I'm putting this tut back because it is something I still use.
Hi everyone! I figured out how to make some cool eyes and thought I would share. I'm still quite the novice, so bear with me. I have actually made 11 puppets so far, but only one was a moving mouth type. I made ten nutcracker marionettes for my oldest daughter’s dance class. Boy was that exhausting! Anyway I'm making my second moving mouth puppet currently for a fundraiser and learning so much for everyone here. I got the spoon idea from all of you who use them. I just tweaked it a bit.
The first thing you need to do is make some cool looking irises to have printed. You can use any paint program you like. Here is a base and an example I made. Below are some links to doll eye manufacturers. They can give you great ideas.
http://www.softglasseyes.com/colors.htmlhttp://etherealangels.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=15&Itemid=1http://www.dollsoom.com/shop/step_submain.php?b_code=B20021125011548#Once you have you eyes made, place several pairs on a 4”x6” white background and save. Be sure to leave about ¼” of white space around the edges of the page. The printers always auto crop the edges.
Now send your picture online to your local digital shop. I send mine to my local evil empire superstore. There they cost $0.19 a picture for 1 hour service. I got doubles cause I tend to mess up! Don’t take them on a disk and print them there. You want to have your eyes printed like a regular photo so they’ll be colorfast and fade resistant.
Wait an hour and go pick them up. Breath a big sigh of relief that you remembered to leave space around the edge of your picture. Darn those auto croppers. While you’re there pick up any other supplies you may need.
You’ll need:
Clear spoons - regular shape is fine, but next time I’m going to my local party city store and getting some clear soup spoons. They are oh so roundy and cool.
Clear quick grab glue (non yellowing non water based best)
White acrylic paint
Finger nail file
Scissors
For the fun part! Cut the handles off the spoons and file rough edges with the finger nail file. Set aside. Cut out the irises you had printed. You can remove the backing on the photo before you cut if you want. It comes off fairly easy and makes the picture way more flexible. It seems to create more winkles though. I left my backing on for the final pair. I’m glad I got double pictures! Put a thin layer of glue on the face of picture being sure to get the edges and put a small bead of glue in the inside of the spoon. Put the irises in the glue on the spoon and smooth out the bubbles. The picture will be behind the plastic of the spoon all protected and safe. You will need to check it occasionally to smooth out bubbles as the glue dries. It may take a while for the glue to dry but it really needs to dry completely before moving on.
Next paint the back of the iris and the inside of the spoon with white paint. Use a fairly stiff brush and very little paint. Try to dab the paint on at a ninety degree angle to the picture. That way if there are any wrinkles at the edges the paint won’t creep to the front of the picture. Let dry and repeat until solid. All done. My what lovely eyes you have!
Note: I’m not too worried about the paint being scraped off of the slick spoon because it will be protected behind the plastic and out of reach.
Here was how mine went in. Yours doesn’t have to be so invasive.
