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.
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 with strong tea); crumpled newspaper; masking tape; a 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); perhaps a rubber hand or two, painted reddish brown.
Cut the cardboard into a mummy shape, as shown in the diagrams below. 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 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 40 minutes.
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!
Back to the Died-of-Fright Skelly
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Uncialle's Fly-by-Night Tips for Fast Haunting
Strange Things of the Real Universe
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