[Junit]

I wanted to add to my cemetery but instead of with more flat headstones I was wondering if anyone knew of a good material to carve some statue headstones out of? Like the figures or angels in a real life cemetery? I was thinking about glueing several pieces of foam together and working from that but I was wondering if anyone knew of a less wasteful way? I suppose this isn't exactly a request for a tutorial but a request for matierals suggestions

 

[ondeko]

I suggest using a chicken wire armature with a PVC pipe support structure and cover it with cloth and monstermud. I think Terra used that technique for her Beloved tomb and I know that the guys at Terror Syndicate have used it for big props in the past. While this is generally used for large props, I don't know why you could, wouldn't or shouldn't use it for modest statuary and it's how I plan to do my reaper figure next year. Look in the tutorial section for Terra's Beloved and see if that might work for you.

 

[Terra]

ondeko is right. Chicken wire and monster mud was the easy solution for me. In regards to the reaper tombstone I did, I got a cheap Michael's hanging reaper and dunked the whole thing in the monster mud, removed the excess Monster Mud and screwed it onto the tombstone. Let dry and painted it a couple of times with gray Drylok to make it waterproof. (See my Beloved tutorial for more detailed instructions) It's been in the rain and sun and no degradation at all. Here's a pic of the reaper right after it was monster mudded:

Here is the back after I gave it two coats of Drylok. You can see it is starting to take on the look of carved stone:

Here's is the Reaper next to the Beloved:

 

[Ghost of Spookie]

I don't know how much money you are thinking of putting into the project but you also might want to consider looking for statues at places like Dollar Tree, Big Lots, yard sales, etc. that you can attach and paint to fit your needs.

 

[jdubbya]

I don't know how much money you are thinking of putting into the project but you also might want to consider looking for statues at places like Dollar Tree, Big Lots, yard sales, etc. that you can attach and paint to fit your needs.

That would be my suggestion as well. Garden Centers usually have a nice selection of varying sized statues that would look great as monument toppers. Here are some I'm using this year. Picked them up for cheap.