Mask

Halloween Is Getting Close

That means it is time for another Wintercroft paper mask. All the photos below are from the Wintercroft website, so they are copyrighted, but they probably won’t complain as this is sort of a free ad for them. 🙂

In the past I have made 5 of these. The skull was the first in 2014 with the pumpkin following in 2015. After a year off I did the fox in 2017. I didn’t do anything in 2018 because I had retired and back in Aiken we typically only had a handful of Trick or Treaters so it wasn’t worth a costume. In 2019 we were in Oregon, but living in an AirBnb while looking for a house.

In 2020 I absolutely had to go back to doing something because our new house is the epicenter of Halloween festivities in southeastern Oregon. They close our street down from 5:00 pm until around 10:00, and hordes of trick-or-treaters are given free range of about 8 blocks. So that year I made the Devil mask. Last year I went with the gas mask and it turned out fantastic. But, the only problem was it didn’t breathe very well and after 2 hours of wearing it, the paper was getting soft from my exhalations. And two hours was all it took, to give away about 1200 pieces of candy.

I’m not sure which one I’m going to make for this year, but I’ve narrowed it down to the following five. The first three below are half masks, meaning they have no backs, and are easier to make and a bit more comfortable to wear. So I’m kind of leaning towards those, but the enhanced skull mask, which fit around your whole head, are just so awesome looking.

What a problem to have…

Fox, Ed Fox

After last year’s living embodiment of the company’s safety mascot for the ASCO Halloween Costume Contest, I decided to return to a Wintercroft paper mask. Previously I’ve been a large skull head and a pumpkin head, but this time I wanted to make one of his animal masks. I chose the fox because that is ASCO’s Director of Operations actual last name.

Ed is a pretty chill guy, but sometimes you never know how someone might take something and there was a tiny part of me that was worried he was thinking I was making fun of him, but he was fine with it, actually told me it was the best costume ever.

Because I bike road into work today there would have been no way to carry the mask in this morning, so I brought it in yesterday in one of those large reusable grocery bags. A few years ago they added an extra step in the front entrance security process. Now the guard has to look inside your lunch box (or any bag other you are carrying) to look for weapons. When I got to the door on Monday I unzipped the lunch box and said, “Here’s my lunch.” Then I spread the handles of the grocery bag and said, “Severed animal head.”

The guard took a beat…and…then…he smiled.

Afternoon Update:
They take a photo of everyone in costume in the cafeteria in the morning and then when that’s done, the costumed parade through the plant, zig-zagging around the aisles in all the department and office areas so the non-participants can see everyone who has dressed up. Even though I put my company name badge mid chest and had changed it to read Edd Foxx, I had a few people afterwards asked me who I was supposed to be. One wondered if I was supposed to be the Carfax fox and another wondered if I was Star Fox from the old Nintendo video game. You have to admit, the mask would have worked for either one.

Thursday Update:

Here is the group picture. Everyone’s individual picture is posted on the bulletin board and all employees get to one vote for their favorite. I have no idea how many votes I got, but I bet is was zero as I didn’t even vote for myself. First place went to Ike & Tina Turner, second place went to One Night Stand and third was Scary Clown. For the record the clown is not standing on anything, unlike the fellow in the middle, he is about 6’6″ tall and weighs in around 300 pounds and has a naturally gravely voice.