Shout out to Black Magic Craft for this one, but if you don’t want to go the heat gun or torch route for stone texture, crumble up a piece of aluminum foil into a ball and roll it on the foam. It makes a very nice random stone texture and doesn’t require the tools.
Usually, you apply a tiny bit of heat and roll the crumpled aluminum foil on. In my opinion, it's less like stone, and much more like leather bend and crack.
When i attach my stone to the base, i use wire coat hanger pieces to push into the foam. I also drill 1/2 inch holes thru the base into the top then use 1/2 " rebar hammered into the ground to go into these holes to keep the wind from blowing them over.
I tried this method with wooden dowels, I noticed if it got a little windy, the holes would widen around the dowels and it became less secure. Finding a method to plant these puppies into the ground and stay put has been such a pain in the butt.
@@theblessed1561 I've seen another maker, maybe Oak Lane Cemetery, drill out holes and insert pvc pipes covered in glue, and then that's what you slide over the dowels or rebar. That way the holes won't widen.
You could use wooden dowels to reinforce the top part pluss it, will give it a little more strength for when the wind blows and hold it up while the glue dries.
Just a tip for future projects, with spray paint its the accelerant that eats the foam so if you hold it further away you can get the paint on without the accelerant eating the foam.
Great video. It was a lot of help in making my tombstones. For my tombstones I found Styrofoam skulls at Michael's. I cut the face off the skull and glued the face to the tombstone. Once everything is painted with drylok it looks like a detailed skull was carved out of the stone.
I’m gonna give you guys a nickel’s worth of free advice. Instead of using water on the pink phone with your gorilla glue, try using baking soda and super glue together. What you’re going to want to do is have the baking soda on the base and the superglue up on your head stone. And when those two come together, it takes a mere three seconds and it’s completely set.
A suggestion: For additional strength and ease of assembly, make the bottom of the upright portion of the tombstone longer, and sandwich it between two pieces of foam. Alternately, a couple sections of 1/2" wooden dowel running through-and-through the base and a few inches into the upright might work. If you really wanted to get into it, you could glue a piece of 2x wood to the bottom to make a weighted base. Also: A 6" foam roller and foam brushes for details make the Drylok portion a LOT easier.
I've used metal hangers to stick mine in the ground. Just cut a straight piece of hanger and stick it in the bottom of the tombstone and stick them in the ground.
Self-healing cutting mats would be handy...also, if you use enamel spray paint through your letter guides the spray paint will self etch the letters, since enamel spray paint eats foam. Saves routing and creates a more ancient, weathered, look.
Hi. Great recording on how to. But could you please give more info regarding how to create the lettering & sticky back stencil ? I have never seen such a thing. Many thanks and best wishes👍
I just wrote the words free-hand, then I used regular sytrofoam, so instead of a tool, I used a silver sharpie which melted the foam. Then painted the whole with with flat white latex paint. When it dried, I sprayed it with granite fleck-stone paint. But yours look AMAZING. I'm going to re-do my graveyard this way next summer.
Those Halloween Tombstones came out spooky awesome! Thanks for the shout out to VanOaks Props not only does he have an awesome channel with helpful tips, tricks, and inspirations Derek is such a generous and helpful member of our haunt community. I know you guys are having fun making all these Halloween props but be careful in the beginning it's always Ooh, ah,’ that’s how it always starts. But then later there’s running and screaming and where are we going to store all this stuff. 🤣
I tried this for Halloween and it was great. Brilliant tutorial, I didn't have all the tools and basically apart from buying insulation board about £15 for two 3mm pieces I was able to use whatever paint and tools I had. I used a butane gas burner, very carefully and had to carve with a blade rather than an electric tool but both headstones came out great.
totally awesome headstones! but you could go further by making the base heaadstone generic (not words, just blank) and then using a projector to reflect different "deaths". :) love your work!
A suggestion from the model railroading world: Whenever I need to wash that much surface area, I use a commercial spray bottle to mix and apply the wash. Use a matte varnish at the end, and you are golden. For those at home, here's the recipe: - 1 Commercial spray bottle. The big ones. - 2 parts water. If you have bubble/clumping issues with your washes, try distilled water. - 1 part Pledge Floor Shine. Basically, acrylic gloss medium. - Acrylic ink according to taste. You can see how dark a residue it will leave by mixing it in a plastic/glass vial, and tilting the container to the side a bit, then back to horizontal. The liquid left flowing down the side for a few seconds is what your wash will leave on the surface. Run this test before you add the flow improver. You can apply a lot of coats of this stuff very quickly, so I would strongly suggest going light on the ink and just applying another layer. - 3-4 drops of Finish Jet Dry. This is a flow-improver, that breaks the surface tension of water. it will prevent the wash from beading, and even out the coat. Stir gently, or slowly rotate the bottle to mix. You want to avoid bubbles. Spray on the wash, wait 10 minutes or so, and apply your next coat. Finish with a matte varnish to kill the shine.
