# Cheap graveyard columns - cardboard!



## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

Here is my walkthrough for building cardboard columns. I have a smallish sized yard, and I wanted some smallish sized columns to go with my wire fence, and my solution was to use materials I either already had on hand or as cheap as possible.

Materials:
Large cardboard boxes (sized according to how many/how big you choose to make them)
Glue (I used wood glue, but use whatever you have on hand that is strong and water proof)
Something to weight the columns down as they are drying
twine or string to hold the column together as it's drying
Xacto/box knife
silicone caulk (I had white on-hand, color doesn't make any difference)
paint (had it on-hand)
Styrofoam (however thick you want - use what you have)

I made my columns 3 feet tall, 6 inches square. That worked with the scale of my yard/fence.

First step is to measure out and mark the four sides and the height on a piece of cardboard. I used a metal straight ruler to mark out all the sides, and then used an Xacto knife to cut out the column form (the solid red lines, and then cut through ONE layer of the cardboard on the corners (dotted lines).










Bend the cardboard along the edges that you cut through one layer of - first in the opposite direction from the cut to form a good fold, then back towards it. You want the cuts to form a 90 degree angle for each corner, but have the cut side on the inside of the form so the outside is unbroken (less to seal if it's on the inside).

Once you have your column squared off, you can use the glue along the edge and tie it off tight with the twine and then set heavy stuff on top of it so the entire edge is in contact with the glue surface.










Once it's dry, you should have something that looks like this:










Cardboard square column that is hollow at both ends. Use caulk to fill in if there are any big gaps.

Using styrofoam, measure off a square however large as will look good for the top. I used a cheap 1" styro from Michaels, and making them 8 inches square allowed me to get 2 tops from each sheet of foam (the sheet was about 18 x 20 inches for $5 each)











Using the glue, attach the foam to one of the ends. Use the flattest end, as the bottom of the column doesn't have to be flat. I set them upside down to dry. Once it is dry, use the caulk to seal all of the edges and smooth the transition.










Paint time - use whatever you have on hand, but do make sure it's latex or acrylic so it acts as a seal against weather. I did a base coat of medium gray with mortar mix mixed in for texture, applied with a brush. I let that dry and came back over the edges and such with black. Make sure to get all of the outside covered well with paint.










I chose to use pumpkins for the column finials. I found paper maché pumpkins at Michaels, but I was also considering skulls as well (which would definitely look pretty cool). I cut faces into the pumpkins, alternating happy/scary traditional faces.











Paint the finials to match the columns - the point is for them to blend into the column's construction and look like a cohesive piece. I also painted the insides of the pumpkins with red to enhance the glow of the flicker lights.











I put some heavy tinted acrylic sheet inside behind the face cutouts to hide/conceal the lights - it's a red plastic school divider, and used sandpaper to rough it up so it allowed light through, but not totally see through (allowing the light to shine through, but obscuring the interior of the pumpkins).











I put the columns up by hammering in two picket stakes into the ground and snugging the column over them. Adjust the stakes to make sure you get a tight fit, and they stay put even with people touching them. The columns stand up to light weather conditions, but would need heavier paint (especially inside) if you have heavy rain/snow. If we get a downpour in my area, it's actually pretty simple to go pull them off the stakes and stick them in the garage until the weather improves.









Shows the basic fence/columns but without the pumpkin toppers installed.

I had most of these material on hand, having only to buy the pumpkins and the foam cappers. Total cost for me (even counting the on-hand materials) is under $5 per column.


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## partsman (Oct 18, 2007)

Hi Frankie's Girl,
That came out pretty cool, the pumpkins are a nice touch. The skulls that you were going to use were they also paper mache from Michael's as well, and the calk you use is it a silicon base?


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## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

I'm not sure where I would have gotten the skulls, I saw several plastic ones and foam ones that would have been sized right for my columns - not just at Michaels. I have not come across paper mache ones, unfortunately.

Silicone caulk, check. Waterproof.

thanks!


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## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

The flicker looks amazing - the red plastic school divider glows orange from the flicker candle, and there is no need to actually paint the inside since roughing it up obscures the interior enough to where you can't see anything but the glowing light.

I am going to attach each pumpkin to the column with a bit of hot glue so that I can pop them off for storage. I want them to be on there well enough to deter the casual passerby, but easy to remove without damage.

These columns were originally meant as a temporary placement, but I'm thinking that they are so cheap and easy to build, that if I loose any, it would be really simple to replace one. Outside and in the blue/green lighting I use for my graveyard, you can't tell they are cardboard - the foam capper sparkles like granite, and the column looks like concrete or dull stone. I stop mowing my yard well enough to where the grass covers the bottoms of the columns so they don't have to fit perfectly flush with the ground, and if they lean a bit, it just added character and an aged and falling-down look that worked well.

I know there are plenty of projects out there that are much more finished looking, but I like doing some of these projects down and dirty just to see how good I can get something to look with no budget - and this came out quite satisfactory!


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## TheReaper (Jul 25, 2008)

Pumpkins definately make it look better


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## crossblades400 (Aug 14, 2008)

wow, thats amazing!


