How I turned plastic straws and forks into futuristic face masks
I live in Brno, the second largest city in Czech Republic, full of coffee loving hipsters, students, IT folks and creative people. It’s cultural life is pretty diverse and growing, full of great places to go and events to attend. One such great event is Prototyp.
What is Prototyp Brno?
Prototyp festival aims to combine science and technology with art to create entertainment for the general public, to revive the Brno culture and to introduce high quality creative enthusiasts and experienced artists. Every year’s highlight is a fashion performance which engages young local designers and challenges the fashion standards.
My first: Prototype 2014
On one late spring night in 2014, I found a forum post, that a festival is looking for a host. I took my chances and hit “Reply” button. That was the moment my story begun.
A girl reached out to me and we set up a meeting at the local rendez-vous point, Ceska. She was one out of the three founders (they call themselves “Protopipky”, in Eng. Protochicks), and she told me, that the place of the host is already taken, but if I wanted to I could sign up as a volunteer. Since I have a strong passion for event management, I agreed more than willingly.
For the night of the event, my job description was basically to do anything I was told to, from sweeping the floor to cutting out directions signs out of the paper, to taking care of the catering.
The energy of that night left me mesmerized. Next morning , I felt so inspired and energized. I had a blast! I knew I wanted to do the gig again. It felt like I am finnaly part of something which is unique, makes sense and that I’ve met bunch of great people.
The girl I’ve met at Ceska is Veronika and we are friends since. (On the photo 2015 and 2017 most to the right.)
Check out Veronika’s portfolio, she’s done a lot of great projects!
Prototype 2015 and 2016
During next two years I worked as a volunteer again. For each year there was a unique topic and the festival became 3 day event. In 2016 was my first time I was given the chance to host the event. I’ve always dreamed to be a radio host and this was one of the opportunities, when I could be that for a brief moment. Great venue, packed agenda and lovely people. One of the nights in my life, I’ll never forget… (Thank you girls 😘)
Prototype 2017
Throughout the years I’ve met a lot of cool people. One of them is Daniela, a talented fashion designer interested in upcycled fashion. She approached me with the offer to be a part of the fashion show. She knew that in my spare time, I love to craft and she asked whether I can craft some accessories for her collection Next.
For the first time I couldn’t dedicate my time to the preparations, because of my full-time job, but I was very happy that I was able to contribute. Therefore I fully focused on the fashion show and the promise I gave to Daniela.
Ideas & Sketches
First of all, I’ve never ever done anything like that and I was already short on time. I’ve started with some sketches. I knew it would be a headband of sort. I also wanted it to have some special effect. In the previous years, one of the main elements used, was light, so obviously I wanted that too, because light is way too cool.
Next, I wanted to stay clean and futuristic. And most of all I wanted to upcycle. After connecting these dots, I ended up with sketch for face masks.
Materials
In order to achieve my futuristic ambitions I knew, I needed something light with repetitive pattern which was at the same time easy to get. I love working with ordinary materials in order to create something unexpected and impressive. I wanted to create piece of art from something I, in my mind, consider useless and wasteful, like plastic straws and forks.
Construction
Honestly, my favorite part of crafting. The way I usually do this is the trial/error approach. I have my plan in my head and fortunatelly, in most cases, the plan works… in most cases 😅.
1. Polygon mask
For the first mask, let’s call it Polygon mask, I leveraged the simple principle of conecting segments of used straws with sphere joins (pearl beads). To achieve and control the rounded shape of the whole mask I used my basketball ball. After the shape was finished, I sprayed the mask with white acrylic spray. After this I attached the mask to a metallic headband.
2. Light mask
Fot the second mask, let’s call it Light mask, I tried to think about the best way how to leverage the shape of the fork to create a self-supporting construction which would allow me to incorporate led diods for light and holding straps.
I cut each fork in two pieces with my Dremel pen using only the piece with spikes and I glued them up with glue gun forming a dome shape with repetitive pattern. To made it wearable, I used a metal headband.
As I was finishing, I really struggled with the led lights, because the circuit was disconecting from the headband and it was also shorting-out.
The last phase, after all the forks were in place, was to attach the straps. I used white nylon straps and I added velcro type fastening, so the mask is easily wearable.
Fashion show
I finished masks only few days before the festival. A day before I met with Daniela on the rehersal. The performance itself was happening on Friday. Everything was ready, awesome choreography prepared and models lined up. It was showtime!
Because I was hosting the event, I dindn’t get the chance to see my masks on the models upfront, but I couln’t be more happy with the final outcome. Daniela made hell of a job and I was very pround of myself.
Here are final pics of masks for fashion performance Next!
Every year is special
Tens of volunteers help every year. The preparation for the next year starts immediately after the end of this year’s event. Although the ladies, “Protopipky” are no longer in the charge of the whole thing, their work has left a remarkable footprint in the life of every volunteer, including mine.
“I just love being part of this. The incredibly powerful vibe of this event is created by the passion, dedication, hard work and you can feel the air which is saturated by the joy.”
Prototype_2018 and beyond (?)
I made another piece of fashion/art/fun for Prototyp, article coming soon!
To all who made this possible, thank you. Xoxo ❤ Dominika
Who is Daniela Šindelková?
Daniela is a passionate Accessories & Clothes Designer from Brno. Her models reflects upcycling and are mostly ready to wear. She runs her own fashion brand, producing lovely backpacks and she is one of the owners of Faine coffee.
Check out her stuff ! She is such a nice and talented young lady!
