Ideas for making home made custom eyeballs.

[Zippy81]

Here is a close up pic of the 12mm size lens eyes with the Katty Perry cabochons in my #86 head.

12mm katty Perry lenses .jpg

[Dollicious2]

420 Eyes

[Dollicious2]

K. Beckinsale Template:

Kate Beckinsale Eyes.jpg

Now this one has struck my weak spot !
I love Kate and this is amazing
You mean I could have these eyes ?
That's wild !
How I get these ?

[Zippy81]

420 Eyes

Haha yea I went heavy on the veins on that pair plus I over did it on the red wash coat :p

[Zippy81]

K. Beckinsale Template:

Kate Beckinsale Eyes.jpg

Now this one has struck my weak spot !
I love Kate and this is amazing
You mean I could have these eyes ?
That's wild !
How I get these ?

Well if you have a pair of interchangeable lens eyes you can just print up the irises from the thread. Cut them out and super glue them to the back of some cabochons and slap 'em in your eyes! Otherwise you'll have to either make your own set (pretty easy to do just takes some time) or buy some from one of the people that sell them on here!

[Zippy81]

Some more"behind the scenes" photos of creating the interchangeable lens eyes. Again not difficult at all to create these just a bunch of steps and requires some time! but once your mold is done its simply pouring liquid plastic in and then painting and adding veins and clearcoat finish!.

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TAKE NOTE:
In the picture below notice the insert space area has thin layers of silicone present? That's due to the molding silicone creeping into the small space between the washers and the magnet. (YOU DO NOT WANT THOSE THIN LAYERS IN THAT SPACE as it will result in the inability to place your magnet and two washers into the plastic casted version of the eyeball front piece.) That's why you MUST super glue all the pieces together.

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CREATING THE FRONT HALF OF YOUR INTERCHANGEABLE IRIS EYE:
See above pics: notice how the washer is level with the eye's front surface? that inner cavity space is what you'll be creating in this step.)

FIRST: You'll need to create the cavity space insert piece shown on PAGE 4.
(The two washers glued together --> glued to one round magnet--> glued to screw.) See tips on page 4.

So after you've glued together the magnet,screw,and two washers.. Coat the entire thing with a very thin layer of Vaseline (use a small paintbrush) .Just use enough to give it a noticeable shine. Next you also want to coat the mold you've previously made of your 1 1/4" half round wooden ball with a thin layer of Vaseline as you'll be pouring more silicone into it. Then you set the washer/magnet/screw piece down into the mold as shown in pic below.(Make sure washers are facing the bottom of the mold.)

IMPORTANT: MAKE SURE THAT YOU PAY ATTENTION TO WHERE YOU PLACE THE WASHER PORTION INSIDE THE MOLD> (TRY TO CENTER THE PIECE AND ALSO TRY TO MAKE SURE THE WASHER IS RESTING FAIRLY FLAT.) Otherwise the irises wil be seated crooked on the eyeball fronts.

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So,After you've set that into the mold you pour fresh molding silicone into that and fill it so its level and allow to dry for 4 hours.

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Once the silicone is cured just remove the piece from the mold and then remove the insert cavity place holder piece form that by twisting it as if you were unscrewing a light bulb and pull the piece out. What you end up with after this step is the silicone version of the front of the eyeball.

You'll be using this to create one more mold. SO..

Take that and again lightly coat the FRONT Portions and coat the inner portions where the washers/magnet/screw piece was also (NOT THE BOTTOM PORTION). Next get your molding container (I recommend some sauce cups they're cheap and make a nice mold shape.) Now put glue into the bottom of the container in the center. and also on the back side of the silicone piece you'll be molding. (I use the aylennes clear glue.). Then press it into the bottom of your mold container. and mix some molding silicone and pour it in and make sure to cover the whole piece. See pics below.(What you're doing in this step is creating the mold you'll be using to cast the plastic version of the front of the eye.)

