Halloween Gravestone for Zero (Nightmare Before Christmas)

I wanted to add a new gravestone to the foam Halloween graveyard and thought Zero's would be a great addition. So with this picture, and various similar projects on the internet as my inspiration, I bought a 4' X 8' sheet of 2" (actually 52.5 mm on average) pink foam insulation board and started cutting.


First, I used a table saw to cut the 4' x 8' sheet into four 2' x 4' pieces. I used two of them for each doghouse gravestone (4" thick total). I made one for me and one for a friend. I had drawn the outline of the "doghouse" and saved it to three different files for modification for the three different cuts:





I drew and scanned this the low tech way with a pencil and paper and traced with a black sharpie. It was "trace bitmap-ed" in Inkscape to sharpen it up:

Using Fengrave (engrave function) I sized it so it could be cut from the remaining foam in the doghouse door using three passes of 17.5 mm each with a 1/8" endmill. The "second cut" foam remained attached to the table for the second cut, engraving of the letters, and cutting Zero's skull and crossbones. I wanted the bones and skull to be recessed so I sliced them in half (1 inch thick) on a band saw making two copies.

I also cut the cross from some foam scrap after doing a quick sketch:

Here it one glued up prior to painting. I cut a bunch of 1/4"x 2"x 4 1/2" strips with the band saw, which I then cut the shingle shapes out of on the scroll saw. I stacked about 4-6 of them to speed the cutting.

Finally, I broke out the rattle cans and, after priming with interior/exterior latex, I painted them. Spray paint by itself ate the foam. Finished product:

 

Thank you all for the kind words. Now I need to make Zero. I think I will go this route: Zero from the Nightmare Before Christmas

 

Thanks.

Just finished up my sabertooth skeleton. I put a couple red leds in the eye sockets with the battery pack hidden behind the pelvis.

 

Here they are together. I can only claim Zero's grave as my handywork besides the sabertooth skeleton. The stacked op pavers are for an unrelated project.

 

Thanks!