The idea was to build two columns for either side of the cemetery gate that would also be able to hold up our cemetery sign.  Here are the instructions on how it was completed. Building the Base/Skeleton- I started with using sheets of plywood and 2x3 pieces of wood. As seen in the picture I made the top and bottom first and screwed the skeleton of the columns to the inside of the bases. Since I was going to run 2" PVC through the center of the column (this has multi-purpose and will be explained throughout) I cut holes through the top and base for the PVC to slide through.  This pretty much makes up the skeleton portion. While building this, I also thought that it would be cool to hand a half torso skeleton and have them hold a lamp. Since I already had the PVC running through the inside of the column, this really wouldn't be that hard to do. The goal was to get the 2" PVC reduced to a 1/2" in the foot of space I had inside the column. I wanted to use 1/2" PVC to extend out through the column and this would hold up the lamp and be the skeletons arms. So I cut the 2" PVC, and placed a 2" reducing to 11/2" cross in its place. Through more reducers and a lot of screws, I was able to get to the size of PVC that I wanted. The key thing though is placing the PVC Cross at the exact spot you want the arms to come out. I then drilled two holes through the front of the column and extended the 1/2" PVC out. Once this was completed I secured the bottom of the PVC to the bottom piece of the column, and the inside of the column was complete. I then closed the column up with plywood. I also found that using corner borders helped with my frustration level of hiding the gaps between each side (highly recommended.  Worth the extra money). I wanted this column to have the illusion of being a stone column, so I used wood putty to hide all of the gaps and nails. Once this was completed I went on to paint it.  I first painted the stone with a flat grey paint, and then went on to use a spray paint that simulates stone.  This can be found at any hardware store. Once the column was painted it was time to work on the skeleton and lamp. I first tackled the lamp by creating a PVC base for it to sit on. I used a dremmel tool to cut a half circle into the base of the lamp to make room for the PVC base, then drilled from the base of the lamp to the PVC.  Once I attached the lamp the arms, it held up nicely. For the skeleton, I wanted to make sure I could hide as much PVC as possible to give the illusion that the skeleton was holding the lamp by himself.  So I cut the arms of the skeleton half torso and cut them open. I then wrapped the arms around the PVC and liquid nails them together. For the decaying clothing, I actually stole some techniques found off of the Halloween group I am part of (www.methodzofmadness.com) Then just screwed in the skeletons and presto... two columns with skeletons holding a working lamp.   As a side note, I found these really cool lamps at Lowe’s. First make sure they are battery operated. It makes things much easier then having to worry about the wiring. Secondly, these lamps are candle flickering lamps which is a really cool effect. Also, the second use of the PVC that is found inside the column will help keep the column standing. I am going to stake smaller piece of PVC into the ground and then slide the 2" over it.