Thread: Starting my new cemetery this weekend!

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I found some suppliers of the extruded polystyrene and today is payday so Im starting my tombstones this weekend. This is going to be a BIG 1 year project, but I will be making about 25 of them this year before Halloween. It will be a big undertaking since I work alone. I figure I can carve and assemble 4-5 stones a day and take a entire weekend to paint them all. By next year I will have close to 60 realistic tombsones. My front yard is 40'X85'..It actually goes back 70 feet on one side so to make my graveyard I want a stone for ever 5'X6' plot. Thats 25 tombs for the small side of my yard. I will hopefully be building my cemetery columns in time for Halloween. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Here are some designs I will be starting on. These will be between 30" to 44" tall!





Wish me luck!

WOW... but you have it a little backwards... the weeks before halloween you are to be workng to complete the big projects... NOT START. Looks good keep up the pictures!

Man, that's a whopping lot of tombstones. While I admire your enthusiasm, why so many? How about some ground breakers, lights, fog, other props rather than using that full space just for so many tombstones? I mean, I've only got 4 and they work decent on my lawn. I'd like to have maybe 7 or 8 total with a fence probably next year.

I have 2 ground breakers, 2 full size mummys, 2 foggers, 2 stobes, 12 bags of webs and more. I had (24) 2 foot tall plywood tombstones I made last year. They looked nice but no where near made my year look like a cemetery. They looked nice but I want more realism. I want the entire yard to be a cemetery and I have a big yard. I have the attic space to store em so why not?

Im short on time to make them this year, thats why Im making 25 or so. I just found this forum and how to make those killer real lookin stones a few days ago. I will have all year to make the next 40 or so before next year

I think 25 is do-able amount in the next 2 weeks.

I finally got started on new tombstones Sunday night. I also spent 4 hours working on one of my fog machines that died. I got all these out of 1 4'X8' sheet. They are 31" to 42" tall. How I got 6 of these large stones out of one sheet is a mystery to me lol. I bought a roughter attachment and bits for my dremel as well. This stuff cuts and sands really nice. Here is what I was able to accomplish..

Wow these are lookin good please be sure and show us the completed project can't wait to see it !

You sure are ambitious! Look great so far. Go for it!

MsM

Your Crazy LOL!!! I admire your ambition, but that is a lot of Tombstones and more carving than i would ever want to do in two weeks. If i can just offer up one bit of advice..."Its Quality, not Quantity". Last year i rushed to make 9 tombstones so i could have a small cemetery. I rushed them and got them finished and they were a big hit but had i spent more time on them they would've been incredible. This year however i spent more time on my tombstones and the outcome was incredible. So now i want to get rid of my old tombstones since they do not even compare to my new ones. Just thought i'd throw that out there. Like i said i admire your ambition and hope you can pull it off, but just keep that in mind.

Good Luck and i can't wait to see the cemetery!!

What an ambitious project! This will make it even more satisfying when you're done. I look forward to seeing how it all turns out.

I feel for you. I made 20 tombstones this year. It took me about a month to make them. I glued together two sheets of foam and put PVC inside so I could slip them over rebar, so it took a bit longer than I wanted due to glueing and drying. It was a lot of work. I hope you get them all done. Another suggestion...you might paint the base coat on the assembled ones and then carve more while they are drying.....unless you are already doing that.

Good Luck!