@@WickedMakers I hope the recipe is useful. This really is a great channel, you two! Very few people manage to produce quality, creative instructional videos consistently for many years. Here's to many more!
Just curious as to what this would be replacing… Are your instructions for the painting portion being done at the very very end like after the dry lock is done?
@@StaciDavis The process I described would replace the brush application of the washes they start at the beginning of the "Painting" chapter of the video. The chapter starts at 11:03, right after they apply the Dry Lock. Brush application is slow, inconsistent and can result in a lot of coffee-staining problems. By adding the Pledge Floor Shine, which is basically acrylic gloss medium, you can avoid almost all of the coffee-staining and inconsistent color. The Finish Jet Dry makes the wash flow very smoothly out of the bottle, and prevents pooling and beading. The one thing to watch out for is that this recipe will produce a very glossy tombstone. Don't skip the recommended matte varnish at the end if you want to avoid the glossy look.
We are planning on making several of these this weekend. Thanks for the easy & clear instructions. I do have a suggestion for keeping the stones together and it is what we'll do too. Take some 1/8" x 12" crafting dowel rods, cut them in half and when gluing, stick 1 of the 6" rods up into the bottom of the stones base and once you get your glue on the underside of the top stone, push it down onto the rods sticking up out of the base. If you have trouble with the rods being flat, just stick the ends into a pencil sharpener. It turns the rods into pointy skewers. This way the stones won't have to be held until the glue dries! Thanks again for the wonderful ideas!
suggestion next time you make graestone head stone Cut like a 1 to 1 1/2 inch deep cut into the bottom foam and inset the upper foam and put some small wood dowels poking up to hold them together
i know it would take some research but for fun you could do cartoon titles that are no longer on tv for headstone names like Muppet Babies, Beetlejuice, Bionic Six, Smurf, Snorks ,
when sticking the tombstone to the base....get a couple of old ballpoints or pencils and stab them into the base...remove them put some glue in the hole...stick them back in point up...put glue on the base as normal then offer up the stone press down onto the up turned pens/pencils.
I haven't tried this method before, but it seems like you could use the heat gun to do the texture before you carve the words and anything else. That way you wouldn't have to worry about the heat gun messing up any carvings.
Wooden skewers are perfect for holding foam in place while waiting for glue to dry. Insert at an angle to pin the top to the base on each side. You can snap them off flush with the foam once the pieces are dry and then fill in any tiny holes with wood glue, spackling, or even paint. Gives a little extra support other than just glue as well.
Wow these turned out GREAT!! The painting details are killer. Big fan of the names/phrases too. Reminds me of waiting in line at the haunted mansion disney ride. 😄
Great job Wicked Makers! Wishing you the best on your channel during this Halloween season! Keep up the good work and hello from the Distortions Unlimited crew.
I found that some 3/16” zinc plated rod works really well for holding grave stones in the ground. Maybe use those to attach the headstone to the base? File the ends down to a point and you can poke them through the foam.
After years of wanting to do this myself, I've been making my first attempts at over the past month! Great work! I was beginning to think that the Drylock undoes some of the great texture you get from the heat gun. Seemed like an either/or sort of thing. Anything I used the heat gun on, I've just gone over with regular black paint, then dry-brushed over that. But I see you both got some of the texture to still show through the Drylock! Nice!
Those look great! When I make mine I embed a couple of 1/2" PVC pipes in the center to mount them in the yard. How will you mount yours to keep them from blowing away, or otherwise "walking off?"
@@melodypetry-johnson2309 instead of a 2" piece of foam, I use two 1" pieces and carve a channel into them. Glue the pipes in with some construction adhesive, and then use some Super 77 to glue the two sheets together. I use a Super 77 because it's fast, won't eat the foam, and will still go through a hot-wire cutter.
I just made these as well, and for the bases, I roughly routered out a channel for the top of headstone to fit into, then glued. A little extra durability.
Instead of making a foam base, I would make a concrete one and create a space in the top while it's still wet to insert and remove the foam headstone, making it easier for storage.
WOW! I'm excited to get started. I have everything but the stencils. How did you make those? Cricut? On a side note, I made your Cauldron (my first Halloween DIY) and I could NOT be more happy. Thanks for great videos that entertain and educate. Keep it going!