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TAKE NOTE: Notice how the small thin layers are not present inside the insert cavity space of the silicone casting below?

cleaner edges .jpg

Once its cured (4 hours) you just demold it and walla you have your mold! (You might have a small amount of clean up to on your mold as sometimes silicone can slightly creep underneath the piece you have glued down to the bottom of the container. Just use some scissors or a utility knife to trim away the overhang. Be careful not to cut into the inside of the mold area though.)

[Zippy81]

Here is the screw I use as the adjustment screw. it connects the back piece to the front and allows you to tighten down or loosen up the back piece in order to expand or contract the distance between the back piece of the eye and the front piece of the eye in order to fit the eye socket..

Eyeball adjustment screw.jpg

[Zippy81]

Some tips on tools to use for painting and applying the gloss coat.

Gloss Coat Surface Smoothing Tools.jpg

*After you sand an area of the gloss coating make sure to reapply more mod podge over the whole surface so it all blends.

[Mishka1965]

Very nice work so far!
I am making quite a few 3D printed eyeballs, and have that pretty much figured out. The magnet gets glued inside and a nice iris fits well inside.
The real hard part is painting the eyeball to give a slight off-white look is tough and the red veins are a bit difficult.
I did manage to finish a set for the RD, and now her eyes are movable. Here's a large pic of her and her new eyes.




Mishka

[Zippy81]

OH WOW!!! I LOVE THEM! Good Job! And I totally agree on the painting and veins! I find I over do the veins out of a need to have them show up in pics haha. Looks great though mishka! Thanks a bunch for sharing your progress!

[Zippy81]

Iris to cabochon alignment and gluing:

Cabochon Alignment and Glueing.jpg

Nail scissors work the best because they have a slight curvature to the blades which allows you to get a really close cut towards the bottom of the cabochon.

* Where super glue getting onto the cabochon surface is concerned: In some cases you only need the felt pad and firm pressure while buffing in order to get the dried glue off.

[Zippy81]

- Again the bottom most washer will represent the space place holder for where the cabochon is going to sit. (This washer creates a space that determines how far into the eyeballs front the cabochon is seated.) The next washer represents the washer that is glued to the back of the cabochon. And the magnet is the magnet that will be seated into the bottom of the plastic eye front casting. The screw creates the flush space needed for the screw to sit into underneath the magnet. (See page 4 for a side view.)

-Therefore when you wish to create a different size iris cabochon cavity space you will need to get the Cabochon and measure its diameter and find washers to match. You should be able to use the same magnet as long as the size of the washer isn't some crazy huge difference in size.

- Another note about this cavity insert space piece is that when you are making the actual eyeballs you will be using unglued pieces (aside from the washer that's glued to the cabochon). And so inside the plastic eye front will only be the screw covered by the magnet and there will only be one washer glued to your cabochon.

Creating and Changing the Eyeballs Iris Cavity Insert Size .jpg

[Zippy81]

Just some quick pics of a few of the irises.. I had to fight to get these..

She said: Absolutely no pictures with me looking like this!.. You got to take pictures yesterday..

I said: Just a few it'll be quick and no ones going to care what you look like..

She said: Yes they will! I look factory in this hair for God sakes.. and you want me to wear different eye colors too!?

I said: Pretty much..

She said: Fine..but you'll be sleeping on the couch in exchange for them..

Result:.. :p

Fighting for Iris pics.jpg

[Zippy81]

TIP: To make your life a bit easier use a washer that is just a bit smaller in diameter than the one you used to make the insert space to glue to the back of your cabochons. This will allow easy swapping of your irises/cabochons.

[Zippy81]

For issues with poor eyesocket movement:

The depth of the wooden half round ball mold determines how deep and wide the front of the finished eyeball front piece is. Therefore the amount of plastic you pour into the finished eyeball [front] mold will determine how wide and how deep the front of the finished eyeball is. If you find the eyes are hard to turn once they are in the socket try casting another set but fill your mold with less plastic.

MORE POURED VOLUME IN THE MOLD MEANS MORE SPACE IN THE EYEBALL SOCKET THAT WILL BE TAKEN UP.

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