Sarah received this kit as a gift a while back. It was perfect for your Tapestry of Grace year 1 studies about Egypt. We had hoped to have this made by our Egyptian Feast, however, it takes a lot longer to make than we anticipated. Above the reeds are soaking, this step lasted over a week and we had to change the water frequently.
After the reeds finished soaking, the girls laid them in sheets, overlapping the edges slightly. The reeds were quite waterlogged and fragile.
Next, we rolled the reeds between two pieces of cloth. The amount of water that gushed out of them was amazing. We placed the reed mat between layers of newspaper and piled a bunch of books on top. It sat this way for a couple of days, moved only to change the newspaper when it was too wet.
Here is what the mat looked like after drying for about a day. Unfortunately, mom moved the mat into the living room by the wood stove to speed up the process and all the reeds shrunk. Needless to say that was the end of the nice mat that the girls were going to decorate with hieroglyphics. We did get a pretty good idea of the texture the "paper" would have been as we did have a small section of reeds that had adhered. All in all it was a great project for the girls. The effort and time it took to make sure left an impression on them. Hopefully, they will think twice before emptying mom's printer tray for their daily sketch session.
Sarah received this kit as a gift a while back. It was perfect for your Tapestry of Grace year 1 studies about Egypt. We had hoped to have this made by our Egyptian Feast, however, it takes a lot longer to make than we anticipated. Above the reeds are soaking, this step lasted over a week and we had to change the water frequently.
After the reeds finished soaking, the girls laid them in sheets, overlapping the edges slightly. The reeds were quite waterlogged and fragile.
Next, we rolled the reeds between two pieces of cloth. The amount of water that gushed out of them was amazing. We placed the reed mat between layers of newspaper and piled a bunch of books on top. It sat this way for a couple of days, moved only to change the newspaper when it was too wet.
Here is what the mat looked like after drying for about a day. Unfortunately, mom moved the mat into the living room by the wood stove to speed up the process and all the reeds shrunk. Needless to say that was the end of the nice mat that the girls were going to decorate with hieroglyphics. We did get a pretty good idea of the texture the "paper" would have been as we did have a small section of reeds that had adhered. All in all it was a great project for the girls. The effort and time it took to make sure left an impression on them. Hopefully, they will think twice before emptying mom's printer tray for their daily sketch session.
We've been covering Egypt in our Homeschool, too. I've been researching papyrus and decided to try out the process with the stalks of a cattail to see if it would work. But I missed the soaking step! Thanks for posting the details on this, because I think our attempt might actually work with soaking. I'm going to try it again! :)
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