Thread: plywood tombstones

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i have noticed that in the usa you all mak your tombstones out of foam, well i have made mine out of plywood. this year i am wanting to add more decorations to them. i have placed angels and other things to them and then covered the whole thing with concrete paint. my problem is now, i want a raised letterng affect for the words and not sure how i am going to do this. any ideas?

For raised lettering, I've seen people use foam letters from the craft store. You could also glue on letters cut from cardboard, balsa wood, or foam. When you paint over them, it should seal around the letters enough to make the whole stone look cohesive.

the plywood might warp in the weather...i ve thin plywood and there all warped im thinking of redoing some this year in foam

unfrtunately foam is not available here in aussie, it is not used in building, so not readily available and if you can find it is very very expensive. luckily halloween is the start of summer here, and living in aussie we dont really get much wet weather.

gidget,

if you are an avid woodworkier I would suggest cutting the letters out using a router and guide jig, then apply them to your plywood and finish them in the same manner as your plywood coffin. Otherwise I'd go with the already mentioned idea of wooden letters from a craft store.

Another Idea is that you could use the foam used in packaging electronics and cut it using the hot wire tool illustrated here to form your letters.

Depending on how high your want the leters raised, there are always foam stick-on letters that you can purchase at a craft store, or a general "everything type store" (wal-mart here in the states, not sure you have those in aussie never saw one in Perth or in Brisbane, but was only there for a short while in 96-97).

Good luck with your project and make sure to post any pics you have to see how it went.

Something I have done in the past is use address lettering from a local department store or hardware store. I spray painted the letters a darker gray than my tombstones, then Misted black over the bottom surface of the letters. After this, use an adhesive like liquid nails or similar to attach it to the tombstone, then seal the edges with concrete paint like you used to seal the rest of the tombstone.