint tends to make the letters smaller, so on future tombstones I'll be sure to make them a little bigger...


----------



## abaron13 (Sep 25, 2011)

better?


----------



## Daddy's Little Corpse (Sep 7, 2006)

These are excellent!


----------



## abaron13 (Sep 25, 2011)

thank you!


----------



## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

By making the stones smaller and smaller the further away they are from the viewer, you fool their eye/mind into thinking your graveyard is even deeper than it really is.
The same trick holds true with making the lettering less and less readable/legible as the stones grow more distant from the viewer. Letting your grass grow out so it looks a bit wild and overgrown helps too. It makes your cemetery look older, and makes it easier to hide poser cords, hoses, etc.

On the stones themselves, if you want them to look reasonably authentic, avoid curly scripts and lettering styles, those were way too hard to cut in stone, and they are much harder to read with the stone textures and in darkness.


----------



## abaron13 (Sep 25, 2011)

I'll have to keep that in mind. But my graveyard is going to be the full length of my yard, which is the size of a lot a normal house sits on. So I should have between 30-40 tombstones this year, compared to only about 15 last year. So I'll be busy making more of these lol.


----------

