As it turned out, "we" meant "me" and I have spent the last few nights making tombstones for us to put in our front yard. I also made a sign that says crypt, although I'm not exactly sure where that's going. I copied the method from a guy online.
I carved the pieces out of pink foam insulation board that is really cheap and easy to carve.
I started on Friday night, carving the crypt sign. I first carved the edges to give the appearance of stone blocks. I had Joe find a creepy font for me to copy onto the foam for the lettering. I used an exacto knife and tried to make the letters look like they were chiseled out of stone. Once I was happy with the way it looked, I misted each piece of foam lightly with water. I then took a small propane torch and lightly went over the surface of the foam. (Joe stood by with a fire extinguisher, just in case.) The heat distorts the surface of the foam, giving it the appearance of aged stone. Then I painted the sign with grey paint. It dried over night and now I'm going to go back over some of the areas with black paint for some low lights.
Tonight, since we still couldn't walk on the kitchen tiles, I carved out two tombstones. I followed all the same steps. They are also painted grey, and will receive block accents.
The first one is carved with RIP...
This skull will be attached to the empty square on the RIP tombstone.
This one is supposed to be a tombstone with a scary, halloweeny, arched-back black cat carved into it. I think I managed to pull off a look that more strongly resembles a postage stamp.
Once they are all finished, we will attach dowels to the back of each tombstone and stick them in the front yard. Hopefully by the time they are all finished, I will be able to post some photos.
They are definitely worth the time and effort, and considering what stores charge for cheap plastic decorations, these are DEFINITELY worth the money. One 3/4" sheet of foam is about 2 feet by 8 feet (I think) and only costs $7. I already had exacto knives and leftover paint, and the propane torch was a small bernzomatic plumbing torch that cost around $12, plus $5 for the striker to light it.
The best part is that you can make whatever you want. These projects were only practice for me, since I had never used these techniques before, but hopefully next year I will have time to make more custom designs.
2 comments:
Next year I will pay you $10 to make me some and at some point, it will become profit.
(Did he really stand at the ready with an extinguisher? You shouldve taken THAT picture.)
Sweet...I will have a halloween side business. I can make everyone headstones with their names on them.
Creepy.
And yes, I swear to god Joe was watching me with the fire extinguisher in his hand. :)
The first night he was watching me like a hawk, convinced that I should be doing this all outside since he thought I was going to burn the house down.
I did not burn the house down, as it were. So on the second night, while he did sit nearby with the extinguisher, he was more concerned with the baseball game on tv.
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