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Twin Sisters Tombstone

They entered and left the world together

By Trace Shuttleworth of Scary Boy Productions

www.facebook.com/ScaryBoyProductions.Trace

 

“Like a lot of folks, I enjoy a good scare at Halloween–I always have! I think every kid should have the thrill of waiting alllllllll of October–the dreadful anticipation growing–to go to “that ONE house” on trick-or-treat night! The house that kids will talk about for years to come!! That house is MY house.”

“Of course, like all things in life, there’s a learning curve. My first tombstones were made out of cheap plywood, spray-painted grey and black… boy, did they suck!  A few years later, I was working as a painter on a construction site and happened upon a pile of that pink, two-inch poly-foam insulating board which had been torn from the building and was ready to be trashed.  I threw a huge pile of it into my pickup, snuck it into the basement, then used my wife’s electric turkey knife to carve and shape my first poly-foam tombstones …boy, was she mad!

Gratefully, shortly thereafter, I found Hot Wire Foam Factory …and boy, has my creepy art flourished!!  I have been making and selling Halloween Tombstones for over a decade now, and Hot Wire has been with me every step of the way.  Since I recreate unique, antique and one-of-a-kind tombstone shapes, the Pro 8-Inch Hot Knife is used on every single tombstone I construct.  When I build larger, oversize tombstones for customers (or for myself!), it is my go-to tool for the connection points where my pieces lock together.”

“I use Foam Coat and Boost in a number of different applications during my production process. These products reinforce the corners, edges and critical connection areas, and create a longer-lasting finished piece. I have found Foam Fusion to be the best product available for bonding – nothing else comes close! Last year, I had a tall, ball-topped obelisk tombstone blow over in a sudden windstorm. The joints that were glued with Foam Fusion and reinforced with the Foam Coat and Boost combination held tight!”

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“My wife and I spend a lot of time exploring old, forgotten cemeteries, photographing interesting old tombstones, and that’s where I saw the inspiration for the Beloved Sisters–I knew right away I had to design and make one! I wanted to beef up the arch some, and I added the urn on top for interest.  It was my wife’s idea make them twins on the epitaph…it was also her idea to kill them off on Christmas Eve—at 12-yrs-old!!  (She’s creepy-creative that way!)”

“We just LOVE that Scary Boy Productions’ customers continue to challenge our design skills, sending us photos of tombstones (and sometimes full-size mausoleums!) that they want us to recreate for their own Halloween haunted front-yard cemeteries – we’ve even had statuary mailed to our studio before the e-mail request for us to create its pedestal base arrives in the inbox!! No worries, we know that with Hot Wire on our team, we’re ready to tackle any scary thing our fans can dream up!!”

 

Happy Halloween & Keep It Scary!!


Suggested tools/materials for this project:

Sculpting Tool • 6″ Hot Knife • Exterior Foam Coat