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## samhainschimera (Aug 8, 2008)

You're so creative, I love these columns. The glow from the pumpkin is wonderful, I'm inspired to try these!


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## rebelxwing (Oct 7, 2008)

Looks good and the materials wont break our budgets... good job!


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## Gnome (Mar 4, 2005)

^ agree! nice for the price!


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## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

Just noticed this got bumped up... 

so I'll update and say that Michaels is carrying paper maché skulls now - the eyes and nose and sort of around the teeth area is already cut out, same brown paper look as the pumpkins I used, same price (something like $2-$3 each) and approximately the same size as the tall pumpkins (they have a squatty version as well, but I bought all taller ones).

So you CAN get skulls for this if you wanted!


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## Red (Aug 10, 2009)

I can't wait to try this, looks awesome!


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## Deathtemple (Sep 8, 2008)

Looks great i might do one if i find the stuff


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## Screaming Demons (Sep 15, 2008)

This might not be the best place to add this but thought some might come across this thread while searching on the word COLUMNS.

A couple of good ways to make fluted columns (I think they're called fluted): Use sheets of corrugated cardboard that have the flat part missing on one side. This is usually used as padding in packing large objects so they don't get scraped up. Roll it up with the corrugation facing out and staple the ends together and you have a round column with grooves/flutes on it. Cardboard boxes for the base and you have an expensive looking column for the price of a few staples and some paint.

Another way for much larger columns that will be outside in the weather is to use either tin or fiberglass corrugated roofing sheets. Roll up a few of the 12-footers and you have the makings of a haunted mansion facade. After Halloween, unroll them and you can use them for regular roofing again.


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## dippedstix (Jul 2, 2009)

Frankie's Girl said:


> Just noticed this got bumped up...
> 
> so I'll update and say that Michaels is carrying paper maché skulls now - the eyes and nose and sort of around the teeth area is already cut out, same brown paper look as the pumpkins I used, same price (something like $2-$3 each) and approximately the same size as the tall pumpkins (they have a squatty version as well, but I bought all taller ones).
> 
> So you CAN get skulls for this if you wanted!


This is too weird! I have some tall boxes that I had planned to make columns out of. I was planning to use stone look scene setters on them. I just took a chance and searched cardboard column on here and here it is....something very similar to what I've been thinking of in my head! This looks great!!


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## Pennywise (Oct 21, 2004)

I love using cardboard. It is free and many things can be made with it. Also, it doesn't require table saws and jigsaws and other expensive tools to work with it...all you need is a knife and/or scissors, some tape and glue, and imagination. The only drawback (for me, at least) is that I have a hard time weatherproofing it. We tend to get a lot of rain here during October  I will try the latex paint you mentioned here and see what happens


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## MarkOf13 (Sep 25, 2009)

How did the weatherproofing work for you? I'd like to use these columns to go between my fence sections.

And thanks Frankie's Girl for the how-to on these. The paint looks great. What's your ratio on paint to mortar?


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## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

MarkOf13 said:


> How did the weatherproofing work for you? I'd like to use these columns to go between my fence sections.
> 
> And thanks Frankie's Girl for the how-to on these. The paint looks great. What's your ratio on paint to mortar?


So far, I've had these columns for I think 3 years (maybe two) and they're still good and that's with no paint in the interior. 

I pull them up and stick them in the garage if it starts pouring, but they've gotten hit a couple of times with rain (when I wasn't home) and I haven't noticed any damage and since they are not load-bearing they haven't buckled. I can make several of these in under an hour not counting drying time, so I always figured that until I came up with something I liked better, these were easy to make and replace.

One column's foam topper had a corner snapped off by a curious kid, but they left it at the base, and I just glued it back on.

I plan on gorilla gluing my JOL lights to the toppers this year and keep my fingers crossed that no one will rip them off - last year was the first year for them, and I was so paranoid I didn't put them out until Halloween night. 

No idea what the paint/mortar ratio is. I just mix up some paint, dump a plastic cup of mortar mix into it, stir it and then maybe add a little more. If you add too much, it starts setting up, so you want it to keep to a paint-like consistency... If it doesn't look like enough after the first roll/brush, add a little more to the paint.


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## dawnthedead (Jul 22, 2011)

I will have to try these to go on each side of my driveway this year!


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## spookyone (Aug 23, 2009)

ooh wicked pretty good idea for cardboard!!!!!


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## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

I just referred to these on another post and realized that photobucket was causing more shenanigans again (they decided to make ALL photos disappear everywhere unless you paid them a monthly fee a few years ago, then had a change of heart in the last year so the images all started working again, but now they're limiting free accounts to a ridiculously low bandwidth and blurring the crap out of the images... so I just updated my post to have the images HERE.

And as of 2019... these cardboard columns are STILL being used. My pumpkins suffered some deformation during a HUGE downpour (was away from home over 24 hours so they got drenched) and subsequent mold damage and I removed all of them from the columns to allow them to dry, but they are actually okay after drying out and the mold just looks authentically creepy.


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## wolfncrowlane (Sep 30, 2018)

Those look great! Thank you for sharing your steps - next year we're planning to do a gothic theme with a cemetery and these are perfect!


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