The Burial Shrine (Outer)

So, the first project I started on night before last was the burial shrine. For those of you who aren't absolutely obsessed with Burial Shrines like I am, it's probably 1. Because you have never heard of one, or 2. You're just normal. Haha.

Because Tutankhamun's Tomb was found 'practically' intact, his are a wonderful example. A burial Shrine is a typically wooden structure, or box, that surrounds the sarcophagus. It is typically gilt (covered in gold) and inscribed with spells to protect the buried and lead them through Duat (the underworld). The discover of Tutankhamun's tomb revealed an extraordinary array of shrines - there were !5! of them! Each was sheathed in gold and nestled so tightly together that it took the archeologist 8 Months to disassemble them. The outer shrine of Tutankhamun serves as my example.

I began on mine (or whoever's tomb I am making) night before last and it took me 2 hours. My eyes and fingers hurt so badly I wanted to cry. Haha.

On the picture above of Tutankhamun's Shrine, the Dark Designs on the side are actually faience inlays. I am going to imitate that design with blue paint and paint the designs of the Isis Knot and the Djet Pillar in rows over it to make an overlay effect.

The gray areas you see on my model are going to be painted blue for the overlay effect, but before I can do that, I'm going to have to go and buy beaucoup gold paint at Michael's to finish some of the first layer of gold painting.

I'll be SURE to post the pictures of it when it's complete or in the process.

Next on my agenda is the Sarcophagus, which I don't have a clue what I want it to look like. But before I can even do that, I have some Statistics Homework and and Essay to do for language.

Au revoir, for now.

Oh yeah, and the measurements for my shrine are 7"x 4" x 5"...