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I don't have images for everything I did, but I'll try to explain it as I complete the build. If you have any questions, just call or email me.
It was light outside, so you can't see the lights as clearly. Can't wait for Halloween!!!
I cut 4 pieces of 2 inch foam and glued them together along with the header and the column. (this image shows only 3 of the full pieces) The column was made with my newest favorite tool, the Industrial hot knife with the sled and shapeable blade. It was a piece of cake to make the colums. It took less than 5 minutes to make both!
Take a look at the four layers. The layer on the front is intentionally shorter by a couple inches on the cutout. I carved out about one inch on the inside, so the front lip wouldn't be so thick. The chicken wire needed to be hidden on the front. Also, the front layer has the curved face. The other layers are about 2 inches taller and are square.
This is the front view before carving out the inset. Notice how thick this is.
I also carved the name and added the top section prior to gluing on the columns. You'll notice that the colums don't go down to the bottom. This is because I'll be adding a base for the tombstone.
I made a chicken-wire cage and sprayed it with Great Stuff. I made sure that I could reach the sides and bottom from the back in order to add the lights later.
When you're spraying the Great Stuff, don't make long movements. Make "piles" of great stuff instead as it creates the cracks between the piles.
I used three colors of spray paint on the back: orange, fire engine red and black. The yellow you see in the cracks is the Great Stuff. You can spray paint directly on the Great Stuff, but don't spray to heavily as you want the yellow to show through as well as light up the different colors of the "coals" with the string lights. Make sure you spray the back "coals" BEFORE you add the hands.
You can see in the image below below that I added water bottles that I split sideways. I placed cut-up water bottles on the chicken wire base for two reasons: First, so the spray foam wouldn't fill up the bottom cavity (I want to add lights later) and second, I wanted to elevate the height of the foam "coals" without making it too thick. This way, I could reach higher in the coals for more lighting.
The image to the right is just sunlight coming through the coals, so I can't wait to see the string lights.
But.... the hands are just too dark. Gotta work on them!
I purchased Dunn's hands from Amazon. they were almost white (see above). I filled them with Great Stuff and stuck a skewer into each so I would have something to skick into the styrofoam. I spray painted them tan and added some black spray paint to show that they were burned. Still didn't like the look, but I wanted to get them set in the tombstone.
I placed small styrofoam pieces under the chickenwire so I could anchor the hands.
It worked perfectly. Now I can place my orange blinking lights through the chicken wire and up into the plastic bottles for brighter lighting.
I hated the look of the hands and the dark brown/black coloring just got lost in the tombstone. I purchased some tan acrylic craft paint, I know, it looks yellow, but not in "real life!" As I started painting them, I thought I would add a single ply pieces of kleenex tissue and paint over them for more texture.
I also added a couple of painted loose tissues to resemble skin that is peeling off. I plan to paint a small line of red where the "skin" meets the hand/fingers. Then I plan to lightly spray pain the edges of the "skin" black. I don't quite know how I'm going to accomplish the black spray yet, so I may just end up leaving it alone.
Divide the string lights in half, so there will be equal parts on each side of the back.
Use an ice pick or something else that you can make a hole for the lights. Don't force the lights directly into the foam as you don't want to chance breaking them.
This is what the back looks like when plugged in. The lights are amazing! I got them on Amazon. My setting is #2 Waves. They are just perfect!!! The light controller will stay inside the tombstone to protect it and an extension cord will be used.
I added a small rounded "lip" on the outside of the opening on the front so I could get a finished look. (Love the industrial hot knife with the cutting wire. It makes all sizes of curves.) For the back, I glued a piece of 1 inch foam with the center cut out in order to access the lights and a slit in the bottom of it for the cord to come through. Then I screwed on another piece of 1 inch foam the same size so it would be removeable. FYI: I'm making the back removable because, with my luck, the lights will go out the first night and without a removable back to change them out, I'd have to tear up the tombstone. Not gonna happen! I didn't want water in it, so I used my handy industrial hot knife & cut a quarter circle as a "drip guard". I glued the drip guard directly onto the stone and made sure that the glue did not get on the screwed on piece. Worked like a charm.
3 2-inch foam boards
1 1-inch foam board for the back cover
Chicken wire
Clear water bottles to cut up
Glue
2-3 cans Great Stuff
Spray Paint: Fire Engine Red, Orange & Black
Tan acrylic paint
for the hands
Drylock paint
Black/Dark Gray paint for
lettering
White outdoor paint to dry brush
tombstone
Wood putty
Lights - Moving lights from
Amazon
Hands - From
Amazon
Skulls - 1 half skull and 2 small skulls from
Nightmare
Makers I won't purchase skulls anywhere else, now that I've
found these guys!
Long bones - I had those from a misc. bone pack
(Wish I would have ordered them from Nightmare Makers!)
Extension
cord
Gloves - a MUST when working with Great Stuff
Sand paper: coarse &
fine
Cheap paintbrushes
Clamps
Compass - From Amazon
- makes it so much easier to draw
a circle
Engraver
Industrial
hot knife: I used
the blade, the wire cutting tool & the 6 inch hot knife
