Thread: New Tombstones

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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).

Those look great! Novel idea using your kids names too!

Wow! These look great! I love the theme of the circular panels at the top. May have to borrow that idea when I start the next batch...lol

Great start, can't wait to see them painted.

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.

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

very nice. How did you did you do you lettering? Heat or carved with dremel?

Wow, very impressive!

to boatlesspirate- I did the lettering and all the detail work on these tombstones with a soldering iron because they are made from beaded styrofoam and that is the least messy way to do it. I have some pink foam that I want to try a Dremel on but I haven't gotten into it yet.
Thanks everyone for the positive comments. It really boosts my confidence.

they look great!!! it's amazing what a little paint and aging does ..