Tombstones These tombstones are incredible. Lightweight, sculptured, and professional looking, they are a masterpiece all on their own.

Important Links

Scott Messinger's Tombstones and Instructions
Mourning Cemetery's Weathering Technique
Epitaphs from Goblinville
And some collected from Halloween-L by Scott

Your first job is research. There are many designs on the web, catalogs or even in your local cemetery. Your first job is to find one you like, and if it is your first foray into foam pick something simple. There is a lot of other resources for patterns and directions on the Monsterlist that are admittedly better than what I provide. Take this design and print, freehand, stencil, or whatever else you can think of to get the design onto the foam. The technique I use is to freehand the design on graph paper first, then punch the design onto the foam like you would a pumpkin.

Now that you have the design poked out in the foam trace it. I highly recommend a Sanford uni-ball GEL IMPACT pen, it is the best pen I've ever used on foam. Then take a hacksaw and cut out your tombstone. Below is a picture of my typical "foam master" kit including a special hacksaw, sponge-core sandpaper blocks, square, fine sandpaper, small grade wood file, and my deluxe Dremel tool kit with a router and snake attachment. After cutting out the design clean up the edges with the file and sandpaper.

First and foremost you should modify the router attachment. If you can't fit the sandpaper cylinder bit (which is good for clearing out large areas), through the router attachment, a quick modification will help lots. Put on your goggles and respirator, (I'm not kidding! chunks of plastic will be flying everywhere) take the multi-purpose bit that comes with the router attachment and grind down the lip on the inside. Now the attachment is usable for your purposes.

Draw every line and cut you are going to make on the foam. A printer can be used to make stencils for the text you wish to put on your tombstone, just like your outline, poke it out and trace it with the pen. Before you being carving make notes on how deep you want each area.

Put your goggles and mask on, use the multi-purpose bit and the router attachment to slowly cut out the outline. As a rule of thumb for this project, it is generally best to start with you deepest parts first. Decide on your deepest depth and adjust the router accordingly (3/4 in. is generally as deep as you want to go). Cut on the inside of your lines (unless they are letters). After you cut out the outline cut out a 1 in. square area where you plan to carve out first, I recommend starting with the largest area first. Now carve out the area using the large cylindrical sandpaper bit. Go slow, or the plastic will melt, fling melted plastic at you, or ruin your bit. Do this to each area until your tombstone is carved out completely.

• For large areas use the plexiglas. Cut a hole in the center of it and use it like a router attachment attachment. yes you heard right.
• For letters: For depressed letters (easy) cut along the inside of the letters with the multi-purpose bit and clean out the inside with it. Then take the flat bit with the ridges, adjust the depth, and clean up the inside of the letters. (should turn out nice.) For raised letters (difficult) cut along the outside of the letters with the multipurpose bit. Carve out the letters and at least an area of 1/2 in. surrounding the letters. Next take the flat, ridged bit and clean up around the letters. The problems with raised letters are that they are more difficult (but look nice) and are more prone to break or get hit. They look nice, but they can be a handful to take care of.

Umm... keep carving.

The whole tombstone needs to be cleaned up. Take the light sandpaper and sand the surface of the tombstone. Sand all the areas that you can get to with the sandpaper. Pinch off all the stragglies and fix any problems. Of course you will make mistakes, none of my tombstones were made without a few mistakes. Holes and uneven areas can be patched up with wood putty. The problem with wood putty though is that it has a different texture and will appear shinny after it is painted. In certain cases, it might be best to just leave the errors there.

Take your PVC pipe; mark off one foot, then another, cut the PVC with a hacksaw and file down the edges with a file. Take another sheet of Styrofoam and cut it out to match the outline of your tombstone. File and sand its edges. Measure the width of the base, and divide it by three, this will tell us where to place the PVC pipe. Mark off the points and draw a line up one foot on both the tombstone and the backing, the lines should match up together. Next take the Dremel tool, use the sandpaper cylinder bit and cut a channel approx. 1/2 in. deep and 1 in. wide. Adjust the width and depth until the PVC pipe fits in snuggly and both the tombstone and the backing fit up together.

Lay the tombstone face down on a flat surface. Prepare your Liquid Nails Projects glue. Squirt a line in both channels for the PVC pipes on the tombstone and on the backing. Now lay down a bead of glue that follows the outline about 1.5 in. away from the edge all the way around the tombstone piece. Place the backing side down on it, line it up, and then press them together. Place some flat boards across the back and weigh it down with heavy objects. Let it sit 24 hours.

Like putty in my hands...
Take the stuff off your tombstone. Take your file and work the tombstone so the sides are smooth, flat, and fit up nicely. Then clean them up with the sandpaper. When you finish they should feel smooth, like a single piece of foam. Smooth some putty into the creases to protect the inside from moisture and to hold them together tighter. Let dry for 24 hours.

Paint the Darn Thing!
This is up to you on how to do, depending on if you use a spray gun (DO NOT SPRAY PAINT!!!, IT WILL EAT THE STYROFOAM!!!) an airbrush, or paintbrush. The spray gun (make sure to build a makeshift paint booth) is good for leaving lots of detail and a good coat; the paintbrush gives a single thick coating fast. Use the thick latex exterior pain as a base coat. Make sure to give a couple thick coats. While the first coat dries sprinkle sand all over it to give it a stone texture. Now the rest of the painting is up to you on how you decide to do it...

Display. Cut the dowel rods in thirds. (1 ft each section) Measure the distance between the centers of the PVC pipes in the bottom of the tombstone. Take your steel rod (or whatever you use to make a hole) and hammer a hole in the ground approx. 6 in. deep. Place your dowel pins in the holes, then the tombstone over your dowel pins. Admire your work and Enjoy!

Completed Tombstones