Thread: Cemetery Entrance Columns

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I have gotten a number of people on this and other Halloween forums requesting that I assemble my Entrance Column notes and pictures into a full tutorial. So therefore I am caving under pressure and present to you said tutorial.

Enjoy!

This wasn't my first attempt at entrance columns to my haunted yard. I had tried years ago to do this using a very rude frame decked with the thin, pink foam insulation. The result was very light and blow over quite frequently. In frustration, I dismantled said columns long before Halloween.

In the summer of 2010, I happened along a stash of scrap wood, rescued from the trash of the construction of a couple of houses in my
neighborhood. In my hubris, I conceived of the notion of trying the column idea again. I love the look of stone walls and brick walls,
and have seen several others attempts at duplicating that look. They always left me cold. Not that they did a bad job, but you could always
tell that there was something fake about it.

If you know anything about me, I'm a bit of a perfectionist. And cheap. Those two traits don't tend to play well together, but I conceived of
a notion that would satisfy my ambition. If I could pull it off...

Here is the initial diagram of my design. I would build a base frame,
and then create and attach paper mache stones to that frame. This could be considered an additive technique of sculpting, adding materials, versus
the technique I've seen before, which would be subtractive, ie removing material. Instead of carving foam to look like stone, I would make the
stones myself. Little did I realize the work this would involve.

First thing I needed was a wooden framework. I had lots of scrape wood, about the side of furring strips or so. Not everthing matched, width-wise,
but I adapted. I wanted the all the crossbars on a given face to be flush, so that when I attach the material for the sidings, it would present a smooth
surface.

The column was to be 5' tall. Initially I had decided on 4', but then I second guessed myself and change the height. In retrospect, 4' would have been fine, albeit not as impressive... Another constraint I added was that they had to fit through a standard set of doors. I had made an earlier project much too big, and as a consequence, it gets to live in the garage all summer and winter. These had to go to the basement. I wanted a maximum width of 24" when I was done, so I made the frame width 18" on each side, giving me 6" of wiggle room, or 3" per side.

I added cross beams about a third of the way down on each side with an exception of one side column. On that side, I left the bottom bar off, so that I could create a pop-out panel. The reasoning behind this was so that I could get inside of the column for whatever reason. Upon installing in the yard, I used the panel opening to place shims under the column, due to my yard not being level, but you could also install electrical outlets or wire the columns for lights, what have you.


Here you can see my kids posing with one of the frames. They are 13 at the time of this photo (yes, twins).


Both frames completed

Once the wooden frame is built, we need to give the columns a surface onto which we will be attaching our finished stones. I was lucky and I found very large sheets of corregated cardboard at Curbies. These probably were from appliances going into the afore mentioned new houses. Regardless of the source, they were a good find. I laid the frames on sawhorses and placed the cardboard over each side and stabled them down. I did not attempt to wrap the cardboard. That would have been a nightmare due to the sizes involved and cardboards reticance if folding how I want it to. Each side was cut out individually. Some of the sides had to have more than one piece, if the remnents did not fit perfectly.

An alternate choice could be foam insulation, MDF, particle board, etc. If you are concerned about water seepage, feel free to waterseal it before advancing to the next step. I figured that my water proofing would come from the stones themselves, with some extra measures taken to seal up the bottom.

Column wrapped in cardboard


Both columns

To give the columns a little class, I added bottom and top caps. I wanted these structures to be the maximum width desired, so that the stones would be beneath the shadow of the top cap. This is done by wrapping the top and bottom, flush with the top and bottom of the frame, with first 2x4 stock, then 1x4 stock. The ends of the outermost boards were nailed tightly to the adjoining board so that any gaps were minimized. Remember, this is scrap wood, so straight lines tended to be far and view between. Also, a bead of wood glue was added between the 2x and 1x stock, to further secure the bond.


Columns with wooden tops and bottoms


Top cap detail


Top cap from a lower angle

Notice I mentioned the the boards were flush with the frame. This left a big void at the time and bottom since the frame was hollow. On the bottom, this is not an issue, leave it be. On the top, I covered the surface with a piece of MDF, then took a hand-planer and beveled the edge. Counter sink all your nails and use the planer to smooth the surfaces as needed.

Since I was dealing with the MDF, it was time to consider the access panels. I cut two pieces of MDF, one per column, to fit the cavities. I added cabinet magnets to hold the doors to the frame and added a little turn-holder-thingy (I forget the name) to ensure it stays shut.

Access panel


Once you are happy with the surface, you will want a layer of paper mache to cover everything, to make it appear to be stone. Seams are bad here, so I used the Vivid paper towels, as they have no surface texture. When you do the bottom, get close to the bottom edge, but don't overlap. It will rip easily at that area.

