Killer Tombstones, Pt 3 -- Painting 

Very cool, realistic tombstones. I love the funny puns. Very impressive

Brilliant how the tombstones really add depth to your homes' facade. I could easily imagine Christmas decor, as well. Terrific character.

Your house is adorable! Wish I lived there so I could bring my nephews and nieces by. The 'Little Caesar" tombstone? BRILLIANT.

Great tombstone tutorial. I like the PVC pipe stand ideas. Dang things always blow over. The comedy epitaphs are very funny.

You guys just...rock. thanks for the vids.

Wow, your tombstones are fantastic, and I love the Dead Advertiser theme! I am in the process of painting some "stone" cemetery columns and your techniques will really help me get the finished look that I'm after. Thanks for the tutorials, you have an excellent teaching style.

These are amazing! Your videos are so informative and well done. Thank you!

I just love these! You have a wonderful Sense of humor!! All the best!

My gosh, this is wonderful! I have to build a tombstone for Ebeneezer Scrooge, and I'm going to try your technique from start to finish, thank you so much!

the stones are awesome and you made it look so easys .. great job HFL!!

Love these!! Those are some funny and clever.

Watched your tombstone tutorials, found them to be the best on the tube. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

WOW!!!! You two are great!!!

excellent!!! loved the series

You guys rock most severely ! Thank you !

this is a really good video ....fantastic....

great tombstones. I'm going to give these a try , thanks for the videos.

Glad you found them helpful, Stacy!

Thank you very much for this tutorial. I am looking forward to next year so I can make some new stones with these methods.

Awesome!!!! Thanks for making this video!!!!

Soooo awesome !!!

You must be from MN, who else would have a St. Pauli Girl tombstone? I also noticed the tags on the paint can lids said Hennepin County. Its a great tutorial for making stones. You have a great collection, good work!

excellent info...thank you. need to try some of this

That Traffic noise is too Scary for me...I would go nuts there

I LOVE IT!!!!!

What a perfect yard and house to set up your graveyard in! Great job on the witty slogans! Taco Bell was awesome, and I am a dog lover!

These are so good, I had to come back and watch again this year! Are you going to show what you do for this year? Hope so! :)

Mr. Peanut - He was a salted.. lol

totally agree!! I have spent hours suffering through aweful videos without detailed information.

I really enjoy your videos and the detail you take w/ all your tombstones. Do you have any plans to make a Pt 4 this year??

That would be fun! Storage is a problem, though. I have a tiny garage and the access to the attic limits what we can put up there.

@socalcraigster: When we first put up the graveyard in 2003 or so, I didn't have a fence in my front yard, so I brought them all inside the house over night and put them out again in the morning. Since then, I had a fence installed, so I can lock the gate. Makes it a little easier. The short answer is, there's really no way to secure them--they're too fragile to chain down. Our Energizer bunny stone disappeared the first year, then showed up on my doorstop years later, returned anonymously.

Yes, rain and snow are no problem. Use latex paint and let it dry for 8-12 hours before putting the tombstones outside. Even interior latex should be fine. I've never tried transferring lettering onto wood, so I don't know how well that would work.

these are awesome, Im going to try. Don't think I'll do as well.

Hello! I continue to refer to your tutorials even after all this time! Do you have a list of the epitaphs you’ve created for your advertising icons cemetery? Pictures would be great too!

@lynnieley, are you using construction-grade foam? It has a different texture and density than the pebbly stuff you buy at craft stores. I have not had an issue with beading when using the pink Owens Corning Foamular. We have always sprayed on a base coat, which stuck just fine. If you don't have a sprayer, you might try rolling it on. I would expect to have to do more than one coat, though.

I have a number of Halloween Store, Wallmart halloween tombstones in which I have covered with 2 coats of drylok, and the majority of these have their signature raised designs. Because of their uneven surface I don't know if I could effectively utilize a roller as you do in your video. I have seen some videos use spray paints and then wash some of the paint off with a hose and other videos brush on paint and than wipe off the excess. Any thoughts on which might be the most effective.

Wow! How did you learn to do such an awesome job on these tombstones? If you wrote a "how to" book on this, I'd buy it.

Thank you, Ryan! No, we didn't do anything new this year. Not sure where we'd even store any new ones--the attic is getting pretty full! If you make any tombstones, please do share a video here. I'd love to see them.

lol i like your tombstones, they are more funny than scary

Love the tutorials, Thanks for sharing.... Loved all the sayings, thought of another one to go with sprint guy Verizon Guy Can you hear me now

Thanks! They'd be a little spendy--a lot of hours go into making them. :)

Would you mind sharing them? I have 23 days till my party . I am gonna tryo to make tombstones , a fence and many other things. I really have no time to come up with clever sayings and your are funny and great. thanks

They are just 12" lengths of 3/4" PVC pipe. Cut one end straight and the other at a slant to give you a point to drive into the ground. Pound the pipes in about 6". Drill holes in the tombstone and slide it onto the part of the pipe that sticks out of the ground.

