Amon-Ratep ruled Egypt during a time of dark and evil. Not only
has his body survived the ages, but his spirit still lives. At Uncialle's
Stronghold, he lies in state in the expedition tent of Harold Carter, the noted
Egyptologist. Beware, Dr. Carter! Midnight approaches, and tonight it is very, very dark, so dark that even the lantern in the expedition tent does not push away the blackness of the hot desert night.
To make Amon-Ratep, you will need: a large piece of stiff
cardboard, perhaps from a refrigerator carton; strips of sheet torn into
inch-wide strips (you may dye them to make the color anciently yellowish, or
stain them by soaking in strong tea); crumpled newspaper; masking tape; a suitable mask (or, if
you wish to make his face yourself, see the text below--you will need Sculpey
clay, aluminum foil, white enamel paint, glue, a fine-line brown marker, and a
wisp of reddish doll hair); finally, you may wish to add a rubber hand or two, painted brown.
Cut the cardboard into a mummy shape, as shown in the diagrams
below. If you cannot get the right shape, have a friend lie on the cardboard and draw his outline! Crumple newspaper into balls, and use masking tape to loosely tape it to
the mummy board. Shape legs and arms separately, and wind them with sheet
strips. For arms and legs, wrap stovepipe-shaped tubes of crumpled paper with
sheet strips. For feet, bend the bottom twelve inches of the tube at right
angles; place two such bent tubes together and place on the mummy. You get the
idea. Begin winding the whole mummy with sheet strips, stuffing in more crumpled
paper as you go. Use a mummy mask stuffed with crumpled paper for the face, or
see the text below for directions on how to make your own face, as Uncialle has
here. As you finish the arms, if you wish, stick in a rubber hand or two,
painted dark brown.
Place Amon-Ratep on a flat surface draped with fabric, old
sacking, or other appropriate backdrop. At the Stronghold, Amon-Ratep rests on a
board between trestles, with pick and shovel nearby, as though he had just been
dug from his tomb. An old-fashioned kerosene lantern sheds as much light as he
will bear. You may wish to make a female mummy, complete with long hair and
golden jewels, or an entire family of them.
To make Amon-Ratep's face: you will need a head-sized ball of
crumpled aluminum foil; Sculpey bakeable craft clay; white enamel paint; doll
hair of the natural-wool variety, in dark auburn.
Roll out a sheet of Sculpey clay until it is about 2 inches in diameter
larger than you want his face to be, and drape it over the head-sized ball of
foil. Sculpt his face. Use the photograph above as a model, if you will.
Remember, mummies' eyes are sunken, making the eyesockets of the skull visible
beneath the skin. The nose is short and fallen, and its nostrils are dark and sharp. The
lips wither away from the teeth, which are precise and tombstone-like. Cheeks
are sunken. Black hair cures to a dry reddish-brown. Amon-Ratep's face is based
upon a photograph of the face of the mummy of Ramses II. When you have finished
sculpting the face, place it, foil ball and all, in your conventional oven at
325 degrees, for as long as it takes to turn the face an even brown--about an hour.
Take the face out carefully and let it cool. The Sculpey turns brown when
baked, just the color you need for a mummy. Using white enamel paint (the kind
that dries very glossy), paint his teeth very carefully. Give them a couple of
coats--they will make him look eerily real. With a fine-tipped brown marker,
color his gums, and trace a tiny line where his eyelids would meet in the
middle. You may add more lines,smudging them, using the marker to emphasize his
eye sockets and brow ridge, and to color in the nostrils.
When the paint has dried, place the face on the mummy body. Glue some of the
reddish hair to the forehead, where it will escape from the wrappings, and wrap
the head to the body, covering up the edges of the Sculpey face, and all trace
of the foil head.
If you have done your work carefully, Amon-Ratep will appear to
be a real mummy, so take care not to give him cause to walk!
