Shaping Set: A Mask Project Part 1

Gods for Modern Times:  Sutekh
by Sophia Kelly Shultz

Popular literature--and some modern cults--portray the ancient Egyptian god Set (also known as Set, Sutekh or Typhon) as "evil."  After all, he murdered and dismembered his brother Osiris:  how much more dastardly can you get?  Why, he probably has tea with Osama bin Laden on a regular basis!

A little research reveals this to be a very simplistic description of an enormously complex deity who represented not evil, but something that the ancient Egyptians found to be far more terrifying:  chaos.  Set represented the chaos of storms, of the untamed desert, and of change.  Chaos was BAD.  It was one step away from the thing that they found most terrifying:  oblivion.

The ancient Egyptians did not, for the most part, love Set, but they accepted him as part of their cosmology because he provided the thing which the Egyptians valued above everything--balance.  The Egyptians were a very practical people:  you can't have good without evil; you can't have order without chaos.

I am in charge of Body Tribal, which will be held the second weekend of August at Four Quarters Farm  www.4qf.org  , and the theme this year is the Egyptian netherworld.   I'm sure there is a way to stage the dramas I have in mind without masks, but I can't envision acting out a judgement scene or the Osirian drama without animal-headed gods.

This is the first part of a blog about making a mask of the god Set.

It was supposed to be a blog about making a mask of the god Anubis, but that plan went south when I realized that with the exception of the ears the mask looked more like Set than Anubis.  Finally, I caved in and changed the ears.  So, this is in fact the first part of a blog about making a mask of the god Set.

I had found a website that suggested using a gallon jug as an armature for a mask.  I liked this idea, so I started with this shape.  I cut away much of the bottle, leaving the top and handle intact.


I tried gluing the foam board ears to this shape but was unsuccessful, so instead I punched holes into the center of the handle and around the perimeter of the remaining jug shape, then cut sections of nylon screen and laced wire through them and into the holes in the jug handle.

 I then punched holes matching those in the jug into the ears and threaded wire through them and into the jug.  It was at this point that I realized that the ears were too high, so I had to unthread the wire, move the holes, and re-thread the wire.  Very exciting.

Archaeologists have no clue what sort of animal Set was.  He had square-tipped ears and a tail that forked at the end:  suggestions have included everything from aardvarks to giraffes.  It is simpler to refer to him as "the Set animal" or "Typhonian beast".  On the left you can see one square-tipped ear mounted on the jug-armature.

Of course, the jug handle is not nearly long enough for a mask that covers an adult human's face.  I cast about the basement for something tubular, and when nothing was readily apparent, I took a scrap of foam board (I'm an artist; I have lots) and scored it on one side (right).  Now the normally rigid foam board will curl around nicely to form a snout.

Looks like a gas mask!

I next sliced the screen right at the handle level and lifted it up so that I could wire the snout to it.  I glued the snout together and am now waiting for the glue to set (nice pun, huh?) so that I can continue on.  I may have to shorten the snout, but that will be easy enough once the glue has set.

As you see, this is not your "Halloween mask for beginners" mask.  Tomorrow it may even begin to look like something!