A Father Christmas needle felted on polystyrene

1   Cut a bit off the top of the polystyrene egg and cut away a bit of the polystyrene ball where you will attach the head and the body together. Cut away a bit of the bottom of the polystyrene egg, enabling it to stand unaided. Look at the photo to see how to cut the polystyrene.

2   Tear small tufts of carded wool and start felting these onto the polystyrene egg using a felting needle. Continue until the egg is covered and the wool is thick, even and tightly packed.

3   Twist a piece of white carded wool into a long strip to fit around the egg. Felt it together on the felting mat and then felt it onto the bottom part of the body as shown in the photo.

4   Felt two strips for the arms following the same procedure. Felt them together on the needle felting mat and then felt them onto the polystyrene egg which is slowly being transformed into a body.

5   Felt two hands on the needle felting mat and then felt them onto the ends of the arms.

6   Glue the polystyrene ball onto the body using a glue gun. Glue a wooden bead onto the polystyrene ball for the nose.

7   Felt a large piece of white carded wool on the felting mat. Felt the felted section onto the body and the head (from the nose down as shown in the photo).

8   Print out the template for the elf's hat which is available as a separate PDF file on this page. Place thin layers of carded wool perpendicularly on top of each other as shown in the photo and felt these together on the needle felting mat. Cut out the template. Place it on top of the wool and felt along the edge with the felting needle. Remove the template once the edge is felted all the way around. Fold in the wool and felt it together.

9   Turn the section over and felt until the section is dense and even. Felt the top to make a long strip.

10   Felt the elf's hat together to make the shape shown in the photo and to make it fit onto Father Christmas' head.

11   Felt the hat onto the head so that it reaches down to the nose. Felt it onto the head.

12   Felt an edge and a tassel onto the hat. These parts are made following the procedure described in steps 4 and 5 (the arms and the hands).

13   Here is the finished Father Christmas.

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