![]() I left with the uneasy feeling I had probably overpaid. Also there are a lot of sparklies sprinkled into the paint. The piece is a little hokey, there is glow-in-the-dark paint embedded in the painting - The sales guy kept turning out the lights to highlight this "feature". This is a little more than I feel the piece is worth, but considerably less that the asking price. I "negotiated" what I think was a fair price for a papyrus I liked - $65. So when you pay $1 for a cup of coffee, that is 20 Egyptian pounds.get it? The papyrus I was interested in was displayed for 3500 pounds or about $200. The local currency, Egyptian pounds is currently 18 to a USD (thank you google). Nowhere are the "displayed" prices are firm. $ 65 USD I visited the Papyrus Institute on a 2 day visit to Cairo. It's simply a written paper photocopied hundreds of times. They come with an authenticity paper but there is no formal stamp or name authorizing it. Overall, the prints are extremely overpriced. Our travel guide offered to send us money for the over payment, a kind gesture but sketchy. ![]() It's a shame that even with the travel advisories for Egypt, that locals treat tourists this way. We were told not to open the scroll where they placed our paintings for custom reasons (?) and so I only opened it when I got home. Our credit card statement was $50-$100 CAD more than we were expecting. Although the price was negotiated (it could have totally been negotiated lower!), we were charged more than we were told. We took their word for it, because really, how would you prove it wrong? I paid with my credit card and so did my friend (big mistake!). We browsed and chose a couple of pieces we liked after being told that they were authentic papyrus pieces and painted by students and professors of universities in Egypt. They offer tea or coffee which is very typical in these tourist-only shops. The presentation was quick and overly rehearsed. The shop itself was nice with papyrus paintings hanging on the walls. I've been on enough tours to know your guide has an agreement with the owner's of the shop, the shops are always overpriced and the guide gets a cut of the sales. It was not something we asked to do on our private tour but were taken anyways. You can see Waleed our tour guide giving us a demonstration below.We were taken to the Papyrus Institute by our tour guide, "Prince Andrew". The sheet is then dried under pressure, sometimes using a press.Īfter drying, the sheet of papyrus paper is polished with some rounded object. The strips may have been soaked in water long enough for softening to begin, which allows them to adhere slightly together because they are so soft, so they mold easily and mesh in form.Īnother piece of damp felt or fabric is placed on the top and the two layers are hammered together, mashing the layers into a single sheet. The strips are then placed side by side on a piece of wet felt or fabric with the edges meeting or slightly overlapping, and then another layer of strips are then laid on top at a 90 degree right angle. These strips are usually about 35 to 40 cm long. The outer layer is first removed, and the soft inside fiber is cut longways into thin strips. ![]() Papyrus paper is made from the stem or stalk of the papyrus plant. Exploramum and Explorason – Egypt, Luxor – Isis 2 Papyrus Museum – Learning the technique
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