How to Make a Vulture Crown

Use a real vulture as inspiration when designing your crown.

If you're studying the ancient Egyptians or are captivated by their history, recreate an artifact from their time with a homemade royal vulture crown. This headpiece, which depicts the large bird flying above the head of the wearer, represents the goddess Nekhbet, who was the goddess of mothers, children and childbirth. Making your own vulture crown requires little more than some basic paper mache methods and a few other craft supplies.

Things You'll Need

• Balloon
• Marker
• Two bowls
• Newspaper, office paper or paper bags
• Flour
• Water
• Scissors
• Paint
• Sturdy paper
• White glue
• Feathers

Instructions

1. Blow up a balloon so that it's about the same size as your head. Draw a horizontal line around the circumference of the balloon to define how deep you want the crown to be and where you want it to sit on your head. This will be the mold of the vulture crown. Place the balloon in a bowl to hold it upright.

2. Tear or cut strips of paper, such as newspaper, office paper or paper bags. These strips should be about 1 inch wide and 6 inches long, although the exact size isn't important. Create enough strips to cover three layers of the crown on the balloon.

3. Mix one part flour with two parts water into a bowl. Stir until the mixture has a creamy liquid consistency. This is the paper mache paste.

4. Dip a strip of the paper into the paper mache paste. Hold it above the bowl to allow the drips to fall off. Place the wet strip onto the top of the balloon. Smooth out any bubbles and wrinkles with your fingers. Continue the process with more strips, covering the balloon in the shape of the crown. Do not place the strips past the marked line. Allow the first layer of strips to dry, and repeat the steps with two more layers of paper mache. Let the crown dry completely. This might take a couple of days.

5. Pop the balloon and remove it from the crown. Try on the crown to ensure it fits on your head. If it's too long, trim around the bottom edge with scissors until it fits properly.

6. Paint the crown with poster or acrylic paints in any color you choose. The Egyptians used a variety of colors when designing their vulture crowns, including red, green, yellow and blue. Create a design on the crown or simply cover it with one solid color. Allow the paints to dry.

7. Place a sturdy piece of paper, such as cardstock or cardboard, on a flat surface. Draw the profile of a vulture's head on the page. Include a featherless neck, round head and curved beak. Add a 1-inch rectangular tab to the bottom edge of the bird's neck as a tab to attach the piece to the crown. Cut out around the perimeter of the head, neck and tab.

8. Sketch the bird's eyes and any other details you wish to add on both the front and back sides of the cutout. Color in the drawing with paints or markers. Allow it to dry.

9. Bend the tab backward on the vulture's head so that it makes a 90-degree angle. Run a line of glue along this tab's surface. Place the tab on the front of the crown. Allow it to dry.

10. Squeeze a line of white glue along the quill of a feather. Place the feather on the crown, facing away from the vulture head. Continue gluing and adding feathers to the crown in any pattern you choose, such as covering the entire headpiece or simply making one row of feathers. Also, consider gluing feathers extending off the back end of the headpiece to resemble tail feathers of the bird. Allow the glue to dry before wearing your vulture crown.

References

• Art Lessons: Ancient Egyptian Crowns
• Enchanted Learning: Make a Papier Mache Dinosaur Hat
• Things2Make.com: Paper Mache Hat