If you shove 6-8 inch dowel rods (1 on each side) up into the headstone and then into the bade to stablelizze while drying also there is stone texture paint.
Another amazing project. Couple of tips you may not have thought of... Bamboo skewers or popsicle sticks in the base work well to hold the tombstone up. Also I saw a hack the other day where the guy used a sharpie and air nozzle to mark the pattern on his metal. Basically makes an airbrush that might work for situations like this if you're mask is on tight enough.
A few more awesome channels are Monster Tutorials, Monster Misfits, Cobwebs and Candlesticks, The Weird Kid Show... They are all so creative and make fun props.
Love these two! Been working on my tombstones! The painting is a lot harder. Remember to spray with water first... I had to repaint one and start over... But this is a great video.
In steed of using a knife to make the cracks you can get a bit for you drimel that does the same thing. You can also get textured spray paint that will speed up you base coat and I would add a weight to the bottom so it wont tip over to easy or a rod that can be pushed into the ground to secure it. Over all I really like it and think I will make a few of these for my yard this year
For your base. What you could do is get some 12" craft dowel rods. pre drill some holes in your top portion of the tombstone (on the bottom) maybe 3 rods (one in the center and then spit the difference between the center rod and the ends) glue one end of the rod and insert into your pre-drilled holes (don't push in too much, you don't want to crack the foam). once all three dowel rods are in the top, lay it onto the foam base and mark the three spots where the dowels will go into the base (remember you want these to be pretty much centered on the base). Now pre-drill the three holes. Cut the dowels to the appropriate depth to go into the base (slightly longer than your pre-drilled holes Glue and insert the rods, lining them up into the holes you made. This should give you a lot of strength between the top and base. You can also glue the top of the base before you push everything together.
What do you do to secure your tombstones so they don't blow away from the wind? I bought some cheaper foam tombstones last year that came with 3 inch stakes to go partially into the ground and also into the bottom of the tombstone, but they did not hold up. The wind caused the tombstones to move slightly which caused the holes in the bottom of the tombstones to continue to get bigger and bigger, making it move more in the wind and continue making the holes worse, until they no longer had a good hold and blew away. :( Any ideas what you guys do would be appreciated. Thanks.
Anything more than a slight breeze, and they’re gonna topple over. I glue 2 upright pvc pipes to the back, which can just slot over well anchored garden stakes. They never fall over then.
Ok first off... that drawing bow thing was amazing. I'm not an artsy person and it's probably well known in the "art world", but that blew my mind. Also, your painting technique is amazing....jealous for sure.
I followed this tutorial this weekend and made a tombstone that I absolutely LOVE! Worked like a charm! While I get that the drylock makes the foam weatherproof, do I need to put on waterseal or poly to protect the paint? I worry that it will just wash off in the rain and I'll be left with a drylok form.
That’s great! Congrats. 👊🏼😄 We don’t use any sealer and wouldn’t recommend it over the paint. Acrylic will do fine in the rain, under normal circumstances.
My husband and I are making these tombstones. Just wondering what you use as a last step to waterproof the craft paint? Thank you so much! LOVE ALL OF YOUR VIDEOS!!
Now these tombstones are no joke ☠️ I already feel dead #wtf You guys inspire me. 🤩 And any viewer will now be embarrassed when purchasing tombstones from Michael’s and Walmart. 😬
My wife and I will be trying this for Halloween this year! Where did you get your foam boards from?? We can’t find any without some kind of covering placed on the outside.
Print your epitaph out & glue it to the tombstone with elmers washable glue stick. Dremel over the letters. The glue will hold it until your done carving and any residue will wash off with water. Cheaper than cutting vinyl stencils and a time saver over coloring in the black with a marker.
I've never made foam tombstones (or any kind of tombstones), but I had a couple ideas while watching the video; Use the heat gun to add texture to the surface BEFORE carving the lettering and such. That way you don't have to worry about ruining all your delicate work. Take a wire coat hanger, open it up and bend it into a square "U" shape. Drill two holes down through the base on the back, in line with the two legs of the wire. Position the tombstone outside, then insert the wires through the holes and push into the ground until the cross piece of the wire is resting on the base, holding the tombstone in place like a giant staple.
One of my "cheats" to do the edges is to use dark spray paint. It eats away at just a bit of the foam AND then your edge is also finished. It gives the same finished look. TY for the tutorial. I didn't want to keep doing my lettering freehanded so now I see how to level up there!
