Face coverings and masks
When this whole pandemic started, my humans started to search for face masks. My parents tried several pharmacies but all of them had sold out of the disposable face masks by that point. Then the government suggested that the general public should start wearing face coverings made of household fabrics. After watching several YouTube videos, mom and dad cut up some old cotton T-shirts and made our very own washable masks. Although they seemed to work just fine, they didn’t appeal much to my siblings;they said those fabrics looked old and boring. Well, what can I say to that?They are little human kids, after all! The problem is, even if we wanted to make face masks with fun fabrics, we didn’t have any spare fabric material laying around the house, and the crafting stores have all closed temporarily and shipping is taking longer than usual.
I’ve got to give dad more credit for his web research skills. He found a company called Blaqpaks that makes bags and accessories locally here in Portland, Oregon. Blaqpaks offers reusable face masks made of fun fabrics at a reasonable price, so my parents quickly ordered four of them (two for adults, and two for kids). The masks arrived several days later and my siblings LOVED them! In fact, they could not wait to wear them outside to ride their bikes (photos to follow). I guess that means we are good with face coverings for now? I wonder if the company will consider making some for dogs, too?
If you are like my family with limited resources at home (no fabrics, no sewing machines, etc.),a great place to check out is your local community’s social media sites, suchas Nextdoor, or Twitter. Many local sewing shops and crafting stores have switchedor added making fabric face masks in order to support the frontline responders and local community.
Another great find my discovered today, is from none other than Disney! I know I am big fan of their dog movies (hello, Lady & the Tramp), and my sister is all about Frozen,while my brother is a huge Marvel fan. Thanks to the Facebook mom group, we now can pre-order Disney character-themed masks for kids and adults. Hey, if this whole COVID-19 shutdown continues and everyone has to wear a mask to be outside,I would rather prefer to see my siblings wearing masks that help them feel safe and happy.