CourtneyCoulson
New Member
Estimated Budget: $300AUD
Hi everyone, I've been a long time follower of RPF, watching everyone else build some amazing costumes and learning from you all. I have been cosplaying since I was about sixteen, mostly very simple foam and fabric things, but it's been two years since I've cosplayed at all and I'm eager to get back to it again and take it to the next level.
I recently watched Night at the Museum and it reignited my love of Egyptology, I was obsessed as a kid because I grew up watching Stargate. I have a friend who is a qualified historian and together we've been analysing Ahkmenrah's costume, turns out the costume department did their research, it's about 80% accurate to what we know of Egypt 4,000 years ago/the Middle Kingdom. I noticed Ahkmenrah says he lived 3,000 years ago in the first two movies, then 4,000 years ago in the third film, so I'm choosing the latter as the most recent piece on continuity.
I believe I can construct this fairly cheaply, it's just incredibly intricate, so it will take some time, there's a lot of beading, plus I have no idea how to make the tablet which has moving tiles and lights up. But for now I am focusing on the headdress/deshret and the collar/wesekh.
Deshret:
I would like to construct it out of real copper, however I've no experience with metal, perhaps someone might be able to give me some advice? It's a relatively simple shape.
How historically accurate is it? Not too bad, although we have no idea what real deshret were constructed out of as none have been recovered in tombs, suggesting that it was passed down to the next generation. Copper, fabric, felt and wool have all been theorised as potential materials, so copper allows me to be both screen and historically accurate. My research indicates that he may possibly have had a vulture head as well as a cobra on the deshret. However I need to verify what period that trend began. It should be noted that over the 5,000 year history of Ancient Egypt, there were relatively few changes in fashion, this is because they didn't experience as much outside influence that would be later very prevalent on the Silk Road for example.
Wesekh:
Most of the gold beads on the collar can be sourced, however I've had no luck with finding the right bugle beads, I will instead use irrigation hose, so I can cut them to the exact lengths and paint them the exact colours I need. Very cheap and easy to work with too. Historical accuracy on this collar is pretty good too, however there are no visible fastenings anywhere, this is inaccurate. Therefore I will be adding falcon head clasps at the back, I will likely cast those in resin as well as the falcon and beetle jewels. I did briefly consider adding nefer beads, beads inspired by Nefertiti, however she lived nearly a millenium after Ahkmenrah.
Fabric parts:
One of the only fabrics available in Ancient Egypt was linen, this makes fabric sourcing easy, orange and blue were certainly available pigments at the time. Capes and cloaks were never worn in Egypt, the only exception was during an event called the Heb-Sed, this was a celebration of a pharaoh's thirty year reign, the pharaoh would don a Jubilee Cloak and the few historical records we have of it actually match the pattern on Ahkmenrah's cloak. Thing is, Ahkmenrah was barely twenty when he died, it makes no sense that we would be wearing this, although given his unusual circumstances and his whole family being immortal, I'm willing to give it a pass. Perhaps he has his personal reasons for wearing it. The sleeves seem to be separate, which is unusual, though the sleeve shape itself existed at the time, will need to do more research to figure out what's going on there.
Belt:
There were certainly beaded leather belts worn during this period, however men wore their belts and shendyts (skirts) below the navel. Perhaps they hide his belly button in the movie as a nod to the old sword and sandal films made in a time when exposing this area on-screen was considered taboo. Or such modesty was needed in a family movie, I can't say. Other than wearing these things lower, I don't think I will have to change too much, there is evidence of full-length shendyts but they are rare, I need to do more research to figure out when and why they were worn.
Sandals:
Ahkmenrah is wearing some cool sandals, however I can't find a single historical source that has shoes that look anything like that. I'll keep searching, if anything more historically accurate sandals are much easier to find and no one is likely to look that close. I do have flat feet though, so I am tempted to make my own and mold the leather to my arch supports.
First on the to-do list is to make cardboard templates for the deshret and wesekh.
