The Strangers Chapter 1 mask fabric?

[RyanM11414]

Hello All, I am trying to create a screen accurate Scarecrow mask based on the mask worn in The Strangers Chapter 1, but I can seem to find the right fabric. Does anyone know what was used? Thanks for any ideas.

 

[Reel Fakes]

Looks like cheese cloth or canvas...

 

[joberg]

Could be could be bleached Denim, then transformed with the right coloring dye.

 

[smithjohnj]

From the image provided the fabric is a plain weave. This would eliminate denim, as all denim fabric uses a twill weave with a distinctive diagonal rib appearance. Unfortunately "plain weave" does not really help you narrow down the fabric as that is perhaps the most common weave. It is available in every possible fiber. One suggestion I could give to help you narrow down the possibilities would be to determine the "yarn count" of the fabric given. You can estimate the distance between the eyeholes and then count the number of vertical (warp) threads and divide giving yarns per inch for example. This also appears to be a balanced weave where the number and "weight" of yarns in both the horizontal and vertical directions is the same. Thread count and yarn count is the same concept where thread count is used for finer and lighter fabrics such as bedsheets, where the count might be in the hundreds, and yarn count is used for fibers with a larger diameter. In this case to not think of "yarn" as what you might see in a craft store for knitting or crocheting, it is just another term, like thread, for a set of twisted fibers.

 

[smithjohnj]

This“scarecrow” fabric question caught my attention. Without close-hand inspection it is always difficult to identify fabrics, fibers, and even colors. My approach to answering this type of question is to try to think through the original design process –the one the story's character might use – or at least the prop artist's attempt to recreate the process. So who makes scarecrows? Farmers. What materials, in this case fabric, do farmers have access? Fabric has always been and still is expensive; farmers are going to make use of (repurpose) what they have on hand. Farmers have access to “sacking” material. Open weave fabric like burlap is great for the transportation of bulky and dirty items like root vegetables – it holds the vegetables but lets the dirt drop off and out through the open weave. Conversely purchased goods like seed corn and chicken feed need a tighter weave so you do not lose the product you paid for. Even tighter weave is needed for something like ground wheat flour or gunpowder. The finer the fabric the more valuable it is. Flour sacks were often reused as pillow cases. Burlap would be used to make a scarecrow which would be stuffed with straw and hung on a post in the field. Feed sacks were the workhorse fabric to make dresses, shirts, or just hold stuff you did not want to lose in the barn. Feed sacks were often colorful, good calico (cotton) or homespun fabric which he farmer's wives treasured. Feed companies used that as a great marketing gimmick to sell their feed –even into the 1960s and beyond.

Although a real scarecrow would be burlap, no one wants a scratchy burlap mask on their face. Burlap is made of jute or hemp. Another rustic fabric made from another plant fiber, flax, is linen. Today linen is often thought of as a luxury fabric, but not historically. However linen has a “shiny” finish which does not match the appearance here. The most likely choice would be “homespun”. This is a woven, spun fiber, fabric. Yarns with a medium diameter can be woven fast because it takes fewer threads per inch of warp and fewer passes of the weft shuttle to make the cloth. The fiber could be spun from cotton, wool, or other animal hair/fur or a combination of fibers. Fortunately modern versions of “homespun” fabric can be found online and in fabric and craft stores.

 

[joberg]

This“scarecrow” fabric question caught my attention. Without close-hand inspection it is always difficult to identify fabrics, fibers, and even colors. My approach to answering this type of question is to try to think through the original design process –the one the story's character might use – or at least the prop artist's attempt to recreate the process. So who makes scarecrows? Farmers. What materials, in this case fabric, do farmers have access? Fabric has always been and still is expensive; farmers are going to make use of (repurpose) what they have on hand. Farmers have access to “sacking” material. Open weave fabric like burlap is great for the transportation of bulky and dirty items like root vegetables – it holds the vegetables but lets the dirt drop off and out through the open weave. Conversely purchased goods like seed corn and chicken feed need a tighter weave so you do not lose the product you paid for. Even tighter weave is needed for something like ground wheat flour or gunpowder. The finer the fabric the more valuable it is. Flour sacks were often reused as pillow cases. Burlap would be used to make a scarecrow which would be stuffed with straw and hung on a post in the field. Feed sacks were the workhorse fabric to make dresses, shirts, or just hold stuff you did not want to lose in the barn. Feed sacks were often colorful, good calico (cotton) or homespun fabric which he farmer's wives treasured. Feed companies used that as a great marketing gimmick to sell their feed –even into the 1960s and beyond.

Although a real scarecrow would be burlap, no one wants a scratchy burlap mask on their face. Burlap is made of jute or hemp. Another rustic fabric made from another plant fiber, flax, is linen. Today linen is often thought of as a luxury fabric, but not historically. However linen has a “shiny” finish which does not match the appearance here. The most likely choice would be “homespun”. This is a woven, spun fiber, fabric. Yarns with a medium diameter can be woven fast because it takes fewer threads per inch of warp and fewer passes of the weft shuttle to make the cloth. The fiber could be spun from cotton, wool, or other animal hair/fur or a combination of fibers. Fortunately modern versions of “homespun” fabric can be found online and in fabric and craft stores.

Agreed on most of the historic info on the use of recycled material (i.e.: bags of feed/flour, jute, hemp and the likes)...there's at least 21 Denim fabric types; so, as the other recycled materials, they would be a to-go material for this project also and, maybe, more readily available to our member