Learn to Needlefelt: Glowing Ghosts!

Three needlefelted ghosts, glowing

This Friday (10/14) HackPittsburgh members Mandy Stultz and Doug Philips will help you get ready for Halloween with a Needlefelted Glowing Ghosts tutorial! You’ll go home with your very own glowing ghostie, perfect for decorating or casting a soft glow into the dark. HackPittsburgh will have all the materials you’ll need on-hand.

In this tutorial you’ll learn:

  1. How to Needlefelt
  2. How to assemble an LED and Battery
  3. Combine the two above for some Halloween fun!

Young makers are welcome, however due to small parts and very sharp needles, young makers will need parental / guardian assistance.

This event is ***FREE***, open to the public, and includes hot apple cider!
Doors open at 7pm, and the tutorial will start shortly after.

2 Comments

  1. Barbara on October 26, 2011 at 9:02 pm

    I was not able to attend the needlefelt glowing ghost event. Is there any chance I can get directions for this very cool “craft”? I would love to show my son how to do this. We have various and sundry electric circuit/LED stuff at home.

    Thanks,
    Barbara

  2. Doug on November 3, 2011 at 11:52 pm

    Sure. We “felted” white polyfill, not actual wool, but you could use wool if you wanted to.

    Take a small bit of material and felt into a circle or ellipse shape. Preferably with a fuzzy edge to indicate the edge of the ghost is somewhat wispy.

    Once you have a flat “plate” of material, bunch it up into a ghost shape (perhaps over a finger for shaping) and do a bit of felting/stabbing to hold the bunches/pleats in place.

    Use small bits of black wool to form the eyes (we found the eyes to be a great way to add personality to the ghosts).

    Using the polyfill for the ghost body and wool for the eyes, I found it best not to fully form the eyes before felting them on to the ghost, they had a tendency to punch through… I started felting the eyes but then placed them on the ghost as I finished them. Your mileage may vary.

    As to the glowing part, we just scotch taped white LEDs onto button batteries and used a loop of three strands of embroidery floss to form the support loops.

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