For the past few years Instructables has had a Halloween themed Robot papercraft.

When the Vampire Robot made its debut I just knew I had to have him emerging from his coffin in an abandoned graveyard.

It seemed natural to make a diorama in order to create the scene I wanted to capture.

So here we go. Let's create a table-top graveyard!

Supplies

Cardboard Boxes (large and small)
Plastic Trash Bag
Dirt
Tree Twigs
Vampire Robot Papercraft (link)
Gray Paper
Cardboard Casket (Dollar Tree Store)
Cardstock & Printer
Popsicle Sticks
Focusable Flashlight
Fog Machine
Flexible Dryer Duct
Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
Scissors
Diagonal Cutters

Step 1: Prepare Your Box

Since the graveyard needed to be table-top I grabbed a couple of cardboard boxes. I found one that opened like a pizza box, flip-top style. It gave me a nice large 'tray' as well as a lid to act as a built-in backdrop.

I wanted the graveyard scene to slope upwards at the back and thought that I could use a smaller box as a filler to lessen the amount of dirt my graveyard would require. I positioned the 'filler' box to the back and covered the boxes with a piece of plastic (a trash bag cut open) to protect them from moisture in the dirt.

Step 2: Get Some Graveyard Dirt

I went to the back yard and dug up some dirt and filled a large plastic pail to carry it inside.

I could have used real graveyard dirt as a small graveyard was located about 200 yards down the street, but I went for convenience and the backyard. I certainly did not want to steal dirt from a graveyard and literally be a grave robber!

Back inside I shoveled the dirt into the graveyard box and smoothed it out, sloping it up toward the back as I had envisioned.

Step 3: Prep Your Star

Time to get the STAR of your diorama ready.

In my case it meant putting together the Vampire Robot papercraft from his Instructable.

I also picked up an appropriately sized cardboard casket from the Dollar Tree store for his sleeping quarters.

Step 4: Create Headstones

I wanted the headstones to look real -- photorealistic. So I went down the street to the aforementioned neighborhood graveyard and took photos of several headstones that I thought would fit in well.

I sized and printed the headstones on cardstock and cut them out. Then, since I knew I would be placing them into my mini graveyard's dirt, I glued popsicle sticks onto the backs to hold them nicely in place.

I cut down the popsicle sticks with diagonal cutters for the shorter headstones.

Step 5: Assemble

Now is the time to pull it all together.

Place the casket and Vampire Robot in place. Carefully locate the headstones throughout the graveyard and add twigs to create dead trees among the headstones.

I fastened a piece of gray paper to the open lid of the box as a backdrop to fill in for the night sky.

Every graveyard needs a full moon, so I pulled an image of a full moon from the internet, printed it, cut it out and attached it to the backdrop.

Step 6: Add Special Effects

Every graveyard must have eerie fog floating about. Think Michael Jackson's Thriller music video.

I pulled out my trusty fog machine and took a length of dryer duct and ran the fog output from the fog machine to my diorama. The discharge end of the duct was fastened into a hole cut into the base of the open lid. A perfect location to let the fog swirl around the headstones and Vampire Robot. Only a few puffs of fog were needed to provide the right atmosphere (pun not originally intended).

The full moon needed to glow brightly, so I took a small flashlight and positioned it to shine on the moon cutout.

All I need now is to hear werewolves howling in the distance... I didn't go that far (this time!)