Collected Item: “My First Homemade Mask”
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My First Homemade Mask
What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?
Photograph
Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.
Back at the beginning of April, when the CDC had just finally recommended that the general public wear masks when going out, I was eager to follow this guideline to the best of my abilities. Unfortunately, I didn't have any masks nor any good way of purchasing masks. (Online orders of anything were taking very long at that point in time, and masks weren't readily available in most stores not that I could get to one anyway.) So, I decided to try to make myself a mask. I wanted to make a really good mask. I did lots of research to find out what the best mask materials were for blocking the virus and everything. I searched my home, looking through my clothing, my towels, my reusable bags, trying to find the "right" material. I wasn't satisfied by anything I found. Given that, I decided that my best option was a relatively thick hand towel. I found a template online and proceeded to spend a couple hours hand sewing the mask that you see on my face in the picture. (I have very little experience hand sewing, so I didn't do a very neat job at all.) The final product was this huge mask that covered the entire lower half of my face. I mean, it worked, but it looked pretty hilarious. I did wear this mask out a number of times. It was basically my only option until I was able to order some better masks off the internet. I'm glad I don't have to wear that ridiculous homemade mask anymore, but I'm actually pretty impressed that I managed to make one at all.
Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?
#SantaBarbara, #AntiochUniversity, #masks
Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)
Shira Gusfield
Give this story a date.
2020-04-05