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How can I make a simple but real looking cemetery in the front yard and keep the stones up without falling over? I have made graveyards before but they were always stupid looking. I have a pictures of one of them on my website. (link is in my sig)

Rising Dead Man wrote:How can I make a simple but real looking cemetery in the front yard and keep the stones up without falling over? I have made graveyards before but they were always stupid looking. I have a pictures of one of them on my website. (link is in my sig)

As much as it hurts to say this go search Martha Stewarts site for instructions.

http://www.marthastewart.com/article/tombstones

They use 2" insulation foam board and paint and they look awesome.

As for securing them, instead of wooden stakes (which can be put to better use with vampyres...) I use 4' steel rebar and then 1' zip-ties to keep them upright.

It looks good but me and my dad were going to use wood. I think plywood.

Rising Dead Man wrote:It looks good but me and my dad were going to use wood. I think plywood.

Plywood works good too, foam is easier to handle and store.

If you go with plywood they look like old west, pioneer style so perhaps look up something like that on Flickr for ideas.

I had a really hard time with my headstones flying away in the wind. I was using the cheap little styrofoam ones you can buy for dirt cheap. any way. I got smart and bought some wooden dowels from a craft store. I then cut them into 12-18 inch long sections. I hammered them into the ground and then impailed the headstones onto them. Just for paranoya sakes I did add a drop of glue to the tips. they worked great. and never blew away. still looking for better ideas though as every year it seems I loose a couple headstones. due to use, wind, or curious neighbor kids.

The rebar solution works best for me and we get hellacious winds on the hilltop.

is the rebar expensive? do you have to color the zip ties on the front side? that might be the way to go as you can just use the same puncture holes every year....hmmm
my idea has problems. after a couple years you have too many holes

putrid wrote:is the rebar expensive? do you have to color the zip ties on the front side? that might be the way to go as you can just use the same puncture holes every year....hmmm
my idea has problems. after a couple years you have too many holes

I don't color the ties at all, it's dark enough that you don't even see them.

I would like to make a nice thick stone out of plywood, get a really thin one, carve words going right through the thin wood and glue it to the thick wood then paint it to look like real stone. Because my dad told me I could not carve on the grave stones I came up with this idea. I do not want them to look too stupid like black painted words on plain grey stones. That does not look real at all. I want them to look as real as I can. Every year they end up looking stupid but me and my dad are going to work hard to make it look real this year. I will post pictures the day after Halloween to show you how it ended up. You can see my VERY stupid looking graveyard on my website on the page called My Haunted Yard.

It would be a lot less work to go to Home Depot (Lowe's, etc.) and buy the letters and numbers you need and tack or glue them onto the plywood.

I want them carved into the stone. But I will use the wood letters on some of the stones.

I saw this site a while back and this thread brought it to mind.

You might make use of some of their techniques.

http://www.halloweentombstones.com/hall ... s_hm1.html

I already know that website. It is a good one I might use it this year.

I do not see anything in there about using plywood to make stones. And I do not want to add wooden crosses.

I just saw some plywood in the attic and it is not that thick but it will do good for old looking stones. But I want some new looking graves too. And I think they have something for that at frightfx.com