For the first Museum Craft Corner of the year I have something fun for you – make your own Egyptian Pharaoh headdress! The idea comes from the National Museum of Scotland, from an Egyptian themed late night event I attended last year. It’s really easy, all you need is a large sheet of cardboard big enough to fit around your face, a strip of cardboard about 10cm wide that’s long enough to fit around your head, scraps of coloured cardboard or pens and glitter for decoration, glue and a stapler.
For the event, the museum had pre-prepared the headdress templates, but to make your own you just need to cut out a large upside-down U-shape from your large sheet of cardboard, similar to what I am modelling for you below ;-)
Then it’s time to get creative with the decorations. As you can see, I kept it simple with stripes and circles, but my friend (see below) was cutting out all kinds of shapes. If you don’t have a museum with an Egyptian collection nearby to go to for inspiration, you could look up the subject online, head down to your local library, or just make up your own.
Finally, to be able to wear the headdress, take that long strip of cardboard, measure the width of your head and use the stapler to fix it in place. Then staple it to the top of your headdress (you can see in the photo of my above where it’s been stapled on the headdress where the large circle at the top is).
Voila! You’re ready to walk like an Egyptian!
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If you have a craft idea you would like to introduce in Museum Craft Corner, please get in touch (whether you work in a museum and have a workshop idea you’d like to share, or whether it’s an idea you picked up whilst visiting a museum yourself).
January 24, 2013 at 12:38 pm
What a fantastic blog! Just discovered it and will definitely be returning on a regular basis! Always in need of good craft ideas :)
January 24, 2013 at 12:55 pm
Thanks Rebecca, and if you have a craft idea yourself, I’m always looking for guest contributors ;-)