Thread: New Tombstones

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None of these are finished yet. Just thought we'd share.

Very nice How did you do the skulls on those stones?

we pillaged the skulls of some crappy store bought prop. cut then in half, traced them onto the foan and routed the shape out which recessed it in about1/4 in. put some glue on it then set it in place.

Those are gonna turn out GREAT! Very nice work!

As a fellow SoCal'er, I'm curious as to what type of styrofoam you're using. Is that the white stuff? If so, how do you get it such clean edges and surfaces?

If not, where did you get it? I'd love to get some better quality stuff.

Great job! Love the designs.

awesome job on those!!

Fantastic stones! Harry, May and Bert cracked me up - the last one alive...winning!

Originally Posted by DireDebb

As a fellow SoCal'er, I'm curious as to what type of styrofoam you're using. Is that the white stuff? If so, how do you get it such clean edges and surfaces?

If not, where did you get it? I'd love to get some better quality stuff.

Great job! Love the designs.

I second that!

They look great! What tools did you use to shape the stone and carve your details?

Ill take a guess ...yes on the white foam , i can tell I use it all the time , clean edges = a wire tool of some sort or you take the time to sand the edges im guessing dremel on the epitaph...am I close

These stones were made primarily with 1 1/2" white beaded foam. A couple years ago we were given about 15 sheets. It's not that hard to get good results with white foam. We just take our time with it. Rushing through a project will yield poor results regardless of the medium. It is messy stuff, but the pink foam makes a bit of a mess as well. A little bit of 1/2" pink foam was used on a couple of the stones. We double up the white foam to make our stones 3" thick.

All of the shapes were cut using a scroll saw. The scroll saw gives a decent edge, but a little sanding is necessary to clean them up. Once the two pieces are glued together, we sand the edges with a drywall sanding sponge and/or a sanding block with 100 grit sand paper. The trick to sanding white beaded foam is to use light pressure to avoid breaking the beads out. Next we apply a thin layer of monster mud to cover the seams. Again, more sanding.

Any part of the stone that is recessed was done using a plunge router or a Dremel with a plunge router attachment. Both of these create a huge, I mean HUGE mess. We've considered buying a respirator mask because of it.

Some epitaphs were done with a Dremel and some were cut out with an Xacto knife.

No ground breaking techniques, just what we've become comfortable with through trial and error.


@DireDebb - We get pink foam at Home Depot in Cypress. They carry 2" sheets for $25 as well as 1/2" sheets for $13. We've heard that a few of their stores carry it, but only in Orange County as far as I know. It's a bit of a drive from you, but now you know where to look.


PS - bruiser1904 is my brother and he approves this message! ;-)