Thread: coffin (stone varient of spookyblues method)

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Hey folks,
Thought I'd share a prop I'm currently working on. We're going with a Vampire theme this year, and need a coffin for us to sleep in. So, resisting all urges to make a perfect coffin, I decided to follow spooky blue's method. (Actually, my wife had to break me from perfection to get it done in time. Plus, it's foam board, so how perfect can it be? *heh*)

Spooky Blue's page is probably easier to follow than this, but I wanted to share my version just for kicks. I decided to go with stone instead of wood grain b/c I've done it for my other tombstones and feel more comfortable with that. Plus it adds consistency.

Materials (that I can remember)
x3 sheets of 1.5" blue foam board; 24"x96" (actually 23" working area b/c of thin edge strips)
x1 roll of black duct tape
x1 hand saw with small tooth gap. (I use about 4 different saws depending on area I need to cover
x? tools to beat up and age the prop (rasps, files, sandpaper, etc.)
x1 sharpie pen
x1 straight edge
x1 roll of drywall joint tape, paper-like (optional)
x1 roll of painter's tape (optional)
x? furring strips (I think that's what they're called... 1"x48" of wood you get in bundles at back of lumber yard for a few bucks)
I try my best to make due with what I have laying around, so you could do this with about half of what I have listed, I'd assume.

Pics in order of creation:

Measure out your pieces and cut to length. I didn't have a straight edge long enough, so I used the joint tape to line up my marks and dropped a line.


Start piecing the parts together with tape. I used small pieces until it was in place, then reinforced with longer strips. I used a stir stick to press the tape into the joint corners smoothly...using finger left a gap.


Find your favorite tools to beat up foam and go to town.


Created a "backbone" for the lid b/c it isn't very sturdy on its own. I used three furring strips; wood glue + staples + paint cans for pressure. There are extra strips on there to distribute the pressure while drying. Bad picture of the final product, ready for painting.



You can't see the heavy gouges easily, but once painted, they'll pop. I'm working on a tombstone and probably a sign at the moment, and will paint all of them at the same time. Once I have some pics of the painting process, I'll put them up for you to see, if any of you are interested.

Looking good! If you haven't thought of this yet, use heavy hits of spray paint by those gouges you made. It dissolves it into a great-decaying stone look:

Ah, cool, I'll have to give that a whirl.