# Tombstones Made Easy



## MokkNoir (Oct 19, 2009)

Here's a quick and easy way to make some tombstones. I made mine from materials already laying around added to the gift tombstones a friend of mine picked up for me.

Here's some cheap dollar store tombstones. Seriously, they cost $1 each.









This pic puts the tombstone in perspective. You can see how small it is; very whimpy!









So, I whipped out my trusty little x-acto knife and went to town. Here I've harvested the vital parts:









This is a section of 3/4" tongue-and-groove plywood that was about 1' x 4', which I cut in half. I placed the lid of a five gallon bucket on the end of each and marked my rounded tops that got cut out with a jigsaw. Once I had my final shape I hit 'em with a palm sander to round off the edges and smooth the surface. (Also, I had to fill in a couple of saw lines with spackle. Here I've put 'em in the sun to dry:









Spray paint 'em black:









Next I hot-glued the cutout sections to my board (The other one, I actually didn't even cut anything out, I just glued the whole tombstone to my board). Then I spray painted them all black followed up by a "Stone" spray paint:

















Here's the stone spray paint:









I came back and did a dry sponge technique with white paint to make it pop! 









Finally, I sprayed 'em with a clear sealing spray and added some stakes to hold 'em up:









I made these on Halloween afternoon, it was really easy and they look great. They are also pretty sturdy once setup. Also, as a last note, be careful when trying to spray paint foam since it tends to eat away the foam. My pieces didn't do that except for one small area, but it actually made it look a little more realistic. Always test paint your foam before trying to paint your actual foam prop pieces.


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## BackYardHaunter (Sep 27, 2009)

yes the spray paint thing is important but it u need an older stone spray away! great project! i love these doller tree stones i have over 10. all tricked out. lol

-BYH


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## LadyAlthea (Sep 11, 2008)

wow !! i have a few of these dollar store tombstones. I really like how you used what you had right there.. 

really simple and really effective!


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## Terra (Sep 23, 2007)

Good idea! I will look at those cheapy stones in a new light. 'Harvested' is a good word. Like harvesting organs.. MUH ha ha haa....


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## MokkNoir (Oct 19, 2009)

Terra said:


> Good idea! I will look at those cheapy stones in a new light. 'Harvested' is a good word. Like harvesting organs.. MUH ha ha haa....


Thanks! I couldn't help myself, it seemed so fitting to the site.


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## operatingnurse (Aug 22, 2009)

That rocks! Paste those wimpy $1 store tombstones to real foam. Quick, cheap, easy, I'm there. I need filler tombstones for next year and this idea fits the bill perfectly. Thanks.


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## savagehaunter (Aug 22, 2009)

nice work on making stones from stuff around the house.


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## StanFam3 (Oct 5, 2009)

Those really turned out great!!! Great idea! Glad you shared.


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## Corn Stalker (Nov 15, 2009)

Great idea! I've got a couple of those around - I'm gonna have to play with this. Thanks-


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## Wolfman (Apr 15, 2004)

Wow, Very Cool! You can never have too many tombstones. I'll be looking for those cheapies next year. Thanks!


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## stealth_eagle (Sep 10, 2009)

great idea I alway find mysef picking up $15 stones every year spending so much now I can get much beter ones thanks for the ideas


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## operatingnurse (Aug 22, 2009)

This is my dollar store tombstone upgrade. Added the rubber bats around the edge, too, but they are stoney after the Dry-Loc.


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## operatingnurse (Aug 22, 2009)

I stepped on the right lower corner and broke it off. A fortunate mistake...


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## operatingnurse (Aug 22, 2009)

I took a chance with the green and brown dry brushing, too.


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## Terra (Sep 23, 2007)

Operatingnurse, that stone looks sooo real and the design is cool! You are a master of 'da stone!


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## Die N Rott (Jan 3, 2010)

*Wow! * Who would know how awesome a cheepo $1 tombstone could become. I can't wait to revamp mine.


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## MokkNoir (Oct 19, 2009)

*Bats*

Nice work there. I really like the bats that you added.


