Ptah is known as the creator, first of all Egyptian deities. In the Shabaka Stone, it was said that Ptah called the world into being, having a dream about creation in his heart, and speaking it. His name means 'opener', in the sense of a mouth opening. The opening of the mouth ceremony, performed by priests at funerals to release the souls from corpses, was said to have been created by Ptah. Ptah was said to have created Atum to rule over the creation, sitting on the primordial mound.
He is portrayed as a bearded and mummified man, often wearing a skull cap, with hands holding an ankh, was, and djed, the symbols of life, power and stability. It was believed that Ptah manifested himself in the Apis bull. Ptah was worshipped in his own right in Memphis, seen as Atum's father and the father of Nefertum, the younger form of Atum. When beliefs about the Ennead and Ogdoad were later merged, and Atum was identified as Ra (Atum-Ra), himself seen as Horus (Ra-Herakhty), Ptah was said to be married to Sekhmet, at the time considered the earlier form of Hathor, Horus' (thus Atum's) mother.
Cold Cast is a modern method of casting sculptures using a mixture of resin and powdered polymer materials. The finished sculpture has a surface which looks very similar to traditionally cast material, but tends to be much lighter.
