Axe Hill - How to Weather Your Props

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How to Weather Your Props

A lot of people like to make their own props for Halloween, but they miss the overall effect they are going for by not making the props look old and weathered. By all accounts, Halloween is supposed to be spooky and we often lose focus when other elements are introduced that dumb down the overall effect. For us Haunters, weathering your props needs to start at the building process.

After you have decided the overall design of the prop, in our case a tombstone, you need to figure out how far you want to go with weathering. If you look at old tombstones from the 1800's, many are falling apart and disintegrating due to the Mother Nature. Tombstones settle making them lean from side to side and front back and any combination you can think of. Another aspect of building and designing a tombstone prop is the amount of physical detail given to cracks, gouges, and chunks of stone that are missing. These elements give tombstones character and make the world of difference from store bought props.

Your tombstone does not have to be fancy, most tombstones are not fancy so why go all out and make yours ornate. The more simplistic your design is, the more you can build to fill your haunt.

Step 1. “Your Supplies”

Your supplies will come in the shape many items and we will discuss the reason and use the behind them all. We are going to assume that your tombstones will be built from ¾ insulating foam board, by all means, this is the favorite amongst most Haunters. When you build your tombstone, be sure to make it at least 3 layers, making it 2¼ inches thick. This will provide you durability along with giving you a sold base to work with.

Paint is your number one friend. Your tombstone base coat is very important as to help you decided which other paints you will use to ‘wash’ and ‘dry brush’ it with later. We prefer medium flat grey latex for our base coat. Flat black latex paint is a common one that will be used over and over. Flat white or light grey latex paint is another general paint that you will need. Depending on your part of the country and how many tombstones you have seen that are of a decent age, you can have a variety of colors that you can use. I often find myself using

flat dark green latex to help simulate moss and other small plant life at the base of the tombstone and sometimes in its cracks. Flat black spray paint is what I call “finisher”, it will be used once all other items and paints have been used to lightly spray the edges and base. Remember real tombstones were weathered over years and we must do our best to duplicate what Mother Nature does all too well.

Water… yep, the stuff you drink. It will be used to dilute the paint in some applications.

A mini paint roller and multiple paint brushes are your tools of greatness. With these instruments, you will be able to transform a simple project into a Van Gogue. The sizes of brushes need to range from 2 inch to 3 inch.

Plant life is where it is at. Tombstones are often covered with weeds, vines and moss. Plant life is also one of the more difficult and tricky elements to introduce to your prop. Weeds or tall grass is hit or miss on how you go about this. Such stores aa Hobby Lobby or Michaels has vast arrangement of fake weeds and tall grass, but it comes at a price. Vines can be a little easier; since you can find live ones in almost any wooded area or you can use the hobby/craft store ones. I prefer the real ones and when they begin to die and shrivel up, it makes a more believable setting. The moss needs to be in two flavors such as Spanish moss and natural mood moss found covering the ground at parts of the year. Spanish moss can be found in the South, in Spanish Oak trees or you local hobby/craft store. The natural mood moss can be bought at the hobby/craft store and you only need small amounts of this moss.

I am surprised that many people have not heard of a foam burning tool. It’s akin to a soldering iron but much smaller and more delicate. These can be bought at most hobby/craft stores. These are great when make cracks or the original purpose… cutting the foam board.

Step 2. “Mess It Up”

Yep, you heard me, start taking a few chunks out of your tombstone. Give no order to this, make it random. Make jagged edges and some smooth. Think about how Mother Nature would have beaten the hell out of it over hundred years. Go ahead and cut the base off and make it lean to one side.

NOTE: At this point it is best to inscribe your tombstone text.

Step 3. “You Crack Me Up”

Take your foam burning tool and start to add a few cracks. Make them big, some small. Make some deep and some seem as if they are just starting. There is no wrong or right way. We all know what cracks look like, so go at it.

Step 4. "We Learned How to Paint in Kindergarten"

Take your medium flat grey latex and paint the entire prop. That was a no brainer huh? Anyways… Once the base coat is dry, the fun begins. Dry brushing is an art unto itself, and here you will see how important it is. Take some of your flat white or flat light grey latex paint and dap some on your brush. You will then need to brush another surface till very little paint is coming off. What we are doing it removing the majority of the paint from the brush and only leaving a small amount that will come off if brushed hard enough.

You now need to brush all the edges of your cracks and missing chunks of your tombstone. Notice I said ‘edges of’, you do not want to paint inside your cracks or recesses. In the real world wear and tear on objects edges usually lightens the color. A good example would be a piece of wooden furniture where the parts that are touched fade over time, the same applies to our tombstone. Mother Nature will wear down edges more often then not. When ‘dry brushing’ it is best to brush in the direction that gravity would have a part in. Since the tombstone is flat and points up and down, then your ‘dry brushing’ should be in ‘up and down’ strokes. It is ok you go back and forth a little, it will not cause the world to stop.

Once the edges of your cracks and missing chunks are ‘dry brushed’ giving a highlighted effect, you will now want to ‘dry brush’ in your flat black latex into your cracks and recesses. Once again in the real world, dirt and grime often collect in small places, like your belly button right? So take that same principle and apply to your tombstone. You may want to go back and ‘dry brush’ your edges again once you have ‘dry brushed’ with your flat black.

Your tombstone should now be showing you some character. The edges should be highlighted and your recesses should be dark.

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