Every year, except 2020, I make a tombstone for my Halloween grave yard. I usually make them out of wood, plywood, scrap, pallet wood, whatever is laying around. After seeing this video, which I've watched about 20 times, I am attempting one out of the insulation foam. Thank you for the video and inspiration to do it.
Shout out to Black Magic Craft for this one, but if you don’t want to go the heat gun or torch route for stone texture, crumble up a piece of aluminum foil into a ball and roll it on the foam. It makes a very nice random stone texture and doesn’t require the tools.
Yes!!!! Love it.
Usually, you apply a tiny bit of heat and roll the crumpled aluminum foil on. In my opinion, it's less like stone, and much more like leather bend and crack.
@@WickedMakers Would a hairdryer supply enough heat?
@@kimberlygreer2240 a hair dryer did not work. I picked up a heat gun for 19.99 on Amazon
Thank u for the suggestion since I have neither gun or torch.
I googled "pictures of cracks" and let's just say I will never be the same.
ruh roh raggy…
Hahahahaha thought the same thing look at pictures of cracks.... please specify cracks
When i attach my stone to the base, i use wire coat hanger pieces to push into the foam. I also drill 1/2 inch holes thru the base into the top then use 1/2 " rebar hammered into the ground to go into these holes to keep the wind from blowing them over.
I tried this method with wooden dowels, I noticed if it got a little windy, the holes would widen around the dowels and it became less secure. Finding a method to plant these puppies into the ground and stay put has been such a pain in the butt.
@@theblessed1561 I've seen another maker, maybe Oak Lane Cemetery, drill out holes and insert pvc pipes covered in glue, and then that's what you slide over the dowels or rebar. That way the holes won't widen.
You could use wooden dowels to reinforce the top part pluss it, will give it a little more strength for when the wind blows and hold it up while the glue dries.
OUTSTANDING tutorial!!!! Now, unless you've already made one and I can't find it, how about a tutorial on making stencils?
The stencils look like they were vinyl cutouts on a die-cutting machine like a Cricut or Cameo
Just a tip for future projects, with spray paint its the accelerant that eats the foam so if you hold it further away you can get the paint on without the accelerant eating the foam.
Great video. It was a lot of help in making my tombstones. For my tombstones I found Styrofoam skulls at Michael's. I cut the face off the skull and glued the face to the tombstone. Once everything is painted with drylok it looks like a detailed skull was carved out of the stone.
What a great idea! Thanks!
bamboo skewers are great for holding foam pieces together while they dry! that's what I do at twin oaks manor haunt.
Excellent idea!
You beat me to it!
When attaching the headstone to the base draw and route out a little trough first. Add glue, set stone into base...
Ahhh good idea 😄
Or for those that don't own a router, can cut it out with a knife.
I’m gonna give you guys a nickel’s worth of free advice. Instead of using water on the pink phone with your gorilla glue, try using baking soda and super glue together. What you’re going to want to do is have the baking soda on the base and the superglue up on your head stone. And when those two come together, it takes a mere three seconds and it’s completely set.
My favorite part has always been painting the patina. I love watching it come to life with the layers of colors as it starts to look decades old.
Long drywall screws plus 1" wood dowel rods to hold tombstone to base or router out a void for the tombstone to sit into the base
Thank you for watching! 💀🎃
Use chopsticks or skewers like pegs to hold the top to the base as the glue dries.
Great job! Don’t forget, also wear ear pro with your eye pro.
quick question if the heat gun opens up the words and cracks is it easier to do that texture first then do the words and cracks after that stage?
Where do you get the foam?
@@gordonramsay9303 Lowes, Homedepot, Menards. With all the home insulation.
Just a tip, it's actual better to cut out an insert in the bottom block to insert the tombstone into it. It makes it wayyyy more sturdy!
For future reference, push tooth picks in foam to help hold foam in place as glue dries.
Good idea!!!
I also use wood skewers and coffee stirrers for holding together Styrofoam until it's dry. Painters' tape works on those tricky spaces, too.
My grandfather did this back in 1990 and was in the local news paper cause of the whole set up he did for halloween. Id bet anything he was the first.
A suggestion: For additional strength and ease of assembly, make the bottom of the upright portion of the tombstone longer, and sandwich it between two pieces of foam. Alternately, a couple sections of 1/2" wooden dowel running through-and-through the base and a few inches into the upright might work. If you really wanted to get into it, you could glue a piece of 2x wood to the bottom to make a weighted base.
Also: A 6" foam roller and foam brushes for details make the Drylok portion a LOT easier.
I've used metal hangers to stick mine in the ground. Just cut a straight piece of hanger and stick it in the bottom of the tombstone and stick them in the ground.
