I am not a naturally crafty person – at least not “crafty” in the artsy-fartsy creative way. However, inspiration from those around me, including my brilliant cousin-in-law, Jamie, and a Pinterest-addicted former co-worker, has piqued my interest in DIY projects, and I’ve recently attempted everything from pressed-fern coasters to gopher-proofing my vegetable garden. My latest undertaking, in honor of Halloween, was crafting tombstones.
A quick survey of Target, Michael’s, the local costume
supply shop and Amazon.com indicated the Styrofoam tombstones I desired would
set me back about $20 each. So I became determined to craft my mini graveyard
from cardboard, a cheap alternative to purchasing either sheets of Styrofoam or
foam board. The final product was three life-size tombstones constructed almost
exclusively from junk found in my garage.
They cost me about $21 – and countless hours of my life – to make.
I followed Scott Stoll’s tombstone construction instructions
for much of the process, but I stumbled across a few shortcuts that might make
the project a bit simpler for the next fool who shoulders this massive project. For
example, I don’t think it’s necessary to press the cardboard inscriptions into
clay. Stoll pressed his into homemade paper clay. I used no-cook terra cotta to
recreate this effect on two of my tombstones, but I didn’t like the way it looked
and therefore didn’t apply it to the last one.
Here are my modified instructions:
Materials:
-Flattened cardboard boxes or, ideally, those free cardboard
crates Costco cashiers hand out for transporting 50-gallon jars of peanut
butter and 20-pound slabs of meat.
-Sharp scissors capable of cutting cardboard (I bought Wiss Essential 2-Ring Scissors at Home Depot).
-Ruler or tape measure
-Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks
-White craft glue
-Styrofoam scraps (I used packaging material that came with
our new vacuum cleaner)
-Retractable utility knife (for shaving Styrofoam)
-Retractable utility knife (for shaving Styrofoam)
-Packing tape (I used painter's tape but packing tape will provide more stability)
-Pencil and string or a protractor
-A tombstone template (I used this one)
-Strips of newspaper
-Papier-mâché paste, recipe here
-Paper clay or
no-bake ceramic clay (I used Polyform Model Air terra cotta.)
-Krazy or Super Glue
-Black spray paint (available
at Home Depot for $0.99 a can)
-White latex paint (I used Kilz 2 Latex Paint)
-Black acrylic paint
-Cheap paintbrushes
Optional:
-A plastic painter’s
tarp to keep mess at minimum
-Spray polyurethane
Instructions:
1. Warning: Do not attempt this project.
Just suck it up and buy those overpriced Styrofoam slabs and be done with it. This
particular DIY-er will consume at least several days of your life, wreck havoc
on your living room and overwhelm your husband. Stop. Now.
2. Construct the
main tombstone form: OK. I see I
failed to dissuade you. You must be either a hardcore DIY-er or a glutton for
punishment.
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| Free Costco crates |
3. Construct the
top of the oval tombstone: I measured the width of the main form (15.5
inches) and then drew a 15.5-inch-long line on a scrap piece of cardboard. I tied
a piece of string to a pencil, held the end of the string with a finger placed
at the very center of the line and drew a half-circle connecting one end of the
line with the other. This I cut out and traced to make a duplicate half-circle.
I found a scrap piece of Styrofoam almost as wide as the main form and used the
hot glue gun to attach it to the top of the main form.
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| Step 3 |
4. Construct the
top of the baroque-looking tombstone: I searched online for a tombstonetemplate, zoomed in so half of it filled my laptop screen and took a screenshot. I
pasted the image into a landscape-oriented Word document, stretched the image to the
edges and printed. I cut out the half-template and then traced it on a piece of
cardboard. Then I flipped over the template and traced the second half. I cut
out the full template and used it to make a duplicate. I found a scrap piece of
Styrofoam almost as wide as the main form and used the hot glue gun to attach
it to the top of the main form. Then I glued the two pieces of cardboard to it, shaved away any access Styrofoam sticking out and made “sides” by attaching the two pieces of cardboard with painter's tape.
