|
Below are some of
the important final touches we do when setting up our tombstones
and graveyard. But remember, if you want realism, too little or to
much can spoil the effect. Its very important not to over do
your tombstone enhancements or they will not appear to be
the real thing.
 Use
as many different styles of tombstones
as you can afford to buy and/or make yourself. Try to buy better
quality tombstones if you can, they look much more realistic
than less expensive ones and will last longer since they can take more abuse.
If this is your
first year to add tombstones or a graveyard to your
Halloween haunt start out with a
dozen or more then add a few more every year. In a few years
you'll have a very impressive graveyard filled with
tombstones for your Halloween
haunt!
While you can place
your tombstone on the flat ground, they look much more
impressive if some of them are at the end of raised mounds. You can add small mounds of dirt in front of
the tombstones as an added touch. But, don't make mountains, just a couple inches high
looks great.
If you want to have the
best looking graveyard this side of the Addams Family
estate or Jack Skellington's Halloween town, you'll want
first class tombstones to set it off and we know just
where to find the best on the net! In the last few years we've
seen more and more
high-quality, realistic looking tombstones being offered for sale. Many
of these tombstones are full size standing
anywhere between two and three feet tall. We add a few new ones to our collection every year and
are now up to twenty different tombstones for our Halloween graveyard!
When arraigning
your tombstones remember that graves in a "real" cemetery
are usually spaced about seven feet from row to row, but you can
take a few liberties with distances. While you don't have to
space them out just right, you do want to give the illusion
of there really being graves there, so you want to space out
your tombstones. Leave at least a foot or two between the
stones side to side, and four feet or more from row to row. We
like to tilt some of the tombstones so that the graveyard
looks old and dilapidated.
 For that really
old, abandoned or overgrown graveyard feel, add Spanish
moss, leaves and vines. Spanish moss adds a great effect
when glued in bunches at the base of and on the tombstones.
Next, drape and glue some Spanish moss and silk vines over
the top of your tombstones.
Make sure each tombstone is done
a little differently
than the others and be careful not to add too much or you
will bury your tombstones! These can be
found at most craft stores or your local nursery.
 You
can place small bouquets, wreaths or vases of wilted flowers
at the base of a few of your tombstones and monuments. These
can be real flowers that have been allowed to dry and
wither, or you can buy artificial flowers from a local craft
store.
Autumn or winter flowers tend to look best. You can
even find black or gray colored flowers and roses, which
look especially ominous in a Halloween graveyard! Simple
touches like this can really add realism to your graveyard.
 Use a
drill powered Cobweb
Spinner or Stretchable Cob Webs to web some or all of your
tombstones. We use a Cobweb Spinner to add cobwebs from
the sides of the tombstones down to the ground. You can
carefully place a few plastic spiders in the webs for an
added scare.
Cobweb Shooters and extra cobweb fluid are available from sources on line. Bags of
inexpensive stretchable Halloween cobwebs
are available at most stores during the month of
October.
 For
an added effect we like to attach a
artificial raven, crow or vulture to the top of a tombstone as thought he is
perched and watching over that particular grave. The ones we use have a
metal wire sticking out from each foot allowing you to
push these wires into the top of a tombstone to hold the
bird in
place.
You can also position some artificial crows and maybe an owl in the trees as well. Artificial ravens, crows,
owls and vultures are available from
local craft stores.
To create a
glowing tombstone effect we spray "Black Light
Hair Spray"
made by over the
front and side of a tombstone. This looks very eerie under
a
black light. We found that spraying the tombstone in the dark with
a
black light turned on works best to get an even coating all over
the tombstone.
One can of the Black Light Hair
Spray can usually paint between three and five tombstones depending on
their size. You can also use glow-in-the-dark
paint to make the epitaph's on a Halloween tombstone glow by painting over
them or within them if they are embossed in the
tombstone its self with transparent
fluorescent
paint.
Back |
