Tentacles
This is a pretty simple felt make, you need a little coordination to not stab yourself, but you don't need any prior experience. Not suitable for younger children due to sharp needle
It's very important to buy proper felting wool of the exact type listed as well as proper needles. Neither are expensive, but if you buy poor quality cheaper alternatives they will almost certainly be useless to felt with.
There are loads of good vendors that sell wool and needles, I have included links to the ones I buy from, but there are plenty more, just buy from a shop specifically for needle felting. A lot of kits sold by art shops really are not fit for purpose.
Supplies
Pliers
1mm gauge garden wire
you can pick this up in a DIY shop
Carded corridale slivers in three contrasting colours of your choice.
https://www.worldofwool.co.uk/collections/carded-w...
A felting needle - I use a light blue spiral needle from Heidi feathers, 40 gauge.
Cut and Wrap the Wire
Wool doesn't have enough strength to do noodly tentacle wriggles, so we start with a wire skeleton to support it. This is called an armature.
Cut a length of wire with your pliers.
Tentacles can be whatever length you wish! So cut the wire to the length of your choice, adding a few inches at the end for attaching them later.
I recommend choosing a smaller length if you are just learning to felt, But who am I to limit your tentacle related dreams.
Get some glue and coat a couple of centimetres at the end of the wire with it. Then wrap a thin piece of wool around the wire, wrapping it over itself and the glue so it stays in place. Make sure it's particularly tight and thin at the end of the wire, to make the end of the tentacle. Stab into it as you wrap, parallel with the wire so the needle and wire do not touch. Work down the wire, coating it in glue and then wrapping it in wool. Make sure you leave the last few inches free.
More Wool!
Wrap the wool covered wire in more wool around at right angles to the tentacle. Stab the wool as you wrap it on to hold it in place. Stab at an angle as in the picture above to avoid hitting the wire with the needle. The more you stab, the firmer it will be, but don't worry about the finish too much yet as we will add a top coat once we have the desired shape.
Wrap thickly at the base and progressively thinner towards the tip. You might like to consult some reference photos of tentacles to give you an idea of their shape as you build it up. Once you have a shape you are satisfied with the top coat goes on along the tentacle from base to tip concealing the spiral wrapping marks. Once lightly felted on it will still look fuzzy, like the first image above. Now felt lightly at an angle as in the second image to avoid the wire until the surface is smooth and looks something like the third image above.
Suckers!
I pick two fairly contrasting colours for tentacle suckers, one for the lip and one for the sucker inside.
Of course you can pick any colour you like.
Tentacle suckers start large at the base and decrease as the tentacle thins towards the top.
Pull off a piece of wool big enough for a sucker and hold it between your thumb and finger, stabbing around the edge between your fingers as in the image above. Be careful, don't stab yourself or you might bleed on the wool.
Once you have one circle, make another one for the lip of the tentacle.
Then, hold them together like a burger between your thumb and finger and again felt round the edge till they look like the second picture above
Next hold your sucker onto the tentacle base and felt straight into the tentacle in an oval to attach it as in the third picture.
Then stab the needle around where the lip and sucker attach and along the outside of the base to attach it tightly.
Now repeat this up the tentacle until you have enough suckers and your finished tentacle should hopefully look like the final picture in this section.
What to Do With Your Tentacles
Really, what you do with your tentacles is up to you. Give them to a plant, put them coming out of a crack in your wall, make an outfit for your pet...
Please do update me on your tentacular antics, I would love to hear about them or even better see pictures.
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