Snail... I was suggesting the plumbers putty for making the mold for the eye not for the eye itself.   The description given of the molding material they sell sounded a lot like regular old plumbers putty.

It is pretty amazing stuff and like you I use it for a variety of applications it was not really intended for. Unlike you I don't think I ever used it to fix a leaky pipe.

If you came up with some sort of hard plastic or metal item to use for the pupil perhaps you could place it in the mold before you actually molded the white dome for the eye. Of course this "prefixed" pupil would make focusing the eyes a bit of a challenge. Might take a few tries to find the right position for a general usage but thought it might be worth a shot.

Could you put a rounded black button in the mold and pour around it (for the pupil)?

Shawn -

Usually, inks are used as an "after effect", to make something look antiqued or gilded (think dry brushing).

 However, it looks like they are using them here to give the medium a translucent finish, instead of an opaque. If you look at the examples that aren't see through, they have made the mixture with a white opaque and then colored it with an ink.

I hope that's a coherent explination. I, personally, have never used them, because they are always so expensive!

Lola,

Have you tried the Heat It Inks they have? http://www.rangerink.com/products/prod_meltart_heatitinks.htm

I don't fully understand what they are talking about here but they have some recipes for on this page. http://www.rangerink.com/tips/tips_HeatItInksRecipes.htm

As far as the pupil goes, I have tried a couple of different things over the last couple of days, and haven't had much luck. While the utee cools quickly, it's still pretty hot when you pour it in, and I can't get around the warping. I had a couple of other ideas, so I will let you know if I have any success.

In the meantime, here's a video about making your own mold and charms (or eyeballs...ahem) in case anyone is interested...

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The paint I used was the liquid acrylic, but I might have had success with black eyeshadow. I will let you know about that too!

Video was nice, I like her extra hints. Molding in Video looks more like softer silly putty,have a recipe for homemade silly putty but I don't remember it setting up like that. That does not look like the plumbers putty I have used.
 
Plumbers putty search on web shows larger container that looks softer.There may be more than one product with this name. I can't find mine now, son borrowed it.
I found something that looks like the product I use called plastic poxy on this web site, it comes in a tube with two solid putty ropes that you mix together, they get hot when mixed, but man just a little bit sticks things that don't normally stick together well like wood, metal, velcro.  This website seems to indicate that it doesn't work with several plastics. So it probably will not work on the eyes either. http://www.herchem.com/products/putty_epoxy.html

After seeing how easily that plastic remelts in the video maybe you could remelt just the area you want to stick something black back onto the finished eye orb?

Have you tried making your basic eyeball, then painting it, even with something that might rub off, or sticking  felt, paper  etc for pupils and iris, then dipping it in the clear stuff as a protector coat? You could paint  even  veins and stuff then, and a clear coat should seal it all together.

I just got some friendly plastic from Amazon, so I'm going to give that a try and see how the two compare. I might be able to make molds from it as well, according to a couple of the related videos I have found. I was out at the Day of Puppetry today, so didn't get much done on the eyeball front.

Friendly plastic is so much better than nasty plastic.

I just got some friendly plastic from Amazon, so I'm going to give that a try and see how the two compare. I might be able to make molds from it as well, according to a couple of the related videos I have found. I was out at the Day of Puppetry today, so didn't get much done on the eyeball front.

Which one did you use? Sorry for all the questions just like to keep folks informed on new products.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Darts-crafts&field-keywords=friendly+plastic