# Store bought tombstone make-over



## Detour (Oct 31, 2017)

Yes, another store bought tombstone make-over. Most techniques here aren't new - but worth noting some of the lessons learned...

I started with a dozen of the 36" tall store bought stones, various shapes/styles that I've purchased over the past decade or so.

I had a few objectives of this project -

include a secure mounting option that is not visible
make them thicker, more realistic
uniform the overall color (I had one that had glitter - needed to fix that)

I decided to make the end result 4" thick, so I bought the 4x8 sheets of 1" pink insulation board - planning to add 3 1" layers to each.

I started by cutting 3 rectangles the overall size for each of the stones. In one of the three, I cut out 2 1" channels, 24" tall, 3" either side of center. The layer with the channels would be for the 1/2" PVC sleeves. This work was all done with a table saw. Made quick work of the channels, as I would run the rectangle across the saw 24", turn off the saw, move to the next cut, repeat - and then I would score the top of the channel and it would easily snap out (note, these 1" channel pieces are great for adding accents to from scratch stones - so keep them around for other projects).

NOTE - I made the location of the PVC channels the same for all of the stones so that I could use a PVC jig when pounding rebar into the ground for these to slide over.










After an afternoon with the table saw, I had 3 1" layers for each of my store bought stones - the middle of which had the channels cut out.










Next up was glueing the layers together. Because I wanted a good glue seal along what would be the outer edge of each of these, I would trace the store stone on one of the layers before gluing, using that outline to guide where I wanted the glue. I used loctite PL300 for foam for my adhesive.

Because I was doing so many at the same time, I would secure the bottom and middle layers of all of them, let those stack under pressure, before adding the PVC and 3rd layer. I glued the store stone last - as because of the profiles, they were a bit more of a challenge to keep under pressure while the glue cured.

NOTE - Plan to keep any writing on the foam board to the inside so that you don't have to try to cover it with your painting.

NOTE - I originally did a couple using Great Stuff to secure the PVC sleeve. I would NOT recommend this. Great Stuff cures with exposure to air - so the end would cure first, preventing the curing foam further in the channel to expand out the end - and instead, the expansion would push the layers apart. After the first ones I tried and learned this - I used a bead of PL300 down the channel and layer the 1/2" PVC sleeve in the channel.




















Once the layers were glued and cured, I used the sculpting tool from Hot Wire Foam Factory to cut away the excess foam (used the top layer as my guide and cut away the extra from the 3 new layers).









Crafters Basic Sculpting Tool Kit - #K02B


Crafters Basic Sculpting Tool Kit Foam cutting tool for freehand sculpting, carving and scroll cutting.




hotwirefoamfactory.com





Then I used a vinyl spackle for all of the seams I wanted to cover. Apply spackle, sand (repeat if needed).










NOTE - I originally only speckled where I thought the seams would show, and after that first coat, learned it was just easier to spackle the entire width of the sides.

After the sides were at the texture I wanted, I aged the stones by extending the cracks in the original designs further down the new sides, adding cracks to the back, etc. I used an oscillating tool with a sanding pad for a lot of this project - both to sand the spackle, as well as to add nicks, cracks, etc. I also used a rasp in the larger cracks, and the Engraver from Hot Wire Foam Factory for the finer cracks.

I also sanded the back (pink foam board) with 60 grit on my palm sander. If found when I did this, it only needed one coat of dry lock (there was one that I forgot to sand, and it took 2 coats to cover the pink foam board color).

Next up - covering all but the bottom with dry lock. I found I needed to use 2 coats over any areas with spackle, and over any darker colored store bought stones (so any that started as black got 2 coats of dry lock). I would brush, then go back over that and dab to remove brush marks.

After the dry lock is cured, it's time for the fun stuff - weathering with paint. I used 2 different paint washes (5 to 1 water to paint in spray bottles) and water. One was a darker iron black, the other more brownish - both exterior latex options I had picked up from "oops" sections of a local paint store. There are lots of videos out there on this technique - but essentially, you spray with the paint wash, help let it run further by spraying with water, repeat. You can layer and relayer to get the desired look.

NOTE that to hold these in place for the wet wash, I used 3' garden stakes. For mounting in my decorated yard I used a two 2' pieces of 1/2" rebar. The full 24" pieces of PVC used for the sleeves give the stones the extra strength.



















Once I had the paint wash how I liked it and it was dry, I used the same iron black color and with a small paint brush I pained the cracks and chips. To soften it and make it look more like dirt, I sprayed those areas with water - washing some of the edges away and not having it be so harsh.










For any of the styles that had lettering, I used a smaller paint brush and the same black iron paint and accented the lettering. I did not spray with water - as I did want those to be more crisp.

Once all of that was dry, I dry brushed with a light grey to accent the texture.


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## RNkitty (Sep 27, 2018)

Great job! Getting them to stay in place is always the hardest part!


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## Shyra (Feb 18, 2020)

They look amazing ! I can only imagine the time, work and $$$ that went into them. I just finishing redoing some cheap dollar tree ones with some free coolers I found and it took some time so I can’t imagine the time those took! Very beautiful work!!!


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## ddcampbell (Oct 22, 2010)

Those look amazing! I like how substantial they are. Super cool


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## ghostlland820 (Jan 11, 2014)

They look great. I appreciate the tutorial and inspiration to supercharge store-bought tombstones.


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