Will keep you posted and any suggestions are very welcome.
Hi everyone, I've been a long time follower of RPF, watching everyone else build some amazing costumes and learning from you all. I have been cosplaying since I was about sixteen, mostly very simple foam and fabric things, but it's been two years since I've cosplayed at all and I'm eager to get back to it again and take it to the next level.
I recently watched Night at the Museum and it reignited my love of Egyptology, I was obsessed as a kid because I grew up watching Stargate. I have a friend who is a qualified historian and together we've been analysing Ahkmenrah's costume, turns out the costume department did their research, it's about 80% accurate to what we know of Egypt 4,000 years ago/the Middle Kingdom. I noticed Ahkmenrah says he lived 3,000 years ago in the first two movies, then 4,000 years ago in the third film, so I'm choosing the latter as the most recent piece on continuity.
I believe I can construct this fairly cheaply, it's just incredibly intricate, so it will take some time, there's a lot of beading, plus I have no idea how to make the tablet which has moving tiles and lights up. But for now I am focusing on the headdress/deshret and the collar/wesekh.
Deshret:
I would like to construct it out of real copper, however I've no experience with metal, perhaps someone might be able to give me some advice? It's a relatively simple shape.
How historically accurate is it? Not too bad, although we have no idea what real deshret were constructed out of as none have been recovered in tombs, suggesting that it was passed down to the next generation. Copper, fabric, felt and wool have all been theorised as potential materials, so copper allows me to be both screen and historically accurate. My research indicates that he may possibly have had a vulture head as well as a cobra on the deshret. However I need to verify what period that trend began. It should be noted that over the 5,000 year history of Ancient Egypt, there were relatively few changes in fashion, this is because they didn't experience as much outside influence that would be later very prevalent on the Silk Road for example.
Wesekh:
Most of the gold beads on the collar can be sourced, however I've had no luck with finding the right bugle beads, I will instead use irrigation hose, so I can cut them to the exact lengths and paint them the exact colours I need. Very cheap and easy to work with too. Historical accuracy on this collar is pretty good too, however there are no visible fastenings anywhere, this is inaccurate. Therefore I will be adding falcon head clasps at the back, I will likely cast those in resin as well as the falcon and beetle jewels. I did briefly consider adding nefer beads, beads inspired by Nefertiti, however she lived nearly a millenium after Ahkmenrah.
Fabric parts:
One of the only fabrics available in Ancient Egypt was linen, this makes fabric sourcing easy, orange and blue were certainly available pigments at the time. Capes and cloaks were never worn in Egypt, the only exception was during an event called the Heb-Sed, this was a celebration of a pharaoh's thirty year reign, the pharaoh would don a Jubilee Cloak and the few historical records we have of it actually match the pattern on Ahkmenrah's cloak. Thing is, Ahkmenrah was barely twenty when he died, it makes no sense that we would be wearing this, although given his unusual circumstances and his whole family being immortal, I'm willing to give it a pass. Perhaps he has his personal reasons for wearing it. The sleeves seem to be separate, which is unusual, though the sleeve shape itself existed at the time, will need to do more research to figure out what's going on there.
Belt:
There were certainly beaded leather belts worn during this period, however men wore their belts and shendyts (skirts) below the navel. Perhaps they hide his belly button in the movie as a nod to the old sword and sandal films made in a time when exposing this area on-screen was considered taboo. Or such modesty was needed in a family movie, I can't say. Other than wearing these things lower, I don't think I will have to change too much, there is evidence of full-length shendyts but they are rare, I need to do more research to figure out when and why they were worn.
Sandals:
Ahkmenrah is wearing some cool sandals, however I can't find a single historical source that has shoes that look anything like that. I'll keep searching, if anything more historically accurate sandals are much easier to find and no one is likely to look that close. I do have flat feet though, so I am tempted to make my own and mold the leather to my arch supports.
First on the to-do list is to make cardboard templates for the deshret and wesekh.
Will keep you posted and any suggestions are very welcome.
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