Tombstones

Every haunted house needs some tombstones, right? So this weekend we worked on tombstones. I had several from years past, but the sprinklers had messed up the paint so I repainted all of those, but they were too impersonal and well... mass produced. So we made some personalized ones. There's the Lord of the Manor's above...and here you can see Teen2's and Teen1's and mine. Let me tell you, it's kind of creepy to paint your own tombstone! Here's how we made them:

First we bought this 1 1/2" thick Styrofoam insulation at Home Depot and peeled off the plastic coating...

then we put it up on the router table . . . What? You say you don't have a CNC router? Ok, well, then just cut out some tombstone shapes with a band saw or jigsaw...

and instead of routing the letters, just paint them on with black paint. I filled my routed letters with black paint too. Then using a sponge, start sponging on grays and whites to mimic granite.

After letting that dry, sponge on dabs of greens, golds (for lichen), and dark reds (for rust or blood). Then use a spray bottle to make the paint run....

and there you go - old, moldy, bloody, aged tombstones!

You can find books of epitaphs at the library or on the Internet, or make up your own. Have fun!