Wednesday, August 24, 2011

The eyes of the corpse were milky and dead as they stared up at us....but stare at us they did!

    Today I am going to show you how to make some fast, cheap and multipurpose eyes. If you are like me, you have a few good Halloween props that are devoid of any kind of ocular apparatus. I personally have numerous skulls, bucky skeletons,. ground breakers, zombies, and even jack-o-lanterns that could benefit from some milky, dead eyeballs.

The cashiers at Walmart always look at me like I'm building a bomb!
    You will need the following :
    A box of oven bake clay (get white as it may alter the color of your eyes if you get another) Walmart 5.99
    A glue gun
    Glue sticks (it takes about 3 sticks for 2 eyes)
    2 round drawer knobs (can be found at Hobby Lobby or Micheal's for about 2.99)
    Machine oil or Vasaline  (this is to lube the mold for smoother extraction of eyes)

 
   You start by molding half of your clay into a rectangle that is about an inch and a half deep. Use your wooden knobs as a guide for dimensions as you will be pressing them in about and third of the way.

I always feel like... somebodies watchin me!

    After you have shaped your rectangle, carefully press your wooden knobs into the clay. Be careful not to go to far or they will stick. You can shape and mold your clay around them so you have a good mold.Carefully twist the wooden knobs to remove them. Now inspect your eye molds for cracks, breaks and general smoothness. When you are satisfied, follow the instruction on the clay to bake your mold and make it hard. I had mine in about 35 minutes at 275 but size does matter so follow instructions on box!


You can use this for an abstract pig snout as well

    Allow your finished mold to cool for several hours. Once it has, lubricate the sockets with machine oil or Vasaline, using your fingers to ensure even,smooth coverage.


   Allow your glue gun to get hot...very hot and start to fill about 2/3 of the cavity with smooth short squeezes to ensure an even distribution. Work on one eye at a time or you will get a built up wormy look.


   After a couple of hours drying time you can now extract your creation. You may have to use a small spoon to help you scoop out your prize. You can take a Xacto Knife to clip away imperfections or just leave them to look even more rotted.
If the eyes are the window to the soul...these lead to a glue factory.

   Now you can add them to your favorite prop for an added shock factor. Just use more hot glue to secure them in. You can experiment with various colored glue sticks as well as putting objects into the glue (like red rubber washers to simulate an iris).

   For advanced haunters, you can head over to Monsterguts and buy the 9 volt LED eye set to add to your eyes and make them glow.
   Just press your hot glue gun into the backs of your finished eyes to make a hole for your LED, add LED, then glue over. I recently ordered a few so I will be sure to post pictures when I add them.

    Now you are an eye making factory! You can add them to several things for a more sinister appearance such as a large rag doll, portraits, or stuffed animals. You can also easily do fingernails and even teeth molds in this fashion. Happy Haunting!


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