Pillars and skulls and tombstones, oh my!

Day 1

Today was the day I hunkered down on the pillar project.  I needed a better fence system, and I decided on the concrete tube form with styrafoam topper.  Pretty basic, but I'm planning on adding a couple of skulls, possibly some chains.  Not sure yet.  Maybe dry lock them?  Have to see.  I ended up with 6 of them.  Definitely need at least four for the yard, at least one for the medusa bust on the porch.  Will probably put the last one in the yard, unless needed elsewhere.  Also have to do a bit of a stability check to make sure they're not going to totally tip over in the wind.  I can always add a wood bottom if it's really needed.  I also picked up a pack of black hooks so that I can attach the chains between them--though will probably need another pack if I use more pillars.  Each tube is 8" diameter, 4 feet tall.

Hoping tomorrow to attach the extra stuff and then paint them, as well as the tombstone plaques that just need the gray on them.

Day 2

So ALL the painting got done today, which tends to work out better--easier to make one big great mess all at once.  Once the skulls were attached, the pillars were first up.  A little trial and error before I figured out an order of operations.  Spraypaint the sides of the toppers, and the skulls--mostly because trying to paint cut styrafoam is a pain in the but.  And for this particular project, it didn't matter if some of the styrafoam looked a little eaten away.  So a coat of black, then gray on the sides, along with a base of black on the skulls, then a mist of gray on top.  After that I just used the old paint that I got back from last year for the tombstones--still had plenty left, and I had sealed it up well, so it was still good.  I started to paint them standing up before quickly realizing that my neck was going to be cricked, and I was actually able to see more spots if I laid it on its side (and because of the toppers, the tube never touched the ground), then just rotated it--much easier.

The second part of the painting was to dry brush the (same) gray paint over the new tombstone plaques.  This is a bit tricky, as you have to have enough paint for coverage, but if you use too much, it leaks into the cracks, and you have to paint the black all over again.  Took me a few mistakes to remember this lesson, so I may have to go back and do a few touchups.  Will also have to go back and look at the pillars--not sure if they'll need a second coat.  Hoping not, but there will probably at least be touchups.

Day 3
Finished the pillars by attaching hooks and trying out the chain on them--very happy with the results:)  Also finished the Nevermore Cemetery sign I forgot before.