I’m not certain why Halloween has become a favorite holiday with Americans. Maybe it’s because it’s the one day of the year that gives us a chance to terrify ourselves in a happily creepy way. Benign terror always feels so good, as if all the haunting hobgoblins of the universe have converged among us to raise goose bumps on our skin. Why is that?

Maybe Halloween gives us permission to try on goofy or edgy identities as we don costumes completely out of character and at odds with the way we normally perceive ourselves. The conservative carpenter dresses as a rap music star complete with sagging pants and hat on backward, for example, or the fashion maven abandons her well-assembled wardrobe to dress as a scruffy, tattered hobo.

Perhaps anonymity is part of the fun, too, as we move about, disguised, at a party where no one has a clue it’s us. It’s like spying on our own lives.

Part of the fun of Halloween is masks, disguising our known faces – what we see in the mirror every day – with cloth, paper, latex or papier-mache; turning our familiar and benign human features into wolves, vampires, aliens or mummies.

Making your own mask to go with a costume you’ve bought, assembled from stuff in your closet or acquired at thrift shops is the perfect excuse to get crafting. And it’s easier than you think, especially if you have a computer and a color printer at hand.

Want to make a paper mask for Halloween? You’ll find ideas at www.princetonol.com and www.kinderart.com.

At www.scissorcraft.com you’ll find printable African masks for children to color.

Also, www.starwars.com offers free printable masks of all of your favorite “Star Wars” characters in full color.

Want a 3-D paper mask of Dracula? Visit www.frankenpaper.com. And to find printable masks, costume and makeup ideas, visit http://members.aol.com/pumpkinave/costumes/masks.htm.

Making paper masks is a wonderful project for families to engage in. It costs little and gives Mom, Dad and the little ones a chance to exercise imagination and artistic vision. Materials can be as simple as printer paper and brown paper bags, or as sophisticated as handmade paper flecked with metallic confetti.

Cloth eye masks, of the type Zorro and the Lone Ranger wear, can be made easily from black velvet by drawing a paper pattern, bonding two layers of fabric together with Stitch Witchery, and cutting out the pattern. Attach black elastic to keep the mask on your head and you’re good to go.

The same technique can be used to make a full face mask which can be embellished with whatever your heart desires – embroidered eyebrows, satin lips, and a Fun Fur fringe of hair.

Visit www.simplicity.com to find a free Halloween cape pattern that will get you in the sewing mood. A free fairy wings pattern is available in Simplicity’s free online newsletter, but first you have to subscribe to the newsletter. The wings are made of 14-gauge wire and queen-size pantyhose. It’s a clever idea.

Promote family togetherness by gathering to decorate trick-or-treat bags. Buy a package of brown paper bags with handles at a local craft department or party supply store, hand out markers, crayons and stickers and let the young ones have at it.

If bigger bags are needed to bring home the loot, get some puffy paint in ghoulish, glow-in-the-dark colors and decorate pillowcases to serve the Halloween purpose.

And remember, only nine weeks until Christmas, that other holiday those who craft are crazy about.

Snippets

The Bangor Area Chapter of the American Sewing Guild will begin its 14th year with a meeting at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 27, at the Hampden Municipal Building, 106 Western Ave. A business meeting, potluck lunch and classes in pin weaving and velvet embossing will highlight the day. A show-and-tell table will be available for parading members’ latest creations. Fabric and notions will be for sale to benefit guild projects. Present and former members, friends and the public are invited to attend. A drawing for door prizes will end the festivities at 3 p.m. For more information, call 862-4367 or visit www.bangormeasg.com.

Call Ardeana Hamlin at 990-8153, or e-mail ahamlin@bangordailynews.net.