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## SB_Haunts (Jan 5, 2010)

awesome job,great use of the stones and the stone paint is a great touch to any of our thombstones


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## LachOween (Sep 18, 2006)

Love the idea of taking something cheap and making it into something cool! Gonna have to try this


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## Deaths Reach (Aug 7, 2009)

Awesome idea to enhance larger stones! I have a neighbor down the street who's yard is filled with those $1 tombstones on Halloween. It's like a graveyard for cats or something. I put him to shame last year. This year's gonna rock! Thanks again for the great idea!!!


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## paganmama (Jan 30, 2010)

Don't mean to sound ignorant...but I am new to the DIY end of home haunting!! What exactly is Dry Lock and what does it do? Thanks!


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## Arlita (Aug 20, 2009)

You are a genius I was wondering what I would do with those cheap stones once I filled up my graveyard with the larger tombstones I plan on making. I had to let things go to waste and you have just help me stay green.


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## Arlita (Aug 20, 2009)

paganmama said:


> Don't mean to sound ignorant...but I am new to the DIY end of home haunting!! What exactly is Dry Lock and what does it do? Thanks!


I used Dry Lock for the first time last year it is used for sealing up block walls, or your basement. But haunters use it to seal up monster mud projects, paper mache, I used last year on a couple tombstones it has sand in it so not only does it seal your prop from the elements but it also gives your prop the look and feel of stone instead of just a smooth surface.


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## Arlita (Aug 20, 2009)

operatingnurse said:


> I took a chance with the green and brown dry brushing, too.


That is a great looking stone may have to steal your idea


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## Junit (Sep 1, 2008)

Very good use of the smaller stones! Thanks for sharing the good idea


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## dances with werewolves (Aug 28, 2009)

saw that no-one answered your question Dry-lok is a water sealer used on basement walls etc.can be purchased at about any building supply/hardware store it has a gritty finish & helps water-proof your project.we must help one another in here


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## make them scream (Jul 2, 2009)

looks great i did the same thing i used 2 matching cheap tombstones to add detail to my columns you can add detail to anything


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## BooBerrie (Jan 1, 2008)

Yep, I'll be borrowing this idea for this year. $1 tombstones are right in my budget range. I'm glad to see how the Valspar "stone" spray turned out too... I bought a can of it from Micheals (with a 50% off coupon, of course  ) and haven't had a chance to use it yet. Thanks for the great idea!


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## undeadrevenge (Aug 1, 2010)

*awesome!!!!*

these are awesome!!! i'll definatly be trying these, thanks


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## SinisterSmitty (Jul 9, 2009)

These look great! Cool idea...


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## Empty_W (Apr 28, 2009)

I'm so excited that someone was this clever, thanks. I have a whole bunch of cheap ones, but I don't think I'll have the time to carve out new ones from scratch, this will help so much for Morumen Cemetery. Thanks again!


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## Thom_Serveaux (May 8, 2008)

I think that I can offer up a minor tweak to this. Granted my stones were made of board, not plywood, but the premise should still work. I was told by the guy who cut the boards into tombstones, a retired carpenter by trade, to take a pair of those long aluminum gutter nails, about 3" if I recall. Then find a drill bit that's just slightly smaller than the head of said nail.

Then drill two holes about 1- 1 1/2" in the bottom of the tombstone. Then, placing them head first, pound them into the holes. Being made of Aluminum, they are rust free, and are virtually invisible once you place them in the ground. I've had mine in use for about 15+ years, and only just last year did one of the nails break off. that was more a matter of metal fatigue that exposure to the elements.


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## CobhamManor (Aug 5, 2010)

I make my tombstones out of styrofoam insullation, carve 'em up with a utility knife, and them paint 'em - they turn out great, especially when you don't use spray paint. The spray paint eats the foam if you're not careful...


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## sarahtigr (Jun 16, 2010)

Got a bunch of cheap ones from Walgreens this year and a few left over from years past. No time to do this this year but definitely gonna do it for next year!


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## bl00d (Aug 26, 2010)

thank you for the ideas! I been putting mortar on mine!


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## ajbanz (Mar 30, 2008)

Bump for Andretti


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## bc211287 (Oct 15, 2010)

Dollar Tree sells these cheapos by the box of 60 for $60 if anyone is interested. I bought an entire box for scrapping out the details and also filler stones for the back of my haunt.

http://www.dollartree.com/Fall-Flor...-Foam-Tombstones/453c318c368p303018/index.pro


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## Birk (Sep 14, 2012)

Im getting to the dollar store this year for sure!


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