Self-healing cutting mats would be handy...also, if you use enamel spray paint through your letter guides the spray paint will self etch the letters, since enamel spray paint eats foam. Saves routing and creates a more ancient, weathered, look.
Yeah, definitely a cool look but less control overall. Lots of great options!
You can cut some metal coat hangers rods and poke thru the foam to make sturdy joints.
Hi.
Great recording on how to.
But could you please give more info regarding how to create the lettering & sticky back stencil ?
I have never seen such a thing.
Many thanks and best wishes👍
I just wrote the words free-hand, then I used regular sytrofoam, so instead of a tool, I used a silver sharpie which melted the foam. Then painted the whole with with flat white latex paint. When it dried, I sprayed it with granite fleck-stone paint. But yours look AMAZING. I'm going to re-do my graveyard this way next summer.
Those Halloween Tombstones came out spooky awesome! Thanks for the shout out to VanOaks Props not only does he have an awesome channel with helpful tips, tricks, and inspirations Derek is such a generous and helpful member of our haunt community. I know you guys are having fun making all these Halloween props but be careful in the beginning it's always Ooh, ah,’ that’s how it always starts. But then later there’s running and screaming and where are we going to store all this stuff. 🤣
Hahah, yeah I can’t imagine your storage situation. 🤣🤣🤣 We already have a shed full of stuff and it’s only just begun.
Thanks for saying that guys. The more Halloween we share, the more Halloween there is to enjoy!
I tried this for Halloween and it was great. Brilliant tutorial, I didn't have all the tools and basically apart from buying insulation board about £15 for two 3mm pieces I was able to use whatever paint and tools I had. I used a butane gas burner, very carefully and had to carve with a blade rather than an electric tool but both headstones came out great.
totally awesome headstones! but you could go further by making the base heaadstone generic (not words, just blank) and then using a projector to reflect different "deaths". :) love your work!
the sound of cutting through styrofoam at 01:54 😱😱😱😱😱 that's enough halloween for me eeeeek...
love the video thougy
A suggestion from the model railroading world: Whenever I need to wash that much surface area, I use a commercial spray bottle to mix and apply the wash. Use a matte varnish at the end, and you are golden. For those at home, here's the recipe:
- 1 Commercial spray bottle. The big ones.
- 2 parts water. If you have bubble/clumping issues with your washes, try distilled water.
- 1 part Pledge Floor Shine. Basically, acrylic gloss medium.
- Acrylic ink according to taste. You can see how dark a residue it will leave by mixing it in a plastic/glass vial, and tilting the container to the side a bit, then back to horizontal. The liquid left flowing down the side for a few seconds is what your wash will leave on the surface. Run this test before you add the flow improver. You can apply a lot of coats of this stuff very quickly, so I would strongly suggest going light on the ink and just applying another layer.
- 3-4 drops of Finish Jet Dry. This is a flow-improver, that breaks the surface tension of water. it will prevent the wash from beading, and even out the coat. Stir gently, or slowly rotate the bottle to mix. You want to avoid bubbles.
Spray on the wash, wait 10 minutes or so, and apply your next coat. Finish with a matte varnish to kill the shine.
This is great!!!!!
@@WickedMakers I hope the recipe is useful. This really is a great channel, you two! Very few people manage to produce quality, creative instructional videos consistently for many years. Here's to many more!
Just curious as to what this would be replacing… Are your instructions for the painting portion being done at the very very end like after the dry lock is done?
@@StaciDavis The process I described would replace the brush application of the washes they start at the beginning of the "Painting" chapter of the video. The chapter starts at 11:03, right after they apply the Dry Lock.
Brush application is slow, inconsistent and can result in a lot of coffee-staining problems. By adding the Pledge Floor Shine, which is basically acrylic gloss medium, you can avoid almost all of the coffee-staining and inconsistent color. The Finish Jet Dry makes the wash flow very smoothly out of the bottle, and prevents pooling and beading.
The one thing to watch out for is that this recipe will produce a very glossy tombstone. Don't skip the recommended matte varnish at the end if you want to avoid the glossy look.
We are planning on making several of these this weekend. Thanks for the easy & clear instructions. I do have a suggestion for keeping the stones together and it is what we'll do too. Take some 1/8" x 12" crafting dowel rods, cut them in half and when gluing, stick 1 of the 6" rods up into the bottom of the stones base and once you get your glue on the underside of the top stone, push it down onto the rods sticking up out of the base. If you have trouble with the rods being flat, just stick the ends into a pencil sharpener. It turns the rods into pointy skewers. This way the stones won't have to be held until the glue dries! Thanks again for the wonderful ideas!
