Thread: New Tombstones in Progress

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Here's pics of two of my latest tombstones. Still works in progress. Hoping to get the paint started tomorrow evening.

Nice. I like the lottery ticket idea.

What did you use to do the carving. I want to try to make my own this year.

Great job!!!

Thanks for the comments. Chaserbug I use a wood burning pen for carving. It works best for me. I've tried other methods; razor blade knife, Dremel tool, but I can control the pen best. Just remember melting the foam creates toxic fumes so work with plenty of ventilation. I managed to carve my latest stone in about twenty minutes. The hard part is scoring the foam. I use a ball point pen to trace over the paper template to leave an impression in the foam. By the time I'm done my hand is cramping. I traced, carved, colored the wording, and applied the first coat of paint on my newest stone in about an hour and a half tonight. Also painted the other two stones. Here are the follow up pics.

Nice work. What are your plans for making them stay upright?

Great job on the stones!

Love the hand grenade on the pegboard Too !!!

Ah yes! I love smell of burning Sytrofoam tombstone props in the morning...
Er... I mean on Halloween night!
Nice work on the tombstone props!

October Dream I use The ridgid plastic sticks, like you would use to stake up plants. I bought a bunch at Big Lots during their summer clearance sale a few years ago. Mine are 24 inches long, and about the diameter of a pencil. I have an 18 inch drill bit that I drill into the foam with. I drive one stake into the ground and then measure over using the tombstone. I never thought about having all the measurments uniform, but I also had a few of the thin store bought stones that I had to drill in specific areas to have enough foam to work with. Its worked very well so far. This will be the third season for some of the stones. Haven't lost one yet.

Originally Posted by Thorn Kill Creek

October Dream I use The ridgid plastic sticks, like you would use to stake up plants. I bought a bunch at Big Lots during their summer clearance sale a few years ago. Mine are 24 inches long, and about the diameter of a pencil. I have an 18 inch drill bit that I drill into the foam with. I drive one stake into the ground and then measure over using the tombstone. I never thought about having all the measurments uniform, but I also had a few of the thin store bought stones that I had to drill in specific areas to have enough foam to work with. Its worked very well so far. This will be the third season for some of the stones. Haven't lost one yet.

I do the same thing. I was just wondering if there was another way.