Threads 35: Your Own Halloween Mask

Materials required:

• 1 styrofoam cup

• Cut 5 pcs. of #3 round reed, 24" long and one piece 13".

• Pre-soak a few pieces of #2 round reed for weavers (can be dyed to make them more interesting).

• A piece of elastic to hold the mask in place.

• Scraps of raffia, yarn, beads, feathers, drinking straws (cut into 1" pieces for beads) or natural materials such as seed pods, dried flowers, milk weed pods, grasses, berries etc.

STEP 1. Use an awl or a knitting needle to make eleven holes around the base. Now push the 5 24" pieces of #3 reed into the cup and across to the opposite side. Use the short one to go half way across and come out beside a long one. This makes the number of stakes an odd number which is easier for weaving.

STEP 2. Start the weaving using a pre-soaked #2 round reed weaver. Take care to move the weaver up and down, over and under the stakes so that the weaving is close to the cup base. Joins should be left at the back, and the reed overlapped.

STEP 3. After a few rows the cup is pulled off and the weaving continued. The mask can be shaped by bringing the sides up e.g. make a nose.

STEP 4. Circles of reed or scrap materials can be used for eyes or specs. Pieces of cardboard can be woven in and later removed to leave a space to see through. Any of the scraps can be incorporated for ears, hair, whiskers etc!

STEP 5. When the weaving is completed, bend the stakes so that they can be poked down beside another stake, or they can be woven down as a border, behind-in front­ behind, and left on the inside. Use a piece of elastic to hold the mask in place.

STEP 6. Enjoy!