Book of the Dead | monster ate the moon

The Book of the Dead

"It's just a book. No harm ever came from reading a book."

Julia Xiong | October 20, 2020

Have you ever seen a prop in a movie or show and thought... I just have to have it? Well, this is one of those instances.

As a kid I was OBSESSED with Evie from The Mummy 1999 franchise. She was an adorably badass librarian/Egyptologist/archeologist who could read and write ancient Egyptian, decipher hieroglyphs and hieratic. I love how she was always so unapologetically passionate for what she loved.

I digress. Scroll away for how I made this travel size Book of the Dead.

Reference & Design

If you google "The Mummy Book of the Dead", you'll get an outpour of recreations of this prop. It's been done many times and I am, but another addition to the list.

*Disclaimer: I am not a professional prop artisan. This is purely for decorative purposes only. No tomb digging or mummy resurrection happening on my part.

I referenced this first image that linked to Pinterest (unfortunately no creator was listed) and this second image that links to Geekify, where you can actually purchase this prop book.

Referencing both photos, I sketched out this design. I really wanted a functioning book. I wanted it to be able to open, regardless of what was inside. I originally planned to use a combination of door hinges to create the latches. However, my store didn’t have the hinges I wanted. So I had to move in a different direction.

Materials:

Notebook

Thrifted book

Kid's Craft Foam Sheets

Dowel (1/4" thick x 14" long)

Big Wooden Beads (fits into dowel)

Polymer Clay

Paint: Black, brown, gold

Tools:

Craft Knife (Exacto Knife)

Dotting Tool

Paintbrush

Hot Glue Gun

Hack Saw

My base consists of an old notebook I already had and this thrifted book.

The notebook was the size I wanted and it had the hardcover front and back I needed. I removed the spiral binding. Once removed, all the inside pages won't hold. So I thrifted a book to fit inside the hardcover to act as the pages. The book should be smaller than the covers, no edges should line up.

Step 1: Make the Book Base

Paint the book binding black.

With an Exacto knife, trim your craft foam to the size of your book covers. You'll want 2 per cover (front and back) for a total of 4.

Step 2: Make the Keyhole

On the cover, I drew out the keyhole for a visual on spacing. I used 2 different circular objects. Then I roughly drew and cut out an octagon on the inside circle.

Draw out the inside scarab onto the hardcover. Don't worry about messy lines, this will get painted. Using a dotting tool, press firmly onto the hardcover. This will create an indent. I got my dotting tool from The Dollar Tree, it has 2 ends with a bigger and smaller dot. I used the smaller dot end for this.

Step 2: Make the Keyhole

Repeat the same keyhole circle method onto another piece of craft foam. Cut this out with an Exacto knife.

Add ridges to the outer keyhole (green) by gently scoring it with the Exacto knife.

Make random cuts to the sides of the octagon (purple) as well.

Step 3: Make the Embellishments

Draw and cut out 4 of these little scarabs. Using the dotting tool (small dot) I pressed on the inside lines for a little more depth.

Draw and cut out the book sign. I chose random hieroglyphs and drew them in using the dotting tool (small end) again.

When you finish, it should look something like this. Make sure that you always reference the size of the cover and play with your spacing so that everything fits. Since this is a travel size book, the spacing was crucial in design.

Step 4: Add the Scratches

Once you get the spacing of all the embellishments, add the scratches to all 4 covers. I drew in the lines first. Then using the dotting tool (bigger end), I pressed firmly and ran the dot along the lines to create an indent. Repeat this step on all 4 covers.

Step 5: Phase 1 of Glueing

*For the covers, I don't recommend hot glue as it set too fast and slightly melted the covers. It created a slight groove outline of where the glue was placed. You want a glue that won't melt the craft foam. Elmer's glue would've worked for this. The hot glue wasn't an issue for the embellishments.

Glue on:

The front craft cover (that has the keyhole) onto the hardcover. Make sure to line up the scarab to the keyhole.
The keyhole ring to the front craft cover.
The scarabs and sign.
Flip the whole thing upside and glue on the back front craft cover onto the hardcover.

DO NOT GLUE THE BACK COVER OR BOOK YET.

Step 6: Cut the dowel

You'll need 3 pieces of the 1/4" dowel:

One long piece for the Book Binding (mine was 9", reference your book size).
Two small pieces for the side latches (mine was 2.5", reference your book size).

I used a mini hack saw to score around the dowel and then snapped it at the break. Don't worry about the ends not being a clean cut. We'll cover it up later.

(If you don't want to use a hack saw, I have scored using a pair of scissors before (only with this dowel size of 1/4"). I'm not endorsing this method so do at your risk.)

Step 7: Add beads & stoppers

The wooden beads that I used were my makeshift "hinges". I was gonna mold clay latches onto the wooden beads so that it can open and close. Make sure that your beads can swivel on the dowel.

Smaller Dowel

Add 2 wooden beads on the small dowel.

Add stoppers to the ends by cutting out a strip of craft foam that encircles the entire dowel (mine are about 1/2" wide.) Hot glue these in place.