Nice!!! That’s a great idea. 👊🏼👊🏼
I use kitchen skewers for mine- nice and long and sharp.
She always looks so good in denim shorts👍
🤣🤣🤣
Go grab a glass of water, you thirsty bugger.
@@happymaskedguy1943 yep... I'm very thirsty after seeing that...
suggestion next time you make graestone head stone Cut like a 1 to 1 1/2 inch deep cut into the bottom foam and inset the upper foam and put some small wood dowels poking up to hold them together
i know it would take some research but for fun you could do cartoon titles that are no longer on tv for headstone names like Muppet Babies, Beetlejuice, Bionic Six, Smurf, Snorks ,
Awesome job and video! The only thing I wished you had was more information on how you created the stencils and how you secured them in your yard.
I wondered this too!
These were made with a cricut machine
when sticking the tombstone to the base....get a couple of old ballpoints or pencils and stab them into the base...remove them put some glue in the hole...stick them back in point up...put glue on the base as normal then offer up the stone press down onto the up turned pens/pencils.
Those look just like Home Depot’s but half the cost! Y’all are so good at making props! And so much fun to watch!
I haven't tried this method before, but it seems like you could use the heat gun to do the texture before you carve the words and anything else. That way you wouldn't have to worry about the heat gun messing up any carvings.
I love the Edward Hyde tombstone mainly because he's my favorite character from one of my favorite books
Wooden skewers are perfect for holding foam in place while waiting for glue to dry. Insert at an angle to pin the top to the base on each side. You can snap them off flush with the foam once the pieces are dry and then fill in any tiny holes with wood glue, spackling, or even paint. Gives a little extra support other than just glue as well.
Great tips!
Wow these turned out GREAT!! The painting details are killer. Big fan of the names/phrases too. Reminds me of waiting in line at the haunted mansion disney ride. 😄
Thanks!!! 👊🏼😄 We’re HUGE Haunted Mansion fans so we pull a lot of inspiration from it.
I have used the spray paint to do the engraving while using stencils works VERY well and saved me HOURS
Awesome
Great job Wicked Makers! Wishing you the best on your channel during this Halloween season! Keep up the good work and hello from the Distortions Unlimited crew.
Thanks!!! Means a lot coming from you. You guys do INCREDIBLE work. Have a great season!! 🎃🎃🎃
@@WickedMakers Thanks so much! Wishing you all the best as well.
I like to use a filet knife to carve foam. If you want some deeper texture, use a chip brush and dab acetone on the foam.
These are awesome! I'm having a Halloween wedding on a VERY tight budget and this is a game changer!
I found that some 3/16” zinc plated rod works really well for holding grave stones in the ground. Maybe use those to attach the headstone to the base?
File the ends down to a point and you can poke them through the foam.
Nice, good idea!
Those turned out AMAZING! Thanks for the shout out, too!
Of course!! Thanks for all the killer inspiration.
I wish you guys were my art teacher at school would have made it more exciting. Wish more places could do more Halloween craft workshops.
Adoro le descrizioni sulle lapidi 😂❤
After years of wanting to do this myself, I've been making my first attempts at over the past month! Great work! I was beginning to think that the Drylock undoes some of the great texture you get from the heat gun. Seemed like an either/or sort of thing. Anything I used the heat gun on, I've just gone over with regular black paint, then dry-brushed over that. But I see you both got some of the texture to still show through the Drylock! Nice!
Yeah! We learned to go heavier on the heat gun texturing than you normally would since the drylock will fill some of it.
I made one, one year with this snappy poem:
Here lies old man Goer,
Chopped up by a power mower,
May he rest in pieces.
I have been waiting for so long for you to upload a new halloween video!!
😄😄😄😄
"We cut out our stencils" Easy for you to say. I love it how people with a room full of tools tell you how easy it is.
You don’t own scissors, or what?
@@WickedMakers No, I don't have a table saw.
Those look great! When I make mine I embed a couple of 1/2" PVC pipes in the center to mount them in the yard. How will you mount yours to keep them from blowing away, or otherwise "walking off?"
Yep, same! Pvc and some rebar, most likely. Depends where they’re going.
How do you embed the pipe???
You sandwich two layers of foam together. This tutorial shows how! ruclips.net/video/XyfmBL5JuH0/видео.html
@@melodypetry-johnson2309 instead of a 2" piece of foam, I use two 1" pieces and carve a channel into them. Glue the pipes in with some construction adhesive, and then use some Super 77 to glue the two sheets together. I use a Super 77 because it's fast, won't eat the foam, and will still go through a hot-wire cutter.
