Thread: I hate building Tombstones!!!!

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This year i decided to go nuts and build 14 tombstones. At first i figured it will be a little tough but no big deal. Now almost a month later i am still messing around with these things. What slows me down the most is carving out the lettering for the tombstone. Is there a faster way to do this other than carving around each letter with an exacto and then dremeling out the insides of the letter? I swear i am about to just leave them all blank and paint them up. Its eating up all of my time for other prop projects. Plus school starts next week so i am going to lose even more time on my projects. AHHHH I HATE TOMBSTONES!!!!

Fourteen is a prety impressive number, Nick. Hang in there, it'll be worth it.

We have dremeled the entire stone and it takes about an hour each depending on the length of the message etc... We print out what we want from MS Word or Photo shop - find great fonts for free... use spray glue for crafts and glue them where we want on the pink foamboard. The trace the letters with the dremel. We use a 1/4" dremel router bit or 1/8" dremel router bit for the smaller letters/details. The dremel has a "guide" attachment that allows you to stay at a constant depth when carving. Very quick...great detail...and easy to do. This is our first year doing it..I have built 4 (2 very large and 2 smaller but with aloth of details.) so far in a total of about 4 hours. Good Luck!

14 is a lot. Try to complete 7 or 8 for this year and don't stress over the rest. You can do them next year. I'm doing 6 this year and I'll had had my fill of foam after this. Add a few each year and don't make it an unpleasant task.

14 is a pretty large amount, good luck making them, there is no rush really to make them for this year as you allways have them for next year, ive never made tombstones as i dont have any foam or tools to do them yet but i plan on making some soon. good luck and i hope they look great.

An CNC router would be the easiest and fastest way to carve the stones. Just design what you want in ACAD, load your piece of foam board, press start, sit down and have a beer......

I am only going to do 3 new large ones. I have several smaller ones from that past few years.
I agree with idubbya, do have this year and the rest next year. Better to do a few impressive stones that several that are hurried.

I always have big plans for new props and end up leaving some undone.

Try a hot knife or foam cutting wand instead of an x-acto. It go's through foam like melted butter and without all that styrofoam mess to contend with. You can get them at Lowes or Michaels and are fairly cheap (under $20).

If you can't find one, or prefer not to make a purchace just to make tombstones, try a wood burning tool. It works on the same principal (hot tipped piece of metal on a stick) and you may have one already around the house.

Hope this Helps, Marc V.

Wow 14!!! I have made two so far this year...one is a bit more detailed than the other. This is besides making the two entryway columns(completed), three dolls for Nightmare nursery(completed), the Monster Mud Reaper (not complete yet), a pop up pnumatic corpse out of a real coffin( not complete yet)- still have to make a butcher shop 3 walled room, boarded up windows, the nursery and accessories and various other things. I have three kids and have spent a HUGE amount of time doing these...several months. Home life should always be first. Do what you can when you can, rushing will always be the downfall of a prop.

Not sure how people make them in an hour considering the drying times of adhesive, wood putty and drylock if thats what they are using...not to mention the carving can take a long time like you said. Just do what you can and don't rush...whatever you finish you finish and you will be happy with the results...whatever is left save for next year. If you are crunched for time go to the Dollar Store and grab a few cheapy ones to "fill in" spots...then you can use those to make better ones next year. You can also make some out of pallet boards that you crack apart/nail together and make wooden crosses just stuck in the ground...we have several of these and it is a great effect. Good Luck!

This is my first year doing a yard display, so I am starting from nothing. I have made 32 tombstones, all from styrofoam. One is a 5' tall obelisk and the rest are 2" to 6" thick foam anywhere from 12" to 26" tall. I've been working almost non-stop since 11/1/09. All but about 6 were carved out using a dremel/router. Some have just your basic Myra Mains, M.T. Box, etc , but probably 10 or so have full sayings. For the six I didn't carve letters I used spray paint to etch letters or just attached a skull or cross to it because I got sick of carving out letters.

I have only 1 left to finish I have a child size golf club broken in half and attached to the front of the stone and "Tiger Woods' Career" carved out below the club. I just have to finish dremeling out the word career and paint it.

But I agree, I enjoyed building other props much more than the tombstones (but you can't have a graveyard without tombstones!).

Here is the countdown clock I did as one of my 32 stones


I have been logging my progress over on Hauntforum.

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=19564