Thread: Tombstone Design Templating

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How are some of you designing your tombstones? I'm having a hard time templating out my large styrofoam sheets. I don't necessarily feel like photoshopping out something, because it would take me forever and I wouldnt even know how to do it.

Freehanding it doesnt seem like a great idea either, because I tried last night a little, and it looks pretty bad. I also tried taking a walmart type tombstone and tracing it out on the foam, but that is crap too because their designs and proportions are so off, its awful.

I'm kinda at a loss hmm

I do mine free hand (sort of) I use a yard stick to measure out the width and height of my stone. Then if i want to make curves or arches i use anything laying around the house. Buckets and cans work well. Just make sure that everything is evenly spaced on each side of the stone. Also, if your tombstones aren't completely perfect don't worry about it. Most people are not going to notice if its a 1/8" higher on one side than the other.

Originally Posted by chugger93

How are some of you designing your tombstones? I'm having a hard time templating out my large styrofoam sheets. I don't necessarily feel like photoshopping out something, because it would take me forever and I wouldnt even know how to do it.

Freehanding it doesnt seem like a great idea either, because I tried last night a little, and it looks pretty bad. I also tried taking a walmart type tombstone and tracing it out on the foam, but that is crap too because their designs and proportions are so off, its awful.

I'm kinda at a loss hmm

I know how you feel Chugger... I have the same issue and have wound up doing it freehand. I don't have photoshop nor do I have a projector so I just do the best I can with what I have. I have always wanted to do a celtic cross and can't/won't without a template.
The thing that I make sure of is that I get the mid point of the stone no matter what shape it is so that lettering and such are even. You can always do a basic stone shape and add the designs but cutting out seperate pieces of foam and attaching with adhesive. Once you fill in the gaps with wood putty and paint it , it could have been made of 1 piece or 1000 pieces and no one would know Also...darkness is your friend!

layout by hand isn't too bad.

Set your height and width. Then mark a center line vertically.
Now take a string and tie it to your marker. Place your marker a the high point of your arc. Take the string with your other hand
and hold it on the center line. Draw an arc. You can make the arc bigger by letting out more string and moving the pivot hand further away
from the marker on the center line.
Keep experimenting until you get the right arc, remember, you will paint over all the lines when finished.

You can use the same method for circles for your celtic crosses as well.

It's not perfect but a lot quicker than free handing.

I just draw mine up with a good 24" drafting scale and make horizontal trace lines for my lettering.

I've also used masking tape as my guide lines. A yard stick to make my tape lines perfectly straight also helps.

Good drafting skills are helpful. Other than that, printing a photo in poster-mode taping it together and tracing it to the foam is also an option.

Here is a simple trick I learned years ago painting. To mark an arch all you need is a thumbtack, string and a marker. Find the center of the arch, insert the thumb tack. wrap one end of string around it. On the other end of the string goes the marker. To adjust the size, you simply adjust where the marker is on the string.

This technique makes great arches and circles.

Originally Posted by BeaconSamurai

Here is a simple trick I learned years ago painting. To mark an arch all you need is a thumbtack, string and a marker. Find the center of the arch, insert the thumb tack. wrap one end of string around it. On the other end of the string goes the marker. To adjust the size, you simply adjust where the marker is on the string.

This technique makes great arches and circles.

Lol never thought of that great idea!

I use the thumbtack, marker and string idea. I also measure the height and width. I make my initial marks with pencil, and use a sharpie once I have the design I like. Then I cut along the sharpie lines.

Keep in mind... Many tombstones do not have curved tops. Take a trip to an old cemetery and check out all different monument sizes and styles. I have hundreds of photos from trips to cemeteries that helped me get a good variety of tombstones in my display.

I have some that are 6+ feet tall, and some that are only 1 foot tall. Groups of threes work nice for similar tombstones, and larger ones are best surrounded by small ones to give contrast.

I find that the pink insulation sheeting is nice stuff, as there are some spray paints that partially eat it away giving a realistic texture. Use 2-3 shades of gray, plus black for accent, with spanish moss and you can get a REALLY convincing graveyard.

I use both the string compass and buckets, lids and anything else to make forms. Then I carefully cut out the shape with a hacksaw blade with a masking tape handle. A drywall sanding sponge works great for smothing edges and making chips and dents. It gets easier if you start with simple shapes and eventually work your way to more complicated designs.

Think 3-D I don't know where we found the plans for these foam sheet obelisks but they turned out great and will look even better once we age them a bit.