5. Construct the
pillar tombstone: For reasons still unknown to both my husband and I, he suddenly experienced an itch to help with the project and -- SHOCKER -- abandoned the football telecast to begin constructing a pillar tombstone. Matt carved into an old wardrobe box and cut
four rectangular pieces of cardboard 1 foot wide by 4 feet high for the main
form and four 12-inch equilateral triangle pieces for the peak. He attached the
pieces with painter's tape and then made a temporary brace to insert into the bottom of the
box until it could be stabilized with papier-mâché. He was putting the finishing
touches on this monstrosity when I returned from a trip to the garage to
announce the presence of a nearly identical box, the pillar-shaped cardboard vessel Sears used to ship our
vacuum. Lesson learned: Be sure to survey
your entire cardboard collection before endeavoring to construct a 4-foot pillar from scratch.
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| Step 4 |
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| Step 5 |
6. Add details:
To add dimension, I hot glued pieces of folded cardboard and half-toilet paper
rolls around the edges of the oval and baroque tombstones.
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| Step 6 |
7. Papier-mâché your brains out: Matt and I
shredded pieces of (the surprisingly raunchy) "SF Weekly" into strips (enough to fill a standard kitchen garbage
bag) and he followed this recipe to
make flour-based papier-mâché adhesive. Be sure to add a dash of cinnamon.
It makes the paste smell so nice! It took us an entire afternoon (and several
beers) to cover each of the three tombstones in two layers of newspaper.
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| Step 7 |
8. Craft the
clay adornments: I used Polyform Model Air terra cotta to shape skulls, flourishes and what Matt referred to as a "phallic-shaped cross." Although the package claims the clay dries in 24 hours, my pieces took about 36 hours to fully dry. I affixed the adornments to the
tombstones with Krazy Glue.
9. Create the
inscriptions: I typed out names, dates and inscriptions in a Word document
and printed the document. A small paintbrush helped me evenly apply craft glue
to the back of the words, which I then stuck to cardboard scraps. I allowed the
words to dry and then painstakingly cut out each letter. Then I used Krazy Glue
to attach the letters to the tombstones. Stoll recommends pushing each letter into a thin layer of clay. I tried this with two of the tombstones, but it didn't seem to add anything and was considerable more work, so I didn't apply it on the pillar tombstone.
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| Step 8 |
Tip: Save yourself a lot of headache by
selecting a narrow, large but heavy, sans serif font so the letters are easier
to cut out. If at all possible, avoid selecting a message that incorporates zeroes and letters with
middles to them like “a, b, d, e, g, o, p, q” because those
centers are ridiculously difficult to cut out. It took me roughly five episodes
of “Sex and the City” to liberate all my letters.
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| Step 9 |
10. Paint the
tombstones (and yourself): It took two cans of spray paint for me to fully cover the three tombstones. Once this dried, I used a paintbrush to add white latex paint. (Instead of brushing on an entire layer of latex paint, use the paint
sparingly. I forgot to dab the paintbrush and applied too much white to the oval
tombstone.) Once the latex dried, I added diluted black acrylic paint to a
spray bottle and doused the tops of the tombstones so the paint dripped down
and accentuated the skulls and letters. Optionally, spray polyurethane can be
applied to the tombstones to help weatherproof them.
My costs, calculated*:
Scissors: $5.97
Spray paint: $1.98
Latex paint: $7.64
Clay: $5.49 (I used a 40% off coupon from Michael's)
Total: $21.08
*All other supplies were found around the house and in the garage
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| Step 10 |
Scissors: $5.97
Spray paint: $1.98
Latex paint: $7.64
Clay: $5.49 (I used a 40% off coupon from Michael's)
Total: $21.08
*All other supplies were found around the house and in the garage
They looked amazing! I didn't know that you crafted them! I agree though, sometimes DIY is more trouble than it's worth. Definitely save the tombstones for future decorations and parties :)
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