Any reason why you wouldn't spray the black paint for the engraving and cracks as opposed to dabbing it?

What is this music? I'm in love with it!

cool

these are very good tombstones, at my home depot they are 11.25 a sheet which is 1 inch think 4 feet by 8 feet or so... i noticed yours are 2 inches think which will last along time hopefully, but im sure 1 inch will work too as well 2 inches just give the tombstone more depth and realism to work with- 3 sheets at 11.25 is 35.00 or so and i could probably make 12 tombstones at least...or 3.00 a tombstone which will last and look good!

Be sure you're looking in the building insulation area. I would think most major chains like Home Depot and Lowes would have a version of the stuff I used. It's NOT craft foam, and I wouldn't recommend the pebbly white stuff you'd find at a hobby store. I found foam glue in with the other adhesives at Home Depot. It comes in a push-through tube that a builder would use.

I am setting up a haunt this year. Do you leave these out in the yard before Halloween? And if so, have do you prevent someone from walking off with them?

you gus should try makeing a tomb of some sort.

hi, thanks for this tutorial. i have made one styrofoam project b4, and the biggest issue i had was getting the latex paint to stick to it. i brushed it on, and it kept seperating and beading up. eventually with several coats, i got all the pink covered. any suggestions? thanks!

Where can I get the styrophoam glue? I can't find the pink or blue styro at home depot of Lowes. Can I use the white? Thanks

1 question? Are you filming on a freeway? lol. great tombstones... hopefully i have enough time to make a few ...

Great work! Are you guys theatrically trained at all? I seem to sense a kindred spirit... I usually make a couple new ones each year, I'm up to 10. From my work at a scene shop I got a huge load of 2" and 4" white beadboard [expanded polystyrene] Pink foam [used to be blue]-or extruded polystyrene is no longer legal in California that I know of, too bad because the fine texture is so much nicer to use. White or regular Gorilla glue lets me lay up layers or add bits and bobs for extra dimension too. I LOVE your lettering, something i've never tried- mine just lurk in the background semi worn away to anonymity. Getting psyched for this year at Foreboding Way [on Facebook]. Cheers! Or should I say, Fears!!

hehehe. I have a silcone squeegee for wiping off water beads after washing the car or can be use in the shower. They call it the California Blade ;

Where did you find the sayings to your tombstones? I love them and I am trying to write them down as your video passes them, it's not to easy . thanks

What does the stand look like you made for all your tombstones??

All the songs are listed in the end credits, Brian. Most of the songs were composed by Kevin Macleod. Google "incompetech" and "royalty free" and you'll find the site. Glad you liked the music!

last question...what size font? main area (name) then lower area??

The music is: "Music Box o Doom," by Clarence Simpson "Scheming Weasel," "One-eyed Maestro," and Netherworld Shanty" by Kevin MacLeod Found all of it at CCMixer and Incompetech. If you use any music from Incompetech, be sure to leave Kevin a little donation! It's so worth it to have Creative Commons music to use for our videos.

Two questions. Have these ever been rained on, and did they hold up? Lastly Have you ever messed with wood tomb stones?

Hello! Thank you for your videos! You both do amazing work! Where did you find the split rolling handle tool?

Black paint out of a spray can will melt the styrofoam. We could have sprayed latex using the airbrush, I suppose. Next time!

@shockwave77598: Let me know how they turn out!

Do you put any kind of top coat or sealant after the painting is done to protect the paint job?

Hello! Can you tell me if you watered down the paint to get it to flow through the airbrush? And if so, about what ratio of paint to water? Thanks so much!

Would you mind sharing them? I know I should write my own but my party is in 23 days. I don't have time to come up with clever sayings. Thanks so much

You also have a bit more control with the brush.

you should market and sell these.......

Anyone know how these hold up in the rain?

ROFLMAO!! Hope you don't mind but I am stealing some of your names!!!!

We wrote them ourselves.

so funny, it has restaraunt charecter names

Yes, but if they were true-to-scale (unlike the cheapos) and customers could use them year after year, I think 75 bucks would be fair.

You should have put more background noise. That no one can hear you!

One thing that made me laugh was when you mentioned bringing them in every night. Ive never had to worry about that where I live but I suppose its always a possibility. Ive seen yard vandals on youtube, and reminds me of the people that were vandalizing all the Trump signs before the election across the country...vandals suck.

Nothing new this year, unfortunately.

"They gave us the breast years of their lives."

Thank you for the video!