Tombstone Study

Added over 70 photographs of old moss and lichen covered tombstones over at www.stolloween.com.

The tombstone gallery should serve as a good reference for anyone wishing to give their tombstone props a realistic and organic finish.

Q&A: Tombstone Eye Lights

Questions regarding my projects and papier mache regularly fill my mailbox. In an effort to answer these questions and share information some of these questions will be regularly featured on this blog.

Arlita wrote:

“This will be my first year trying papier mache thanks to you. I am going to try making your tombstones if I have the basics I do well expanding on them. If I could draw my limits would be endless it will just take me a little longer.
I have a couple questions was wondering what lights you used for the eyes? Also would like to know how you got a print out of the iris/pupils have seen them before but not able to find them.”

The lights used in the Character Tombstone eyes were simply miniature Christmas tree bulbs. I used a small strand containing 10 bulbs and inserted two of the bulbs into holes drilled into the eye area. The remaining bulbs just hung on the backside of the tombstone. Many dollar stores carry miniature tree lights year round in the craft section.

The eyeballs I use for my props are my own creations using Photoshop. There are several downloadable sources for eyeballs.

You can check out my friend Kim aka beadyeyebrat's site and print some eyballs.

Feel free to use my eyeballs if you wish, simply click on this link to get the full sized image for printing.

Once Upon A Time

Seventeen years ago my wife and I started what would become an annual tradition of decorating our yard with an assortment of homemade Halloween props. The tradition has continued and become somewhat of a hobby or in some people’s eyes an obsession.

Found a few more photos featuring our first display.

Love this photo.

We made a couple dozen rat skeletons out of wire and papier mache then placed them into large wooden rat traps.

Latin Names For Tombstones

Need some creative words to put on tombstones?

Use Latin words such as "indomitus" for fierce, "formidinis" for terror, "mortis" for death and so forth.

They look great on tombstones and sound very ancient and evil.

Don't know Latin..no problem, use this English to Latin online translator to get whatever you want.

Granted you will probably be the only one that knows what the words mean but the effect is sort of chilling.

English To Latin Translator

Simply input words like demon, fear, death, torture, etc and you will get numerous Latin variations..pick the best sounding or looking word and put it on your tombstone.
Roman numerals also look great on tombstones, especially the year you built the tombstone.

Roman Numeral Convertor

Inspiration-Cemetery

Most families spend the evening playing putt-putt golf or getting ice cream. We do those things as well but we often take little side trips to explore interesting places most people ignore.

These photos are from a visit to an old cemetery in a nearby town, we have no releatives buried here, it just looked like a beautiful place to visit.

We spent about an hour quietly looking at the names and dates on the headstones, admiring the artistry of the monuments and talking, yes talking with our kids about many different things. The setting sparked many interesting questions and that evening remains a special memory.

Enjoy the photos, the cemetery contained almost everything you could ever want for a home haunt display, I hope they serve as inspiration.