deep gray sea
our little family: papyrus art by kids
May 16, 2004 Cheri volunteers in the Shoreline schools as an art teacher. One of the projects her kids did last year was to make Egyptian paintings on papyrus. They made their own papyrus too. I thought they looked very impressive and scanned a bunch of them.
The students were studying Ancient Egyptian history and culture, and the teachers hoped for an art project that helped reinforce what they'd learned.
We live in Washington state, and there aren't a lot of papyrus plantations around. So Cheri experimented to find a local plant that was an acceptable substitute.
It turned out that daylilies have long fiberous leaves rather similar to papyrus. One mom had a big yard with lots of daylilies planted, and donated enough for the class to work with.
The materials are a bit touchy to work with. The leaves are soaked, interwoven, and then thoroughly pounded (that was my part - I donated the big rubber mallet).
The fifth-grade students prepared their own papyrus (they liked the pounding part) and worked up their own designs. Some painted their names in heiroglyphics, others invented interesting variations on Ancient Egyptian gods. I saw a spaceship in one.
The originals are about six inches square, and are mounted on light brown paper and framed with a black mat. The paintings were displayed in the school lobby, where they delighted many visitors. Cheri's kids had a blast.
Here's a picture of a daylily plant in our yard that works nicely. The old brown dried-up part is what you want.