Thread: Tombstone picture help

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So I want to do the devil's rejects tombstone, Baby Firefly, Otis B. Driftwood, and Captain Spalding. But Ive seen some people put pictures on tombstones, and I thought it would be cool to put there mugshots on. But I have no idea how to do it . What should I use?

not sure but it sounds like a cool idea

I've done a lot of tombstones with pics in them. Its really easy.

Do you own a dremel or a router? If not, you may want to buy one (preferably a dremel with routing attachments). This will make the whole process go a lot smoother.

I live with my uncle who has owned his own construction company for 40 years so I luckily have access to every tool imaginable, so yes I have a router/dremel.

You could also glue the pic on the tombstone, then get molding and paint it and frame it. That would probably save you a bunch of time.

what kind of glue should I use, should I glue the pic to the tombstone before or after painting? Do i seal it with polyurethane or will the photo get ruined?

there are a bunch of ways to do it really. What i do is i buy a frame that i think looks creepy or old and i make sure my picture will fit in there. If it does i lay it on my tombstone and center it where i want it. Next i trace around the tombstone. After that i look at the side of the tombstone to see just how far down i'll have to dremel so that you don't see any of the sides of the frame (unless its a really fancy sort of frame like some of the ones i did this year). Nect you dremel out the area where your frame will go. Once your done with that Completely remove all of the backing on the frame so that it sits as flat as possible in the tombstone. You really don't want any high spots on the backing. Once you've removed the backing you'll need a hot glue gun. With the front of the frame facing down and the glass removed run a line of hot glue around the entire area of where the glass is housed inside the frame. Make sure you put enough so that when you add the glass on there are no gaps in the glue anywhere and that glue forms a water tight seal around the glass and frame. Once the glass is glued down (depending on how good of a job you did) you can either continue to the next step or run a thin line of hot glue around the top side of the glass using the tip of the glue gun to smooth out the glue and to push the glue into any sort of cracks or crevices. If you make a mess its not a big deal. Just use a single edged razor blade to scrape excess glue off the glass (just becareful not to scratch the glass)

Once your glue is dry cut your picture so that it will fit snuggly inside the frame (the glass part) Now cut some pieces of cardboard the same size as the picture to use as backing and keep your picture up pagainst the glass. You'll need enough cardboard to stack in the frame so its almost level with the back of the frame. Remember we want the back of the frame to stay flat so don't over do it with the cardboard. Next while using either a can of pop or something small and heavy place it on you cardboard to hold it down. Now you can either use duct tape or the hot glue gun to keep your cardboard in place while you secure the frame to the stone.

When you are ready to secure your frame to the stone load the frame up with lots of hot glue anywhere where it will make direct contact with the stone. Let it cool a second or two as you don't want to melt any foam. Insert your frame into your stone. depending on how good of a job you did it should either fit snuggly or you may have some gaps. If you have some gaps (i did on all of mine) go to a hobby store and buy foam putty. Places that sell train sets usually have it. Fill your gaps with this stuff. When filling your gaps never fill till its flush with the surface. Go a little higher and wider when you get to the surface. It will help to hide the holes. you also don't have to sand it completely flat. Just get it close enough so that its not obvious.

Now its off to painting. I know that was a lot of info but thats how i do it.

If you got questions let me know.

Here is one of mine this year that was a fancy frame.

Where do you get your foam?

Wow thanks, thats awesome and a lot of help