These DIY cemetery columns formally kick off my “DIY Halloween Props” blog series!

I might sound like an expert (right) but this is my first blog. I love Halloween and relish in making decorations and props for my favorite holiday! My boyfriend, Chris helps with the the things that truly terrify me (like saws and some power tools) and puts up with my infatuation with horror. My hope is to inspire those that live Halloween year round to create new Halloween relics and provide a roadmap to guide you along the way. If you don’t live Halloween year round maybe I can suck you into my realm!

Chris and I built these cemetery columns a couple years ago and I think they turned out pretty awesome! I built some creepy cemetery fence and a matching Cemetery Arch to put over the columns and the entire project was a lot of fun. (Chris might disagree but he’s definitely a good sport). This was definitely one of my favorite projects though and hope you enjoy building these for your graveyard as much as I did!

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Supplies

• 2×2 wood for frame
• 2×4 wood for base
• 3/4″ PVC pipe
• 2″ foam insulation board
• exterior latex paint (black, brown, grey, green)
• permanent marker
• dremel
• screws
• drill
• liquid nails or gorilla glue
• sand paper
• heat gun
• saw

Instructions

Design

I first used an Excel spreadsheet to design how I wanted my cemetery pillars to look and determine measurements. The brown and orange are wood, green is PVC pipe, and pink is foam board.

Building the Frame

We started by using 3 layers of scrap wood in different sizes to create a “step-like” affect to build the base and top pieces.

Next we used 2×2 wood attaching the base and top with screws to complete the frame.

If you plan to attach an arch you’ll want to drill a hole in the middle of the top and slide 3/4″ PVC pipe down through the hole to the bottom. Attach the pipe to the base. It should stick up above the top by 2-3″. If there’s more, it’s okay. You can always cut this down later once your archway is made.

Adding the Foam

After building the frame by attaching the top and bottom pieces to the 2×2’s we cut the foam panels….okay Chris cut the foam (and built the base, and top, and frame….lol). He measured out the needed width for the foam panels then used an extra one of the frame pieces to draw a line onto the foam for the needed length. Next he cut the foam with a utility knife. We used the white R-Tech insulation foam but if I had it to do over I’d use the pink foam. You can find that here at Home Depot Owens Corning FOAMULAR.

Once the panels were cut we put them in place on the frame and made sure they all fit right. After we confirmed they fit we used gorilla glue to attach them to the frame then screwed them in to hold them in place.

Following this I removed the foil layer off the foam panels.

Our next task was to fill the empty space between each foam panel. We tried different things for this and I can’t say that any of them were truly ideal. I’m sure there’s something out there that would work really well for this. We experimented with expandable foam, gorilla glue, foam filler and drywall mud. The foam filler worked the best but it didn’t go very far. The drywall mud also worked pretty decent.

Making the Bricks

I used a brick sized piece of wood and permanent marker to draw out the stones/bricks all over the foam.

Next I used a dremel to carve out the grout lines. Be prepared to have pieces of foam caked all over your body, hair, in your nose and everywhere in between! I’m glad no one has that picture!

Chris made me a “tool” out of a piece of wood with screws drilled all the way through. I’m pretty sure this was used as a medieval torture device a thousand years ago. I used this and a wire brush on the panels to create holes and imperfections in the foam. I also used a utility knife to form cracks.

I then used a heat gun on the foam. This hardens the foam and also creates a stone/brick like texture as well as expands the cracks.

I did practice these techniques out on some scrap pieces of foam to get a feel for how I wanted it to look.

Painting

I painted the whole thing a very dark grey with exterior latex paint. Black would work too. I got the cheapest paint I could find at Wal-Mart. Get the paint in all the cracks. Make sure it’s completely covered. This takes quite some time. I spent an entire day doing just this. Always start with dark colors and lighten up with each layer. 

Next I painted over the grey with a dark brown just on the elevated areas. You want to make sure not to paint in the cracks.

After the brown, I used a light grey and sea sponged over the brown. I put very little on the sponge to do this.  A little will go a long way.  I really went over it a lot on the elevated areas.  Without a doubt this really made the cracks stand out.

Finally, after painting the foam, top and base I put glue in a bowl and added some fake moss getting it all good and wet. Then I smeared moss into some of the cracks giving it even more of an aged appearance.

As a final touch I made Plaques that I attached with gorilla super glue. We also built a Cemetery Arch we attached to the top of the columns. Click the links for those tutorials!

Add some tombstones to your cemetery. You can learn how to make them on my DIY Tombstones page!

Leave comments below. I’d love to hear from you!