Dirty Girl

Another Inspiration Searching Funny Find

Hilarious.  Found here.

2011: Dixie's Year of the Tombstone

So last year I watched so many people cranking out some amazing tombstones.  2010 was the year of the "Structure" so I called it, adding 4 new columns, about a million more miles of fencing, etc.  I only got to make ONE all year!!

So last year, I watched and watched, all these kickass tombstones showing up on the forums one by one. 

Here are some of the ones from last year that I drooled over, that have now become my inspiration for this year:

My Make N Take buddy, Dark Lore had some awesome carving on this one.  I personally think that thing in the center at the top is the Tudor Rose.

Haunt Forum's SKAustin, this one just made my fingers itch to grab the Xacto blade!   

Kevin242 (aka Brewster Yard Haunt) has several from last year that I really liked, no surprise there, though.  Brewster Yard Haunt is probably the one haunt that truly got the obsession pumping in my veins.  I think his was the first one that I found years ago, then Davis, and between the two, I was sunk ;)

There is a lot of inspiration in this ONE thread from Halloween Forum, a place for everyone to show off their stones.

Fellow Texan StevesHauntedYard always has something interesting going on in the tombstone department...   

Terra is an amazing tombstone artist, and has tons of stuff to see.  This is one of my all time favorites of hers:  (and yes, that's a Barbie doll.  genius!)

And no picture gallery from 2010 would be complete without the HP Lovecraft stone from Urak-Hai, aka HectorTurner.com.  I would have to say he is one of my topmost tombstone makers.  I absolutely love his pieces.Cheerios, I'm tellin ya.  He NEVER fails to amaze me.   Here's another favorite, look at his take on this one...

Then there was Spooky Sam's popular weathering technique... My friend, JohnnyAppleseed kicked out some really good stones last year, THEN RoxyBlue did a post about her trip to Gettysburg along with amazing pictures, then after finding out what a huge Civil War buff I am, sent me a CD in the mail with ALL of the pictures! (Thank you again Roxy and Spooky1, that was the thrill of my YEAR!), and last but certainly not least, Davis Graveyard.  When you actually asked to teach your own class on Making Tombstones at Hauntcon, I don't think you need much else by way of introduction.

But in case you missed some of the vacation/UK graveyard pictures, start here, and just spend all day perusing.  Go to here to see the Davis stones.

A lot of inspiration.  I have been chomping at the bit for over one year now.  So, let the pink snowstorm begin, this will be my year of the tombstone!

While Searching for Tombstone Inspiration...

Normally I go to my huge folder of stolen internet pictures of tombstones.... I have them categorized by shape size, there's a special folder just for interesting textures and weathering differences.  Some are from forums, some are from blog posts, some are from all of Chris Davis' holidays to the most exciting hauntish type places I could imagine....  but no matter how big the folder is, sometimes I need new meat to chew on.

I have tried every Google Image search term I can think of to get new and interesting results.  Old tombstone, crumbling gravestone, churchyard markers, old obelisks, tombstone carvings, etc.

But today I came across something I had not seen before, and after a good chuckle, knew I had to share it.

From the Sears and Roebuck catalog - I don't see a date.  But after about 5 minutes of squinting to read all that I could - I can tell ya that at $46.78 for the large column style up there, I would say that back then, they could build them out of "The World's Best Royal Blue Vermont Marble" for only slightly more than I can build them out of "Home Depot's Best Pinkish/Purple Foam" now-a-days.

Love it.