# About Eyeballs



## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

Better Half brought home a bag of the cheap ping-pong style eyeballs last year and here are some things I did with them. Please feel free to tell me where I went wrong or what could have been done better. Sorry no pix (if I find them, I'll post them).

The kind I speak of are ball-shaped with harsh, cartoonish blue irises, with broad black outlines and silly red veins. Daddy no like. So the first thing I did was sand off everything but the iris, being careful to shape it round (yet smaller). Then I lightly sanded the iris also, so that it was still there for a marker but very faint.

I used markers to color the irises, stippling two or more hues for each, rather than a solid color. I used a darker one to outline the iris and finally black (NO HIGHLIGHT) for the pupil. The last thing I did was add red sharpie for veins. It bled nicely into the grooves my sanding had created.

They never were close enough to lifelike for me but they were a lot better than how they'd started. But from here they went through several incarnations.

First I wanted to just have them hanging from somehing so I made optical nerves/eyeguts for them. Nothing surprising, just tissue soaked in red ink overnight, then twisted together and saturated with school glue. It didn't look half bad.

Then I had a cool idea that went bad. I sawed them in half, sprayed with gloss (about 5 coats IIRC), and took them to my office. Once there, I filled the hollow side with polymer clay and a push pin. This allowed me to put eyes all over my walls! My mistake was in using polymer clay for the filling and also for the sockets I added around them. They were easy to shape and blend into the plain white wall, but polymer clay is not designed to just sit around unbaked forever. In short time, the chemicals separated or something, causing the sockets to lift from the wall, and in some cases causing glossy tears to slowly, gradually drip down from the eye. The latter effect wasn't so disappointing but the former was bad. I'm thinking I should have used spackle or something instead of Sculpey.

The eyes were almost removable/reusable, if I had used something that would have hardened better or at least wouldn't separate into a crumbly/gooey mess.

I still don't know why they never really became glossy either, despite multiple coats I applied. Is there a better way to make eyes that look like eyes? I think a wet-looking sheen is key but darn if my gloss worked.

But without a doubt, the best ones (while they lasted) were solid black, no irises or anything. The second best was black with red veiny things. The others weren't so scary...just kindof, "oh, there are eyes on your walls." Black with no pupil just looks alien and hostile. And the contrast against the white was really cool. With the right material, this would be a cheap, easy method for wall eyes.


----------



## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

Monster Guts sells a bag of deoderant balls pretty cheap. They make good eyeballs...with a bit of a glazy look. You can pick up small jars of latex at local hobby stores. I'd photoshop (or search the web) an iris, print and stick to the front. Mix some red into the latex and blob it on the back. Then place a few fake crows around...with the eyeballs hanging out of their beaks. This helps of course if you have an eyeless corpse crawling about nearby.

If you wanted to keep to the method of putting eyes on the wall...I'd get some wooden balls from Michael's or whatever hobby is in your area. Paint them up with acrylic paint....a few coats of gloss...and then hot glue a push pin into the back.


----------



## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

[shameless plug] gee...I wonder who sells hot glue?


----------



## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

Okay...so forget the red dyed latex...if you could...[cough]...[cough]...find someone who sells red hot glue....that would probably work.


----------



## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

RED hot glue, you say? I'll just be dawg. I'll remember that, Sickie & DL. Thanks!


----------



## Don Givens (Dec 2, 2008)

Sickie Ickie sells Red Hot Glue.

Good prices and he's got a lot of other cool colors too.

Here's a link.

http://www.santasprojects.com/Corpse_County


----------



## hpropman (Jul 27, 2008)

So let me get this straight, Sickie sells Red hot glue as well as other colors as well. Did I get that right? I wonder what else he sells. Hmmmmm


----------



## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

LMAO!!! You guys are hilarious! Here's a more direct link: http://www.santasprojects.com/Corpse_County/Selling.htm

I didn't mean to hijack your thread, just give you an alternative material...which I happen to sell (colored glue sticks for prop builders.)


