Egyptians made mummy cases to protect and decorate a mummified body. Many mummy artifacts have survived and can be seen at museums, looking as fresh as when they were made centuries ago. This is because of the type of paint used, called encaustic, was made with colored wax painted onto stiffened linen. Mummy cases were lavishly decorated. In place of encaustic wax paint, you can use wax crayons to make your own version of a mummy case. It's a fun project for kids or the classroom, and the end result can make a great Halloween decoration, too.
Steps
Part 1
Part 1 of 2:
Planning Your Project
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Gather your supplies. Crayons, pencil, crayon sharpener, ruler, glitter glue or other metallic paint. Even discarded nail polish.
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Practice some designs. Draw simple pictures or symbols for common objects. On a piece of scrap paper, make up pictures that stand for ideas or things. A heart shape, for example, stands for love. Draw a symbol for man, woman, food, family, dog, house, etc. Don't worry about being historically correct, just have fun. Such symbols can be seen in Egyptian art.Advertisement
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Hieroglyphics are Egyptian pictorial writing. These little symbols represented and communicated ideas. What do you think these stand for? Wings, birds, crocodiles, a grain of wheat, a cat, a flower, and a tree. Can you draw small pictures to tell about your life?
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Go to the Internet and do some research. Look up these topics: mummy cases, Egyptian writing and art. This information will help you to see how mummy cases actually looked and to visualize what this project is about.
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Draw repeated patterns. On practice paper, draw a series of rectangles, triangles, squiggly lines, scallops, fish scales, dots and stripes. These patterns can be used either horizontally or vertically. This type of repeated design is used on mummy cases.Advertisement
Part 2
Part 2 of 2:
Drawing Your Mummy Case
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Draw your mummy case design. First, make an outline of the mummy case. Obtain an 11" X 14" piece of watercolor paper from a pad. Position it vertically and at the top, draw a circle the size of a ping-pong ball. Beneath that, draw a horizontal shoulder line. Use a ruler to drop a vertical line down the center to the bottom of the paper and make a long triangle for the body.
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Draw a smaller circle or oval on the head to show the mummy's face. Sketch the mummy's features, eyes, ears, nose and mouth. Remember to elongate the eyes, as the Egyptians did. Put a crown and an Egyptian headdress on the figure. Flare the tails of the head piece out on either side and have it end on the chest.
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Work downward to decorate the rest of the mummy case. Draw lines and shapes to fill in the body area. Try for symmetry, keeping both sides the same.
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4Take a little time to work out the designs on the mummy case. This will make coloring it easier. The finished drawing will look a lot like a coloring page ready to be colored.
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Begin to color. Make brilliant patterns, stripes, zig-zags, etc. Press hard on the crayon to deposit a lot of wax on the sheet. Later, you can add glitter glue and gold and silver acrylic paint to mimic the richness of a mummy case.
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Color the face any shade of tan you wish. Remember, it is fun to blend two shades on top of each other. Outline the eyes with black and extend them like "cat eyes." Color the beard dark, keeping it slender and neat.
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7Work on the headdress. Work upward to make a crown. On top of that, place a small rectangular shape representing a cone of fragrant beeswax. The more colors and shapes, the better. Often a snake was depicted on the crown standing out from the forehead.
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Color the entire mummy case. Work until there is no white paper showing.
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9Outline the entire shape with a deep line of blue or other color. Follow with a line of black. Now is the time to add metallic paint, as much as you desire. You could even glue on sequins or jewels.
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Cut out the mummy case. Mount it on a richly colored board. Use foam dots to adhere it to the board if you wish. It will stand out slightly. Pretend it is being displayed in a museum case.Advertisement
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Tips
- Most mummy cases told about the life and accomplishments of the mummy inside.Thanks
- Egyptians so loved cats that they often mummified them as well.Thanks
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