Do you have an oven? If you have an oven set the temp to 165 Fahrenheit and heat the masks in the oven for 20 minutes.
Or, yes, microwaved boiled water is just as good as stove boiled water. Put a bowl on the counter, put the mask in the bowl, microwave water in a mug (most home microwaves will get close to boiling 12oz of water with 2 minutes on the quick cook/one touch options) pour over the mask until the mask is covered, let stand until cool enough to touch.
Once the mask is sanitized you can hand wash it with the rest of your clothes. Wring out as much water as you can, re-shape the pleats, and lay flat to dry to preserve the pleats (which, aside from expanding the size of the mask also help to block droplets so keeping the pleat is pretty important!). If you have an iron you can hang the masks to dry in your shower and iron the pleats back into place after the mask is dry.
How to make a washable cloth mask out of a bandana that is slightly better than just using a bandana.
(With hand sewing)
(And no rulers or measuring tape because I couldn’t find any in my house)
You will need:
A standard size cotton bandana
Pen and paper for measuring
Scissors
Needle and thread
Use a sheet of 8.5x11 paper to measure out a piece of cloth that’s 17x8.5 inches (or 16x8 if you wiggle it a bit)
That should leave you with 3-ish inches of fabric the full width of the bandana. Cut that bit into 4 strips (you will have about enough leftover fabric to just about make a second mask)
Fold the strips in half lengthwise and stitch them flat (everything you do will use a straight stitch)
Fold the large piece of fabric in half, tucking the edges opposite the fold inward half an inch.
Pin the strips in the corners, pin the edges of the cloth together, sew everything in place.
Fold 3 horizontal pleats into the mask and pin them in place.
Sew up and down the sides of the mask to fix the pleats in place.
To wear the mask rest the top on the bridge of your nose and make sure the bottom is under your chin. Tie the strips closed tightly enough that the mask doesn’t slip down when you move your head.
Wash the mask after wearing it out, use water over 165 Fahrenheit to sanitize it before you wear it again.
Wash your hands, avoid going out if you can, and this mask is not intended to be perfect protection, just something better than wrapping a scarf around your face for folks who can’t get masks and don’t have easy access to sewing machines or a lot of fabric.
Stay safe.
@rly-rad-val said:
guys… this is useless without a filter. honestly.
Guess what county I live in.
when people say “useless”, they’re talking from the perspective of medical hospital guidelines, even if they don’t realize it.
Will it protect you 100%? No. Fancy Schmancy N95 masks only protect you 95% (thats what the number means), and only if you use them right. But even if its vaguely in front of your mouth hole, and even if it’s cheap bandana material, it will, just as a completely random unscientific number pulled from my ass, protect you 25%. If you’re a doctor, and you see sick patient after sick patient, that 25% gets multiplied each time - ie 25% of 25% of 25% of…. => 0%
BUT, if you’re not a medical professional, that 25% (again, random number, don’t put too much on that) will give you more than 0% protection as you run to the store & run home. If you’re considered an “essential employee” however, then your situation is closer to the medical professional one, and you should try & get that % up as high as possible (which again creates a detrimental market force - you have a deteriorating commodity which you must continually resupply & fight against everyone else resupplying).
Reminds me of some old adage - if you take a shot of liquor with every bartender you meet, you’ll be buzzed but you’ll pass out & feel better in the morning.
If the bartender takes a shot with every patron he meets, he dies.
On this day, 4 April 1935 the bodies of German anti-Nazi activists Dora Fabian and Mathilde Wurm (pictured) were found in their flat in London. They had been poisoned.
The flat had previously been burgled twice, and they had received threatening letters. However, while many historians believe they were likely murdered, the inquest declared a double suicide was the most likely outcome.
The British government and media, who at that point were either mostly appeasers or supporters of Hitler, were eager to cover up the case and move on. https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1391878557663957/?type=3
Heeeyyy, Republicans– unless you’re a millionaire, your own party hates you. Get your head out of your ass and stop voting for neo-nazis who only see you as useful idiot units of production.
This blog is mostly so I can vent my feelings and share my interests. Other than that, I am nothing special.
If you don't like Left Wing political thought and philosophy, all things related to horror, the supernatural, the grotesque, guns or the strange, then get the fuck out. I just warned you.