On my columns, they were intended to be part of the cemetery fence I had built. Each fence segmented ended with a 1" piece of PVC. To make the column work, I added another cross bar for the top connection, outside of the cardboard, and ran a long bolt through it. On the bottom, the PVC is simply screwed into the base.


Attaching the fence post


Column with fence post

This part can be started while still working on the frame, as it will take quite a bit of time. The stones that are use are, mostly, paper mache. Initially I tried to make them strictly out of paper mache, but that proved tricky at best. Be the crafty (cheap) crafter I am, I turned to a readily available source of stonish shaped materials. Food boxes.

We are very good at recycling in our house, so none of these had to actually get picked from the trash. I also persuaded coworkers and neighbors to help save these for me, as I would need a lot.

One of my criteria for the stones is that they could not pop out further than the base of the columns. Not all of them were naturally compliant with this. ThereforeI had to cut them down to a more managable size. Some of the larger boxes, such as the pop cases, I was able to get two or three stones out of. I also wanted "corner" pieces, that looked like they were larger stones embedded inside the column. This might have been overkilled, it certainly was more work.

Once the boxes where the right size, I roughened the shape somewhat by pushing in on sides, then paper mached over them about 3 coats. On some of them, I added some toilet paper soaked in the paste to add more texture. Get as many of them, in different sizes, as you can.


Some of the stones being made


Some of the stonework in progress

Once your stones are dry, you are ready to move on.

How's your puzzle skills? Good? You will need them. Beause no matter how well you tried, all your stones are not going to play nice together.

I use hot glue to attach the stones to the cardboard. The idea so that the stones overlap each other, like bricks in a building, so that the long part of the stone is over/under the seam between two other stones. If you've done legos, you've done this.

Because you didn't cut your lines perfectly straight, or the cardboard is warped, or the Moon is in the House of the Ram, the stones don't rest squarely on the cardboard. This means a lot more glue, and you standing there applying pressure like the little Dutch Boy with this finger in the dyke. Remember that hot glue is HOT and you are not in that much of a hurry, don't burn yourself (like me).


Ready to mount


Getting started


Almost done

I will admit I cheated here. There were several gaps in the stones that I did not have the right size to fill and I wanted to get done. Availing myself to some scrap foam in my garage, I cut custom-size pieces, gave them some texture and used that instead. When all said and done, you can't tell. If I had the budget for it, I would use the blue foam for all the stones...


Substituting foam


Done

One of the details I did to make the columns look truely like they are stone was that I mortared the joints. I made a batch of paper mache clay, using cellulose insulation that was not filtered down two the finest particles. This gave it a very coarse texture (and sped up the process). Next, with some help of whomever I could find, I stuffed the mortar between the joints, packing it in tight. I used my finger and other tools to finish the surface, so it was a smooth cove, but I left it crumbly in places.
The plus side is that when it was dry, it was almost the right color of mortar, but sadly, that was not meant to be.


Mortaring of stones


Close up

Once the mortar was dry (several days later), I applied a couple coats of exterior latex paint to weather proof. Actually, that's a lie. I got Dryloc water proofing, but exterior paint would work. Check your local big box hardware stores for "oops" paint. Mixed colors that someone desided not to buy. It's usually a LOT cheaper, and for this layer, who cares what it looks like.


Weather-proofing


Close up

Paint everything, so that no water can seep in. Especially the bottom surface and up inside from the bottom.

After this was dry, I painted the columns with the color paint that I actually wanted as my undercoat.

In the weeks before I was ready to start coloring the stone, I paid close attention to real stonework on my drives to and from work. Indiana stone is a nice variety of colors, leaning to the pinks and browns. Almost everything was speckled. If you look close at stone, they are not monochromatic (one colored) but vary between hues and shades, even within the same stone. This is what you need to emulate.

Using acrylic craft paints, I set out a pallete of colors, consisting of yellow, yellow ochre, red, brick red, orange, blue, white, browns and black. I used a couple different brushes, fairly wide (from a crafting point of view) and lots of water. I would mix loosely two or more colors, say brown, red and white, leaving lots of unmixed color, and paint several stones. If you need more paint, don't be afraid to mix in other colors at that time. I tried not to do too many adjacent stones with the same color.
To get a creative look too, use a water sprayer and spritz the stones so that the color runs somewhat. This gives the illusion of aging, as some minerals do leach out of stones over time.







At this point you will think that your colors are a lot brighter than you might like. I used a air sprayer gun with a pink wash to mute the colors and to give everything a more consistant look. Experiment, you can always cover up and paint it again.


Finished all the pretty painting, waiting on the ugly painting...