chaya Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 we are wrapping up a unit on ancient egypt and I thought it would be fun to make papyrus paper. I ordered papyrus and hieroglyphics stencils. googled. soaked the papyrus strips, we wove them, placed them on towels and under heavy weights for three days. and... fail. the strips did not stick together, they just dried out :( so I'm wondering where I went wrong. has anyone done this successfully? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clementine Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 We didn't make papyrus, but we did a similar (less time-consuming, fail-proof) activity. We took paper bags and opened them up by cutting edges. We crumpled and uncrumpled the paper MANY times to make paper softer. Then we soaked the paper in water and gently crumpled and wrung it out MANY times. Then we soaked the crumpled paper in black tea during our lunch time. After lunch we took paper out of the tea & gently squeezed out the liquid. We flattened the paper & hung it over wooden dowels to dry. We ripped the edges of the paper so they were ragged and uneven. We then drew our own form of hieroglyphics onto the paper. Not as authentic, but it worked. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 We made papyrus and it stuck together fine, it was a long time ago though so I don't remember details. It wasn't super smooth and pretty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 I have real papyrus paper and it is woven together in a basic basketweave (under over). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaya Posted April 1, 2016 Author Share Posted April 1, 2016 I have real papyrus paper and it is woven together in a basic basketweave (under over). we did weave it that way, it just fell apart. I'm sure my kids will find another use for all of our papyrus strips, and the packaging alone was worth the money. we were surprised that it actually came from egypt, postmark and stamps were very cool. and it was delayed due to some embargo at one of the ports which sparked plenty of interesting conversations. amazon sells the papyrus paper pretty inexpensively, I might just order some. oh well, we tried :) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal_Bear Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 (edited) I did this with the fresh papyrus plants that I happen to have in my garden...did you skip a step? You have to pound the strips before soaking. It breaks the fibers and makes it more pliable. I think it also releases something that makes it sticky. Edited April 2, 2016 by calbear 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaya Posted April 3, 2016 Author Share Posted April 3, 2016 I did this with the fresh papyrus plants that I happen to have in my garden...did you skip a step? You have to pound the strips before soaking. It breaks the fibers and makes it more pliable. I think it also releases something that makes it sticky. ah. that would be it. the instructions we had did not say to pound the strips. maybe we will pound the now dried strips and try soaking again. cant hurt. thanks for the tip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal_Bear Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 Not sure how that will work with it already dried though. I was working with fresh stalks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal_Bear Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 Would this video help you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaya Posted April 3, 2016 Author Share Posted April 3, 2016 Not sure how that will work with it already dried though. I was working with fresh stalks. thanks calbear, I watched the video. the strips we had were already flexible but you're right, they were somewhat dry. I may have to plant my own next time :) I'm going try pounding them and re soaking, we have nothing to lose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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