"Potions" Face Mask
Date2020
Credit LineGift of Patricia Musty, London, Ontario, 2020.
Object number2020.016.002
Label TextBefore the pandemic, Londoner Patricia Musty operated a screen printing and embroidery business “Must Have Creations” from her home. She had stock piles of different fabrics as well as the necessary tools and space to shift her production to face masks once the pandemic hit. Each mask has three layer: an outer cotton layer, an insert and a flannelette inside layer. Musty uses a piece of pipe cleaner for the nose and elastic for the ears. When it came to mask-making, Musty was well ahead of the curve. When she first started making them, city officials didn’t want them. Still, she gathered a group of London area ladies into a group called “Facemask Challenge.” As requests for masks surged, they merged with a local branch of “Canada Sews,” a community of 8000 volunteers (as of April 9, 2020) across Canada making fabric masks for frontline workers. Now that masking is mandatory, demand for masks has skyrocketed. About her motivation to make facemasks, Musty explained: “I felt that since I live in London, I would like to make masks for London…I feel there’s going to be a shortage of masks. When I speak to nursing friends of mine that are in nursing hospitals now, they’re saying they each get one mask per shift. One….I feel each of us has to do our own little part and since I can sew and I have lots of material that’s my little part. ”
NameMask, Face
