How to Make a Realistic Mummy Costume

Use makeup and costume to make a mummy come to life.

The mummy is a quintessential figure in Halloween's usual cast of ghouls, but to be creepy, a mummy costume has to be realistic. The mummy should look like he's just woken from his tomb and roaming the earth in a zombie-like state to haunt those who have stolen his gold or used an ancient Egyptian incantation to wake him up. Use makeup to make the mummy gruesome and graphic, or a little more friendly.

Things You'll Need

• Gauze bandages
• Brewed coffee
• Brown bodysuit
• Fabric glue
• Wooden makeup spatula
• Flour
• Corn syrup
• Bowl
• Brown cream makeup
• Metal or plastic spoon
• Wooden makeup spatula
• Black cream makeup
• Makeup sponges
• Bronzer makeup
• Round makeup brush
• Spirit gum

Instructions

Mummy Bodysuit

1. Dip the gauze bandages into a bowl of cold brewed coffee. Without wringing them out, lay them out or hang them to dry overnight.

2. Put on the brown bodysuit. The bodysuit should have full sleeves and legs.

3. Wrap the gauze strips around each part of the body, starting with each leg separately. Secure the ends of each strip to the bodysuit with fabric glue. Use more fabric glue to attach the gauze for every 2 feet of length that is wrapped around the bodysuit.

4. Wrap the gauze on the bodysuit in layers until the bodysuit cannot be seen beneath the gauze. This will prevent the bodysuit from peeking out if the gauze stretches and shifts around during wear.

Mummy Makeup

1. Dip the paper towels into a bowl of cold brewed coffee and lay the towels out to dry overnight.

2. Mix a paste made of two parts flour and one-and-a-half parts corn syrup in a bowl. Add just enough brown cream makeup to tint the mixture. Stir with a metal or plastic spoon until the color has permeated the entire mixture.

3. Apply a thick layer of the paste to the face using a wooden makeup spatula. Start from the outer edge of the face and work toward the middle. Do not apply the paste to the eyes, eyelids, nostrils or lips.

4. Rip up tiny pieces of paper towel and press them into the paste, again working from the outside of the face toward the middle.

5. Paint the exposed areas of the face -- the eyelids, around the nostrils, and the lips -- with black cream makeup and a makeup sponge.

6. Pick up a makeup sponge that has excess black cream makeup on it. Dab some of the excess black makeup around each eye socket and under each cheekbone to create the illusion of sunken eyes and cheeks. Allow the paste 15 minutes to dry on the face.

7. Dust bronzer makeup with a round makeup brush over some of the facial bandages and around the eyes. The bronzer will give the face an ancient, dusty look.

8. Wrap the head and neck with the coffee-stained gauze bandages. Secure the edges of the gauze along the edge of the face with a line of spirit gum.

References

• Fear Net: Mummy Makeup
• Modern Mechanix: Makeup Secrets of Movie Horror Pictures