----------



## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

Wait, you mean that Sicki Ickie, as in the Sickie Ickie who just posted above me, sells glue for hot glue guns, including alternate colors such as red?


----------



## Just Whisper (Jan 19, 2009)

Now to get back on topic....not to take anything away from sickie...who sells hot glue in cool colors at great prices, and is a pretty cool guy btw...but...
I am trying to find the link to the page with the eyes you can print and cut out and glue on balls? I know someone on here posted it. I will do a search but just in case I don't find it, I know people reading this post will find it useful. Thanks.

Edit: Never mind. I just found it.
http://www.hauntershangout.com/graphics/projects/easyeyes/easyeyes.jpg


----------



## Don Givens (Dec 2, 2008)

Rahnefan said:


> Wait, you mean that Sicki Ickie, as in the Sickie Ickie who just posted above me, sells glue for hot glue guns, including alternate colors such as red?


That's right, Sickie Ickie has the "Right Glue for You" in an amazing assortment of colors - including red.

Haunters in-the-know, know that Sickie Ickie, puts the sticky, in glue - NOW THAT'S HOT!


----------



## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

Whoa dang those easy eyes are nice. Very cool. I'm guessing three small slits will help them lay flat onto a curved surface. Or is that even necessary, in your experience?

Red hot glue stix. I'll just be dawg.


----------



## Monk (Aug 26, 2008)

For eyeballs, when ping pong or deodorant balls aren't around, I usually use the balls from inside cans of Guinness Draught because I always seem to have those lying around. Anyway those balls have some indentations that have to be filled in for a realistic effect, no worries though just about anything works because they are quite small (the indentations not my balls). As for the irises I tend to use the hauntershangout sheet as well:
http://www.hauntershangout.com/graph...s/easyeyes.jpg
To make the eyes look glossy I use 2 part epoxy (double bubble) which dries clear and glossy.


----------



## Just Whisper (Jan 19, 2009)

Rahnefan said:


> Whoa dang those easy eyes are nice. Very cool. I'm guessing three small slits will help them lay flat onto a curved surface. Or is that even necessary, in your experience?


I used them with ping pong balls and did need to cut about 5 slits to get them to lay flat. I put them on with spray adhesive.


----------



## Just Whisper (Jan 19, 2009)

Monk said:


> For eyeballs, when ping pong or deodorant balls aren't around, I usually use the balls from inside cans of Guinness Draught because I always seem to have those lying around. Anyway those balls have some indentations that have to be filled in for a realistic effect, no worries though just about anything works because they are quite small (the indentations not my balls). As for the irises I tend to use the hauntershangout sheet as well:
> http://www.hauntershangout.com/graph...s/easyeyes.jpg
> To make the eyes look glossy I use 2 part epoxy (double bubble) which dries clear and glossy.


Monk...is it just me or is this link not working? I posted the same link about 5 posts ago..and it works fine.


----------



## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

*I have used these same eyeballs. I love em.*

I have been using these same ping pong eyeballs alot.

I think your gloss never cured because polymer clay is PVC powder in mineral oil. The mineral oil might be acting as a solvent inhibiting the curing of your gloss coat.

This eyeball is flipped backward and the made in china stamp sand off, and I airbrushed, paintbrushed, and sharpied on a new iris and pupil. Two coats of gloss lacquer (model masters from the hobby shop) and it looks sickly real.










This is a dead eye, but with the same technique:










and a bit more here, but I airbushed over the iris to give it a milky look:










I also like the one from monster guts, but I think they are too textured and too small for realistic eyes, at least in the bucky skulls I use. But they look great to make ghosty eyes. These are backlit with an led placed behind the ball, not inside.


----------



## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

That's what I'm talking about. NICE.


----------



## kprimm (Mar 14, 2009)

Man thats cool devils chariot, I dont know why i never thought about putting the LED behind the eye ball, i have always put it inside the ball. Now you have given me something else to try out.


----------

