DIY masks: Advice (and some laughs) from teams who’ve tried it

Mask-making a popular theme for teach catch-ups

The Marketing and Communications team sporting their home-made masks

With the move towards wearing masks in public spaces, some of our teams are supporting each other to make their own masks, with mixed results! Our Human Resource (HR) and Learning & Development (L&D) teams used the opportunity to try out an instructional video, while our Marketing and Communications team got creative with their mask-making efforts and presented them at their ‘Friday wind-down zui’ last week.

Mask making via a Facebook instructional video – what’s the verdict?

The HR and L&D teams tested a crafty video to make their own no-sew DIY face masks. Everyone brought an old cotton t-shirt and scissors (with some having to scramble last minute to find something cut-worthy).

The video is very short and the team found the step by step pictures below it easier to follow.

The video made it look easy – even for the non crafty people. They have these tips to share:

• a crucial element for success is sharp scissors. Without them, it was an exercise of testing one’s patience.
• you do need to cut a rectangle shape wide enough to go from ear to ear and long enough to have material to cover your nose and reach under your chin
• about seven holes each side were needed – making sure the holes went along the shorter sides.

Three of the team made it to very end, saying:

“This was such a good laugh, thank you this was a very much needed break”

“This mask actually feels much more comfortable than the commercial, blue ones”

Shalin Kotare, with her stylish home-made mask

Creative masks competition via zui

The Marketing and Communications team had a Friday wind-down zui and were challenged to make a themed mask, competing for chocolatey prizes. Some very creative examples here!

Some of the winning themes were (see photo at top of story):

• Transparency – Ching Ting Fu: My mask was made from a clear/transparent container lid – to demonstrate the value of Ngākau Mahaki, so we are able to see the person as they are and potentially enable lip-reading for people with different needs (it’s not breathable, just a concept).
• Gold & Glitter – Kirsten Petersen: “My ‘gold n glitter’ mask was made from sleeves I cut off an ‘op-shop’ top that I wore to an 80s gig. I made two masks – the other one I sent to a friend in Te Puke, as she needed some sparkle!”
• Te Noho Kotahitanga – Ciarin Smith:”My mask was made of toilet roll, cut into strips and woven together to symbolise sustainability, manaaki tia te rito, and also our toilet-paper obsessed COVID-19 era.”

The Marketing and Communications team

Make your own mask

Check out the below links to find a tutorial and style to suit you!

This short video that the HR and L&D teams used, with helpful pictures included below.

For the three tutorials below, all you need to make a pattern is an A4 sheet of paper, a ruler, a pen and a dinner plate (for the curves). All are suited to using with glasses.

1. A smallish medium sized mask

2. Medium sized – more generous than the previous one

3. This mask has elastic under the chin.  It’s in Russian but has subtitles. Make it with three layers of fabric and skip the instructions for the filter pocket, a filter that does not cover the entire mask is pretty pointless anyway! Medium sized.

If you or your team would like to give this a go, contact our sustainability team – they’re keen to help make it a success!

Kimmie Loeffen made a very professional mask at home