House of Shadows

The picture of the aging tombstone above is one of my favorite examples of what an old stone would look like in a heavily shaded, abandoned cemetery. After years of exposure to the weather the stone erodes and gives a foothold for the moss to take over.  Admittedly, I am addicted to color and texture so I’m drawn to this picture.  I’m not sure if I want to go that extreme with my finishing details but it is a possibility.

There are so many ways to build tombstone props from Styrofoam and a  wide variety of finishing techniques offer you many choices.  Think about the overall look you want in your cemetery before beginning the building process.  Give it a history and the vision begins to drive your decisions.  I have posted some links that provide excellent examples of the possibilities.

Keeba’s Tombstones provides a comprehensive tutorial for  both building and painting tombstones.  Merlin’s Celtic Cross is excellent, but the Reaper is truly phenomenal.  The Rat Popin’ tombstone is an incredible, but advanced project.  I listed this link because it shows the potential for what can be accomplished with Styrofoam and a lot of talent.  The builder of this project carved some of his ornaments, but there are many ways to find objects that are ready made.  My husband laughs at me because I’m always looking at things  with an eye for the potential to cast it for a project.  I recommend Thurston James book “The Prop Builders Molding and Casting Handbook” as a reference if you are not experienced molding and casting.  The book is listed in my store; you can find a complete review by clicking the link in the listing.  The picture of the stone in the Mourning Cemetery is an exceptional example of how to add a lot of texture to your project.  These are only a few examples, but they can give you an overall reference that will get you started if you are a new builder, or perhaps show you some different  methods if you are more experienced in building Halloween props.

Keeba’s Tombstones

http://www.hedstorm.net/HAUNT/instructions/tombstones/index.html

Merlin’s Celtic Cross

http://www.hauntershangout.com/home/MyCelticCross.asp

Merlin’s Reaper
http://www.hauntershangout.com/home/reaperstone.asp

Rat Popin’ Tombstone

http://usersites.horrorfind.com/home/halloween/chrisscrypt/graves_01.html

Mourning Cemetery

http://www.mourningcemetery.com/Projects/crane/index.htm

I hope you will enjoy viewing the work of these home haunt builders.  Until next time …

Thank you for being our guest at the House of Shadows.  We hope to see you again soon!