Last October, fellow Akron haunter and friend Jack "ActionJax" Herman passed away, leaving a tone of sadness to the Halloween season. He had always complimented me on my tombstones, so I decided to pay tribute to him in a way that he might have wanted: make him a part of the display that he liked so much!
Jack was a huge fan of the Gothic stylings of the classic Universal Monster movies, so I decided to create a small, simple gothic-inspired tombstone. I also decided to do a stark, nearly total black and white color palette to mimic the films themselves.
In researching elements for the stone, I found two symbols that would work perfectly on this epitaph: ivy, which symbolizes friendship and the butterfly, which symbolizes a shortened life.
Once the epitaph had been designed and engraved, and the foam tombstone shaped and painted, the final piece was ready to go! I brought the stone outside at dusk for some rather atmospheric shots in my back yard.
As the light faded, I pulled out the LED spotlight for a few dramatic shots.
I'm really happy with the way this stone turned out. It is going to look great in my yard haunt display and will serve as a nice little reminder of a friend who left us way too soon. Rest in peace, Jack!
