But the dead can be so messy. Zombies leave bits of themselves everywhere (and they squish! xp), Vampires are constantly at everyone's' throats, and Ghosts have this nasty habit of throwing furniture around every time they want to get your attention. The best way to incorporate the dead into your Halloween plans? Mummies! Occasionally they may wander around and leave bits of bandages places, but given proper treatment of their canopic jars most Mummies are quite well behaved.
However, the difficulty of obtaining natron and the caustic-ness of certain other embalming agents can make the creation of mummies in the home a less than family-friendly process...not to mention certain other complications associates with mummy making (see above: squishing).
Our solution to this issue is quite simple: Flour dough mummies! They are quiet, clean, and take up very little space! Also, this project is completely food safe and great for kids.
What you'll need:
-Flour
-Water
-Salt
-Cheesecloth or thin cloth bandages
-Cookie or candy molds
1. Find an animal shaped cookie or candy mold. For example, the Wilton's mummy candy mold, or chocolate animal molds, are perfect!
2. To make the dough, mix 1 cup flour with 1/2 cup salt. When these are thoroughly mixed together, add 1/2 cup water and mix that with the flour/salt mixture. If the dough seems too thick, add more water in VERY SMALL INCREMENTS. You don't want too much water.
3. Press or pour the dough into your mold. If the mold is heat safe, you can put it into the oven on low heat to accelerate the drying process. If the mold is not heat safe, you will need to allow the flour dough to air dry. Do not remove the dough until it has dried hard. Note that the more water you add to the dough (beyond 1/2 cup), the more the dough will shrink as it dries. This will become your mummy base.
4. Get the cheesecloth or bandages. If you have cheesecloth, tear it into very thin strips 5-8" long. If you have thin bandages, just cut them into 5-8" long strips (though the mummy will look less ragged).
5. Make another flour/water/salt mixture. This time, use 1/3 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1 cup water. What you're going for here is more of a traditional papier-mache paste.
6. Soak the strips of bandages in the papier mache paste, and wrap them gently but firmly around your mummy base. Wrap the bandages in a crisscross pattern for the most mummy-like effect. Make sure to cover your entire mummy, and do not get the papier mache paste too thick onto the bandages. You're using it to stick the bandages to the mummy and make them look distressed, not to cover up the bandages!
7. Allow the mummy to dry. Once it is dry, you can do one of a few things to finish it off:
-You can leave it as is, as an off-white mummy
-You can "antique" the mummy. Brew a very strong cup of tea, using loose-leaf tea (or break open the bag). Use a paintbrush or cloth rag to apply the tea stain to the bandages.
-You can paint your mummy using acrylic paints.
DeWyk
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