Boy of Faiyum pop-up card

This card is intended for the birthday of a friend.

The idea for this card arose from an infatuation with this portrait, the funerary mask of a boy who lived in the Faiyum area of Northern Egypt during the Roman era. I wanted to try my hand at sketching the portrait and the idea of a boy catching frogs followed from that. What else would a boy do who lived on an oasis at the edge of a lake either near or actually in the marshlands. I can think of plenty of things. Do take a look at the portrait if you haven't already, it would please me for you to be infatuated too.

My friend has never mentioned to me any particular interest in Egyptian history, or Romans, or children, or frogs. There is no reason to believe he is familiar with the Faiyum portraits, or of the Faiyum area or any of its history for that matter, so the card has no relevance whatsoever. For some reason that cracks me up. To get through the mail something off the wall as this must be funny, but I wouldn't know. I never got anything apparently insane out of the blue.

A frog in the hand is worth two in a bush
Happy Birthday 2010

This card sure was fun to make.  I suppose having done this now got the 'boy with the golden crown' out of my system, so I can move on the next obsession.

I am disappointed with my version of the portrait. I thought it would be a snap and that my version would be perfect, but it's not. Oh well.

A LOT of card stock was gone through to make this card. As undisciplined a paper consumption as you can imagine. An entire grocery bag is filled with scraps and the room with the work table is a disaster. Most of the prototypes were retained. The recipient is going to get a lot of that too.

I intend to enclose those things in a separate envelope, much as the Egyptians themselves included mummified foetuses in their tombs, unidentified objects too valuable to trash but too useless to identify or to employ, or their usefulness used up, bundle them all together, and label the bundle similar to a canopic jar, and then include that package in the mailer along with the envelope for the actual card. The scrap package will be marked "DO NOT DISTURB THE CONTENTS OF THIS SACRED BUNDLE UPON PAIN OF CURSE" and "Prepared for Ritual Incineration" and "Herein are contained the mourned miscarriages, the painful abortive attempts, and all the excruciating unworkable prototypes whose untimely end is of no continued use to any living mortal who walks upon the earth, " and "Awaiting the arrival of the Wab priests, the Sed priests, and the chief of the Lector priests, the Hecktor priests to perform the ritual of the Opening of the Mouth, the mourners, and Faiyum counselors, elders and officials to escort the procession to the pyre." All of which should fairly guarantee the packet is opened and its contents carefully examined. That way my friend will see the many unproductive paths, the choices that were made, the half-way steps, and the numerous little things and trials that were rejected.

Here is a separate page on the process if you care to see.