Thread: Helpful tip for Tombstones

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Hey everyone! I know that alot of you will be making tombstones. A helpful tip on inserting them in the ground easily is to insert a 1 inch pvc pipe through the base on either side of the stone and putting a wooden dowel in the ground and placing the pvc pipes into the dowel. To hide the pvc pipe I made the pvc candles to fit over the 1 inch pvc pipe to hide it. You will have a sturdy anchor and then have the candles on either side for a lighting effect.



You can see on the Tish Huges I used this method.

Here it is with the candles over the 1 inch pipe

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A night shot. Hope this helps someone. I had no problem with them during the big night. I also only set up on Halloween day and take everything down that night, so I really can't say how they would be for a long period of time outside or with strong winds. For the others I used Terra's method of putting the 1 inch pvc pipe though the base and through the stone itself in the middle.

This is a great idea!@ I have some larger tombstones that the original stakes don't hold very well, especially in the wind. Thanks Blackfog!

And if you don't have bases like your tobmstones have you can just hot glue 2 (even 1) small piece of pvc to the back of the tombstone, pound a small rod/dowel into the ground and then slide the pvc over the dowel.

The candles over the anchor dowels is pure genius!

Thanks guys! I found it easier to put the pvc through the base then to try to dig it in the actual stone and I was afraid I would dig it through the stone and ruin it. I wanted to put candles on either side anyway so it worked out perfectly.

How did you get the written on them an how many sheets. You use thanks. An I'm at demon2748@gmail.com Bob

For the tombstones I used 1 and a half inch foam from home depot. I then pick out a font that I liked and printed out the name and epitaph and placed it onto the stone and taped it down. Then I used an X-Acto knife and carved the letters out on a slight angle and dug it out a bit with a toothpick. It took time cause I do not have a dremel tool. Terra also has a great how to video that I watched and found it very helpful!

Originally Posted by blackfog

For the tombstones I used 1 and a half inch foam from home depot. I then pick out a font that I liked and printed out the name and epitaph and placed it onto the stone and taped it down. Then I used an X-Acto knife and carved the letters out on a slight angle and dug it out a bit with a toothpick. It took time cause I do not have a dremel tool. Terra also has a great how to video that I watched and found it very helpful!

I saw Terra's video (several actually--great stuff!), and your comment above, but other than the foam at Lowe's or Home Depot, does anyone have a good source for styrofoam? Thanks!

Originally Posted by GodOfThunder

I saw Terra's video (several actually--great stuff!), and your comment above, but other than the foam at Lowe's or Home Depot, does anyone have a good source for styrofoam? Thanks!

I check craigslist and Freecycle for things like that, but mostly it's just been dumb luck finding similar styro. I did find some marine/dock styro (it's HUGE 12 x 4 foot heavy pieces of the white beaded stuff) at one point on the side of the road, but that stuff is much more difficult to carve since the beads tend to pop out and sawing it is a nightmare... messy styro all over the yard.

The problem is that the big box hardware stores are the only places that will carry/sell to Joe Shmoe on the street, and they only carry thicknesses up to 3/4 inch. I have NEVER seen the 1-2 inch thicknesses in Texas, and I've looked. You may be able to order some but it would have to be a bulk order and I'm not even sure they'd do that.

Originally Posted by Frankie's Girl

I check craigslist and Freecycle for things like that, but mostly it's just been dumb luck finding similar styro. I did find some marine/dock styro (it's HUGE 12 x 4 foot heavy pieces of the white beaded stuff) at one point on the side of the road, but that stuff is much more difficult to carve since the beads tend to pop out and sawing it is a nightmare... messy styro all over the yard.

The problem is that the big box hardware stores are the only places that will carry/sell to Joe Shmoe on the street, and they only carry thicknesses up to 3/4 inch. I have NEVER seen the 1-2 inch thicknesses in Texas, and I've looked. You may be able to order some but it would have to be a bulk order and I'm not even sure they'd do that.

That validates what I was thinking too--good to know I'm not the only one struggling with finding this as a material! I've struck out at Lowe's and home Depot and have had to alter plans to use multiple layers which, in the interest of time this year, is problematic (why didn't I start on this in February!! Won't make that mistake again...)

I'll improvise with various materials then to augment my styro and insulation. Thanks for the response!