@@sonic_gloom thanks!!!!
I just made these as well, and for the bases, I roughly routered out a channel for the top of headstone to fit into, then glued. A little extra durability.
Nice!!!
Really loved this project. How would u stabilize for outside use?? Like from wind blowing over??
stakes
@@vesperious thank u
Instead of making a foam base, I would make a concrete one and create a space in the top while it's still wet to insert and remove the foam headstone, making it easier for storage.
@@Tuakie Thank u!!! That's a great and easy idea.
8:51 i did this in the step before doing the texts. So the text also has the altered effect without gaps of flat/clear surface.
WOW! I'm excited to get started. I have everything but the stencils. How did you make those? Cricut? On a side note, I made your Cauldron (my first Halloween DIY) and I could NOT be more happy. Thanks for great videos that entertain and educate. Keep it going!
If you shove 6-8 inch dowel rods (1 on each side) up into the headstone and then into the bade to stablelizze while drying also there is stone texture paint.
Great tutorial and nice timing! And also - OMG I want your shirts!! I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!
Thanks!!! 😄😄😄
Another amazing project. Couple of tips you may not have thought of... Bamboo skewers or popsicle sticks in the base work well to hold the tombstone up.
Also I saw a hack the other day where the guy used a sharpie and air nozzle to mark the pattern on his metal. Basically makes an airbrush that might work for situations like this if you're mask is on tight enough.
Whoa that airbrush hack...haha! Going to try that for sure.
Fantastic video and instructions
That little surform rasp and a good double-edged bread knife have been foam-carvingvstaple if mibe, for decades. They're awesome!
Yes!!! Love them
Fantastic aging on the Tombestones! They look perfect!
Thank you!
wood skewers would add strength and stability when connecting the base
Awesome work! It always seems intimidating until you try it!
Yep! Thanks. 👊🏼😄
"Home Haunters"... that's cute. I always thought of myself as a "Halloweenie".
VanOaks & Hollywood Haunters are 2 of my favorite Halloween Haunted Prop channels to watch on RUclips. You guys did an amazing job!
Thanks Adrianna!
@@VanOaksProps of course! You are super talented, down to earth, creative, humble AND you have the best voice for voice overs that I've ever heard 😂
A few more awesome channels are Monster Tutorials, Monster Misfits, Cobwebs and Candlesticks, The Weird Kid Show... They are all so creative and make fun props.
Agreed on all points!!! 😄
@@WickedMakers Hahaha!
Love these two! Been working on my tombstones! The painting is a lot harder. Remember to spray with water first... I had to repaint one and start over... But this is a great video.
Would it be feasible to do the heat gun texturizing before you do the cracks and lettering detail so you don't melt those delicate details down?
7:34 small Dowel rods would be perfect to help hold the base and top together while the glue sets
Great tutorial! The water spray bottle is such a great tool for blending! Thank you for posting this!
In steed of using a knife to make the cracks you can get a bit for you drimel that does the same thing. You can also get textured spray paint that will speed up you base coat and I would add a weight to the bottom so it wont tip over to easy or a rod that can be pushed into the ground to secure it. Over all I really like it and think I will make a few of these for my yard this year
I think for Christmas you guys should make decorations to!!!
We might!!! 😄😄😄
For your base. What you could do is get some 12" craft dowel rods. pre drill some holes in your top portion of the tombstone (on the bottom) maybe 3 rods (one in the center and then spit the difference between the center rod and the ends) glue one end of the rod and insert into your pre-drilled holes (don't push in too much, you don't want to crack the foam). once all three dowel rods are in the top, lay it onto the foam base and mark the three spots where the dowels will go into the base (remember you want these to be pretty much centered on the base). Now pre-drill the three holes. Cut the dowels to the appropriate depth to go into the base (slightly longer than your pre-drilled holes Glue and insert the rods, lining them up into the holes you made. This should give you a lot of strength between the top and base. You can also glue the top of the base before you push everything together.
What a rad project! So jealous of those amazing skills!
Thanks! Easier than you’d expect. Try it!
i-love-the-tombstones-keep-the-good-work-up-i-do-a-halloween-grave-yard
-with-tombstones-and-skeletons-i-am-in-bc-canada
What do you do to secure your tombstones so they don't blow away from the wind?
I bought some cheaper foam tombstones last year that came with 3 inch stakes to go partially into the ground and also into the bottom of the tombstone, but they did not hold up. The wind caused the tombstones to move slightly which caused the holes in the bottom of the tombstones to continue to get bigger and bigger, making it move more in the wind and continue making the holes worse, until they no longer had a good hold and blew away. :(
Any ideas what you guys do would be appreciated. Thanks.
