Hands-On History: Ancient Egyptian Cartouches

Cartouches are hieroglyphics written in an oval with a line at one end and represent royal names, coming into use during the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty under Pharaoh Sneferu. We decided that we would like to make some in the form of necklaces.

 We rolled out some golden Sculpy into rough oblong ovals. Then we made grooves around the edges to make a border. We also added a line at the bottom made from thin snakes of Sculpy.

 The boys then made the chosen hieroglyphics with a skewer into the Sculpy. It is pretty easy to find hieroglyphics with a internet search. They also added a hole at the top so they could make them into necklaces.
After they were finished,we baked the clay according to the package directions.

 Once the cartouches were baked, we added black ink into into the hieroglyph-grooves. A thinned paint might work as well.

 A little more black ink around the border and a little here and there.

They put some cord through the hole and tied the ends together to make a necklace, making sure the cord is long enough to fit over their heads.