This is a short sequence showing the process of painting silk for masks. And, I will just say right here and now, at the beginning of this post, that I have since steamed this silk, made it up into masks and sold all six. Since the UK government introduced for England, the rule to wear a face covering in shops and on public transport, I have not been able to paint and make masks fast enough.
Painting the silk is not a speedy process and even though I have now made over 100 masks, I don’t seem to be getting any faster at sewing the silk into masks.
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Agnes Ashe 
They do look good your masks but what a lot of work!
Thank you. I have been surprised by requests for bright colours, fuchsia pinks and vibrant oranges! And, why not look cheery.
I’m going to say it again. I have not seen any masks more beautiful. Just wow. I wonder if you’ve thought about subcontracting out the sewing? Less profit but you might make it up in volume? (I also sense the assembly part of the process is your least favorite ?)
I agree, Claudia. It’s worth a thought Agnes? And if there are any readers who have yet to buy a mask, please do so NOW. Not only will it be your best-looking mask by several miles, but it’s comfortable to wear for long periods, something that is quite a challenge for most masks. Washing really isn’t the problem I feared, and careful hanging out to dry eliminates the need for ironing. The biggest problem is that Agnes packages them so beautifully it seems criminal to unwrap them!
Thanks so much for the positive advertising Margaret. Sadly, I can’t afford it, but if I could I’d offer you an advertising/marketing position and you could write all the copy for my site! Regarding the packaging,I have been reliably informed that people like tissue paper and stickers. One of my nieces has expensive tastes and she was thrilled with a recent luxury purchase that arrived similarly packaged. I think in these miserable times anything that can be made a little nicer should be.
Your packaging is a fabulous touch that makes a workaday product- albeit a very lovely one – extra special. Me? Marketing? That’s a first!
Thank you and, yes, you have suspected correctly. Everyone in my family knows that sewing for me is a means to an end – and that’s been the case ever since I was about 13 years old when I started making clothes! The trouble with subcontracting is that ‘piecework’ as we call it over here, frequently doesn’t really work ethically. For me, paying a fair fee for sewing a mask means I would make a loss. I can do it myself for my own business, but I couldn’t afford to pay a fair wage to somebody else. It would only work if I could massively increase the volume and I can’t paint that fast! Also, once you employ a person (and I would never use the zero hours contract option) then it changes your business status.
I see how it makes sense. I guess I’m thinking you need a partner rather than an employee. And…that is a whole other kettle of fish, as then it becomes a joint enterprise and you’d need just the right person to do this.
Yes, I have looked in to it all, but it wouldn’t work for me.
Such beautiful pieces. No wonder they are rushing out the door.
It has been a bit mad, but I think we are past ‘peak mask’ now even if not remotely over the virus. Hope you are keeping well.
We’re tootling along with life and mostly in good health. Hubbie got a cold so we dashed off for a test – both of us negative. The results came through by phone text at midnight, and you had to enter a code to access them. I was almost afraid to look!
Glad to hear all was okay. Still quite understand the trepidation. UK is heading into the storm again – we appear to be a divided country over all this now. For many people it appears to be either the economy or health, not a good look. The shocking discovery is that 65% of infected people are asymptomatic. It is a condition that the intellectually challenged are finding hard to comprehend. For the sake of social cohesion alone a vaccine can’t come quick enough.
I sympathise with all you are going through. It’s going to get tougher yet for the UK I feel.