Longer Dowel

Referencing your book, place the dowel on the left side by the binding. You want to place 2 wooden beads where the scarabs are placed on the book. Add stoppers to secure the beads in the correct location.

Step 8: Add Embellishments

In my reference photo, the binding sort of looks like a roll of hardware nuts (or at least that's what I'm calling it.)

To create the 'nuts' for the binding, I cut up more strips of craft foam and glued it around the remaining portion of the visible dowel. These are 1/2" wide and will wrap around the dowel about 3 times. I lined up the raw edge onto one side of the dowel so I can hide this later on.

Using an Exacto knife, I lightly scored the 'nuts' by creating a bunch of X's for some details.

Step 9: Add Endcaps

Using hot glue, I carefully piled a mound of glue to the ends of the dowel. This creates an endcap.

Keep a careful eye on the hot glue while it sets. If you move on too quickly, the glue will shift and then your endcaps will be uneven.

Step 10: Cut out the binding holders

Longer Binding: cut out a piece of craft foam that would fit the length of the dowel 'nuts'. You want to place this onto the very last back craft cover.

DO NOT GLUE YET.

Small Latches: cut out strips of craft foam that the small dowel latches can sit on. Place these onto the last back craft cover as well.

Layer on: hardcover #1, 2nd back craft cover, book, 2nd front craft cover, hardcover #2

DO NOT GLUE YET.

Step 11: Make the snake heads

As you see in the reference photo, I'm calling these attachments "snake heads". Although mine looked a little more like claws, but I'm okay with that too.

I used Sculpey oven-bake clay. I got the 1lb for other projects, but the 2oz one should be just enough.

I rolled the clay into a ball and then gently pinched the clay and pushed down while extending the beak.

Place the snake heads on your binding and book. Gently bend the snake heads so they will sit nicely over the book and on top of the wooden beads. Adjust the binding if needed. Repeat on opposite side. I did have to use some items to prop up the binding since it wasn't glued yet. Once everything is set how you like it, make sure to mark where the binding will sit.

The 2 snake heads on the right are going to act as latches. I placed sew-on-snap- buttons on the scarabs and pressed the opposite end into the clay. This will create an indent later on.

I baked the clay according to the instructions. To help the clay retain it's shape, I rolled up some aluminum foil balls for the clay to sit on.

Step 12: Glue the bindings & latches

While the clay bakes, glue on the binding holders to the last back craft cover.

Glue and layer on: hardcover #2, top back craft cover and book. Glue on the entire front cover onto the book's front page. Lastly, glue the new binding and latches onto the holders.

As you can see here, this is what happens when you don't line up the raw edges of the 'nuts'.

Step 13: Glue on Snap Buttons

When your snakeheads are finished baking and have cooled down completely, glue on your snap buttons. I used a strong super glue for this. Because of the indent you created earlier, these should sit nicely in place.

Attach the adjoining snap buttons onto the snakeheads.
Place your snakehead in it's place on top of the book and dowel latches.
Press firmly on the snakehead to create an indent of the snap button onto the scarab.
Use a strong super glue to glue this button in place.
Let these dry. Since this is super glue, it will need some time to dry. Be patient.

Step 14: Glue on Snakeheads

The snakeheads were the hardest to get around. After much trial and error, this is what I ended up doing.

I cut out a tiny piece of craft foam that would sit on the wooden beads and snakehead. I hot glued the foam onto the wooden beads and then the snakeheads.

Then gently peel and separate the snakehead from the foam. This should create a little mold. Add superglue to the new mold and apply pressure until it dries.

This is easier on the binding side then on the side with latches. On the latch side, make sure that the snakeheads are snapped onto the scarabs to get the placement right.

Step 15: Paint Gold Accents

I had this gold spray paint on hand. And like it's name, it really is radiant. If you sprayed the entire book, you would get 'The Book of the Living'.

Spray the binding, latches and front cover. Make sure to get in all the sides, like the end caps, keyhole and inside of latches.

*In hindsight, fold up a piece of paper that would cover up the book binding. You should be able to slide this in between the new binding and the old. I originally painted this black to cover up the original book title/color, but I also accidentally spray painted it gold in the process.

Step 16: Paint Black

Paint black:

front cover (outside & inside)
- When painting the sign, gently paint over the top so the gold paint can shine through the cracks.
back cover (outside & inside)
sides of pages

When painting the sides near the binding, I placed a piece of paper in the cracks to avoid painting over the gold accents.

Step 17: Paint Brown Details

To age the book, I added brown details on all the little indents and scratches I created on the book. These are the book scratches, bindings & endcaps, scarabs and keyhole.

While the paint is still wet, I rub the paint with my finger to get rid of the harsh lines.

and voila...

I was very nervous about the outcome of this project, but the paint is what really sells the book. Since this is a 'travel size' it fits in my bookshelf nicely.

CONS:

-Once I added the paint the book became very stiff and will not actually open up all the way. The book will crack open at the most.

-The snap buttons were a good idea, but once you cover it in paint, it won't snap together that well.

-The bead and clay combo for the snakehead latches was a rash idea to replace my hinge option. It does it's job of swinging open, but it is quite fragile still.