28 09, 2019

Buying Guide for Egyptian Papyrus Art

By |September 28th, 2019|Categories: Buying Guide, Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |2 Comments

Papyrus is the ancient symbol of Lower Egypt and you'll see it everywhere in Egypt. Touts will wave bookmarks and small art at you on the streets. Sellers at historical sites will have them displayed prominently. And you'll pass dozens of "Papyrus Museums" aka showrooms of the stuff. But you have to be very careful, as you could end up with cheap banana leave replicas, or artwork simply printed off a printer. Real papyrus (as any of the "Museums" will show you) no longer grows wild on the banks of the Nile, and are made from Cyperus papyrus stems. These stems

1 04, 2017

Souvenir Saturday: Suckered into Buying Papyrus

By |April 1st, 2017|Categories: Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |1 Comment

One thing I didn't think I'd get in Egypt was Papyrus. I didn't think I'd find anything I'd want to display, and I had always seen cast-off papyrus at second-hand stores like Goodwill. But, when you are there in the moment you get caught up...and guilted. You see, our group stopped at a "Papyrus Museum" (aka showroom) on our way to Alexandria. They showed us how Papyrus is made, and then each one of us were allowed to look around. Except in Egypt, "looking around" means you get adopted by one of the many employees eager for a sell. An

8 03, 2016

Egypt Travelogue: Day 5, Part 4 – Papyrus Trap & Alexandria

By |March 8th, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Memories, Travelogue|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

This is my travel diary of my trip to Egypt. It contains in detail my memories of what I did and saw. Monday October 26, 2015 Egypt: Day 5, Part 4 – Papyrus Trap & Road to Alexandria We then headed to a "Papyrus Museum", or a store that has been licensed in making real authentic papyrus (fake/cheaper ones are made with banana leaves). The store showed us how the papyrus is cut, left to age in the water, and then how to make it by alternating layers in different directions and pounding out all the water. She showed how it