Up-cycling

Wear a Mask – Slow the Spread!

With the combination of frequent hand washing and physical distancing, wearing a face mask can help to slow the spreading of the virus, according to supporting research. The wearing of a face mask has become the norm in many Asian countries since the onset of COVID-19, and more recently, the US, France, and parts of Italy have also urged people to wear “alternative” masks – such as cloth face coverings.

Our local vets calling out for home-made face masks (all masks have been given to the NHS), but in other countries people are making for the hospitals, as supply is not meeting demand. During the past 6 weeks, I have been producing masks for myself, my carer and my mum (to use in the supermarket, when walking down the high street, etc.) in addition to around 30 masks produced for local key workers and veterinary surgeries.

To be clear this is a LAST RESORT mask for the NHS – and yet, during the past week, both my mother and I have been producing them for Physiotherapists and other staff working at Leighton Hospital, in addition to full sets of scrubs, scrubs bags and crocheted clips / headbands (which secure the mask behind the users head, to avoid rubbing the ears if wearing for a long time). The patterns and instructions for these can be found below.