Learn to Needlefelt: Glowing Ghosts!
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:
- How to Needlefelt
- How to assemble an LED and Battery
- 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.
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
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.