To make a pair of feather gloves, you'll need:

A) One pair of cloth gloves. I used a pair of soft brown cloth gardening gloves, the type that feel like they're made of knit material like a sweatshirt (rather than the stiff canvas type) because the soft type fit snugly and allow for more natural hand movement. I looked for a black pair, but they only seem to come in dark brown. Avoid leather or vinyl gloves because you need to have a good porous surface for glue.

B) Ten feathers of similar length; the stiffer, the better. I found ten feathers on a child's toy Indian headdress that I bought in a Dollar Store, and simply cut off the ten best feathers so that each was about 4 inches long. I discarded the rest, though you make want to save the other feathers as spares in case of repairs later.

C) Miscellaneous: A marker. Elmer's glue. Scotch tape. Scissors or sharp knife (please be careful!).

Assembly:

Total time to assemble: about a day (mostly to let the glue dry).

1) Prepare the feathers. On each four-inch feather, carefully strip off about 1/2 to 3/4 inch of feathery stuff from the stalk of each feather so that you have a little handle, leaving the rest of the feather intact. (Diagram 1).

2) Mark the gloves. Put on the gloves and note on each finger where your fingernail is inside the glove, and how the spot over your nail shifts as your curl your fingers, especially your thumb. The point is to find the right spot where you will attach the feather so that when you curl your fingers the feathers move naturally with your hand. Make a tiny spot with the marker over each nail and take off the gloves.

3) Glue feathers on fingers. Lay out a sheet of newspaper or wax paper (to prevent glue spills) and on it lay out one of the gloves palm DOWN, with the thumb folded under the palm, and smooth the fingers. To get the right spot, place the bare stalk of a feather on the marked spot on one glove finger. Lift off the feather and right where the bare feather stalk was, put down a long blob of glue. Gently place the feather stalk in the glue blob, and make sure you have good contact all around with the glue. I recommend laying the feather so that the flat side curves downward toward the table --so that the feather will curl naturally inward as you move your fingers. (Diagram 3)

Lightly place a piece of Scotch tape over the glue area just enough to hold the feather in place to dry -- but don't tape it too tightly or else the glue might squeeze through the fabric and glue the finger shut! Repeat for the other three fingers, and then repeat for the other glove -- but not the thumbs. Set aside to dry for a few hours or overnight (if you used Scotch tape and Elmers, you can see when the glue is dry because it turns clear). You might even be able to avoid the tape altogether if you can set the gloves in a quiet place and if the feathers remain in the correct position.

4) Now do the thumbs. Lay each glove palm UP and fold the thumb over the palm. Place the feather to find the right position, and repeat the same glue and tape process as for the fingers. Again, glue the feather so that the curved side is down, i.e., will curl naturally with the thumb. Let dry again.

Now carefully peel the tape off each finger and thumb. Voila! You should now have a pair of gloves with feathers sprouting like long delicate fingernails that you can now rake, dance, caress, and tickle around your subject's neck, chest, sides, armpits, genitals, thighs, and toes.

Other objects could also be glued to gloves, like broom straws, toothpicks, or pipe cleaners, to give a ten-fingertip tickling sensation! If anyone makes a pair of gloves, let me know how well they work, or what other variations you try!