Day of the Tentacle Part 10

Long tentacles are done - now just have to figure out how to hold it all together.

Day of the Tentacle Part 9

Next stage is dyed and ready to go. I have pieces for the two long tentacles, the beak and the centre ring which should hold the upper tentacles up and stop them from crushing the beak.

Day of the Tentacle Part 8

The tentaclation continues - almost there six and a bit done. Hopefully will have the arms done tomorrow and will be able to cut and dye the next stage over the weekend.

Day of the Tentacle Part 7

Still slogging away - lost count of the times I have stabbed myself with the needle or more painfully felting needle. Have decided not to decorate skin side yet, probably best done at the end so I can make it consistent plus I will know how much time I have left (thanks Scott for that very sound advice).

Day of the Tentacle Part 6

So tentaclation has begun - and I realise this is going to take ages. At this point I begin to question my decision to make the thing so enormous but I am committed now and will battle on to the end.

I was originally just going to sew on tubes of felt to make the suckers but when I tried needle felting over the join to see if I could make it look more seamless it had a really cool effect. This is of course going to make the whole process take even longer but well worth it for the effect.

Day of the Tentacle Part 5

So getting colour on the eight arms was pretty much a full day's work. First the felt is washed in hot water with mild soap to get rid of any leftover sizing from the manufacturing process. I started off scrubbing them by hand but ended up just simmering them on the stove in soapy water. Then it is washed out and put in a mix of vinegar and water to soak for a bit.

You take it out leaving most of the vinegar water in and lay it down on some cling film. Next it is painted with food colouring mixed with water to dilute it.  Once done roll it up in the cling film and steam for 15 minutes.

I made the mistake of rolling the first tentacle across the short axis which made the darker colours from the center bleed across to the light underside. Subsequent tentacles were rolled up on the long axis and came out much better. 

I also dyed some scraps to cut the suckers from and some roving for covering the seams and making patterns on the surface.

Day of the Tentacle Part 4

Have cut out the eight arms but have run out of felt to make the two longer tentacles. Will have to get another bolt of felt - although the arms will give me plenty to be going on with in the meantime.

I have cut them a couple of centimeters larger all around to allow for the felt to shrink a bit during the dying process. Usually I cut after coloring felt so shrinkage is not a problem but given the scale of this project it makes more sense to cut first.

Next step will be painting and steaming the arms.