The Pyramid - Week Three

The main feature added to the Pyramid this week was the sarcophogus (coffin).  This was made from polymer clay and painted in gold, blue and red after baking.  The clay was wrapped around a roughly sarcophogus shaped lump of alfoil to reduce the amount of clay (and baking) required.  As you can probably tell from the photos, sculpting things from clay is not a strong point of mine.  The head dress is clearly uneven and the arms are suited to a sumo wrestler oh, and he has no chin.  Either this guy was the ugliest Pharaoh ever or he should have fired his craftsmen.  As the tomb is in 1/24th scale, the sarcophogus is just over three inches in length.  It rests on a dias of balsa wood painted white. 

Also on the dias are some of my other efforts with polymer clay; some small "offering jars" which would be filled with oils, spices and other afterlife necessities.  At the foot of the sarcophogus are five golden canopic jars.  Technically, these would be more likely to be something like alabaster rather than gold, but it was easier to paint them gold than to try and paint them to look like alabaster.  In the back corners of the tomb are two "oil lamps".  These are very simple polymer clay bowls set on a tripod of toothpicks.  The final piece I made from polymer clay is the somewhat goofy looking black cobra on the floor to the right of the sarcophogus.

I was going to add a lot more to the Pyramid by way of grave goods; golden thrones, chariots, chests of jewels, etc.  Once I saw it with the sarcophogus in place, I reconsidered this.  Adding too much stuff is going to make it look messy and detract from the wall decoration.  I asked the question in the DHE forums and the concensus of opinion seemed to be the same as mine; the tomb just needs a few more trinkets scattered about, but nothing large.  Now I just need to figure out what those trinkets will be and how to make them. . . .