How do you secure your tombstones in your lawn?
I use garden stakes or pvc
I have watched a few videos today and love how the two of you interact with each other especially with frustrations.
They turned out awesome!!! Thank you
So totally cool! I still have ones my Dad made when I was 16....time to update!!!
So what method would you use to lock the tombstones down when they are in the yard so they dont blow away and fall over?
VanOaks Props has a great how-to on that: ruclips.net/video/luyjpX5b5pQ/видео.html
Yes. Making a tombstone: "No Rest for the Wicked. Death to Facism. Jan 20, 2016 to Jan 20, 2021. "
Nice. 🤘🏼💀
Also, we just subscribed! Its great to see how fast you were able to grow this DIY channel.
Thank you so much! We really appreciate it. 👊🏼👊🏼👊🏼👊🏼💀
Anything more than a slight breeze, and they’re gonna topple over. I glue 2 upright pvc pipes to the back, which can just slot over well anchored garden stakes. They never fall over then.
Yeah, that sounds like it’d work well. We mount ours similarly with a large wooden stake or a piece of rebar about a foot down.
Omg I’ve been looking forward to this
😄😄😄😄
Ok first off... that drawing bow thing was amazing. I'm not an artsy person and it's probably well known in the "art world", but that blew my mind. Also, your painting technique is amazing....jealous for sure.
Thanks guys! Love it 💀
So we tried this for a 9th Grade School Project..
Re all Fun to do!
I followed this tutorial this weekend and made a tombstone that I absolutely LOVE! Worked like a charm! While I get that the drylock makes the foam weatherproof, do I need to put on waterseal or poly to protect the paint? I worry that it will just wash off in the rain and I'll be left with a drylok form.
That’s great! Congrats. 👊🏼😄 We don’t use any sealer and wouldn’t recommend it over the paint. Acrylic will do fine in the rain, under normal circumstances.
Abso Fantastico! I love, but .................. I sure would have loved to see how they look in your yard.
My husband and I are making these tombstones. Just wondering what you use as a last step to waterproof the craft paint?
Thank you so much! LOVE ALL OF YOUR VIDEOS!!
i LOOOOVEE that you left the audio on while painting the brush stroke sound is my jam... :-)
Now these tombstones are no joke ☠️ I already feel dead #wtf
You guys inspire me. 🤩 And any viewer will now be embarrassed when purchasing tombstones from Michael’s and Walmart. 😬
Totally agree!
I’m going to make my own tombstone and store it away. ☠️
These look better than the real thing and will definitely not cost as much! 😆
Dig out a little out the base to put the two Pisces to gether.
My wife and I will be trying this for Halloween this year! Where did you get your foam boards from?? We can’t find any without some kind of covering placed on the outside.
These look a million times better than the store bought tombstones.
Love how these turned out! I would've never thought to use drylok and the weathering is perfect!!!
Thanks!!! Yes it works amazingly well. 💀
Print your epitaph out & glue it to the tombstone with elmers washable glue stick. Dremel over the letters. The glue will hold it until your done carving and any residue will wash off with water. Cheaper than cutting vinyl stencils and a time saver over coloring in the black with a marker.
Nice!!!!
Great Video! Could you go into more detail on how you made your stencils?
I'm sure they have a Cricut vinyl cutter or a Silhouette.
I've never made foam tombstones (or any kind of tombstones), but I had a couple ideas while watching the video;
Use the heat gun to add texture to the surface BEFORE carving the lettering and such. That way you don't have to worry about ruining all your delicate work.
Take a wire coat hanger, open it up and bend it into a square "U" shape. Drill two holes down through the base on the back, in line with the two legs of the wire. Position the tombstone outside, then insert the wires through the holes and push into the ground until the cross piece of the wire is resting on the base, holding the tombstone in place like a giant staple.
Those look so cool! It was a lot of fun to watch them being made :D
One of my "cheats" to do the edges is to use dark spray paint. It eats away at just a bit of the foam AND then your edge is also finished. It gives the same finished look. TY for the tutorial. I didn't want to keep doing my lettering freehanded so now I see how to level up there!
Every year, except 2020, I make a tombstone for my Halloween grave yard. I usually make them out of wood, plywood, scrap, pallet wood, whatever is laying around. After seeing this video, which I've watched about 20 times, I am attempting one out of the insulation foam. Thank you for the video and inspiration to do it.
Hope you enjoy working with foam! It’s messy but so much fun.
You could hollow out the base to stand it up in.