Homemade Tombstones & Headstones

[warrenss2]

I need a graveyard.

Anyone know of any cheap & quick & easy ways to make tombstones & headstones with common & easy to find materials.

[bandit86]

Cut some base wood strips round off the top and paint(stone or wood) Smaller strips to make crosses(self explanatory) or wait a few months (after Halloween)and buy the left over ones and Craft stores you can get a pack of 5 very nice head stones for a buck.

[Malamute]

Lolly or popsickle sticks ( I think thats what our American cousins call them) already have the rounded end.
But as the bandit says bals will do you just fine.

[Luthaaren Von Tegale]

How about making a master from balsa, forming a mold from plasticene and casting from readymixed plaster?

I made some WWII tank obstacles that way.

Add in some paint to the plaster and they're ready coloured!

vT

[warrenss2]

Thanks for the input, guys.

I think I'm going to go the popsickle sticks route.

I've gotten a couple of strangely looking angelic/demonic miniatures I've mounted on bases made from old chess pieces. Make some neat statues.

[Cory]

Popsicle^tm sticks are the easiest for sure, but check out craft foam sheets as well. Easy to cut with a sharp x-acto for more exotic stones and can be bought in grey which gets you a step ahead of the game.

[zbyshko]

I've gotten a couple of strangely looking angelic/demonic miniatures I've mounted on bases made from old chess pieces. Make some neat statues.

i like this idea.  add to it the casting advise - especially if the angelic/demonic bits are fairly unique or hard to get in quantity - and make a bunch!  sprinkle with some magic dust and sell em!

[Luckyjoe]

You could try these from OneMonk miniatures.
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=58354
Just mount them on a piece of mattboard and you'll have some sweet headstones.

[Remgain]

Cardboard, balsa and Milliput for the most irregular shapes.
This is how I built this:



Hope this helps!
Marco

[Malamute]

Thats really nice Marco, great looking graveyard

[JollyBob]

I've just been experimenting with carving some from blue foam for my chinese temple graveyard. Its fairly easy, especially if you want them to look a bit worn. Although any dings etc can easily be filled with some thinned out polyfilla.

[Commander Vyper]

Thanks for the input, guys.

I think I'm going to go the popsickle sticks route.

I've gotten a couple of strangely looking angelic/demonic miniatures I've mounted on bases made from old chess pieces. Make some neat statues.

Only problem is that they'll look wooden, great for wild west but not so if stone. I'd get some DAS or sculpting clay and get creative meself.

Although looking at Marco's: very nice indeed, give them a sand and then a quick texturing and they should look great. I stand corrected.

[Remgain]

Commander Vyper,

yes; I gave a quick watered gesso/sand/PVA coat.
that's all.

Marco

[Commander Vyper]

Commander Vyper,

yes; I gave a quick watered gesso/sand/PVA coat.
that's all.

Marco

Same result....RESULT!

Cheers

[warrenss2]

Marco!! DUDE!!!!!   How? The fence... how?!?!  

Only problem is that they'll look wooden - I plan on coating them with PVA glue first. I'm hoping that will give me a good surface to paint the stone colors on.

Well my 6 attempts at cutting the Popsicle Sticks into crosses has failed. D@mn wood kept splitting!   The rounded top stones are great. Tried it with a modeling knife & dremmel tool.   Got to try something else for making those.

check out craft foam sheets as well - Ummm... I guess I could PVA the sides to hold the paint. Might be able to make a mausoleum this way. Every graveyard should have at least one.  

I've just been experimenting with carving some from blue foam for my chinese temple graveyard. Its fairly easy, especially if you want them to look a bit worn. - I'm kind of going to do something like that for my desert rock formations. Check this out - http://www.esair.baueda.com/guides1.html

Warren