Ginger Allen wrote:
I do all my eyes up ahead of time. I use a plastic surface like a coffee can lid. I put small drops of paint, yellow, green, white and tap the lid so they pool out. Then after 10 minutes I add the black pupil. After 2 hours you can peel them off and super glue them on.
Wow, I'll agree...great idea Ginger!
Goes well with another technique I developed earlier...repeated here in its latest version for those who may have missed it the first time around.
Some further findings on the above as I have had more of a chance to play with this. The glue gun technique does NOT work with these fabric paint eyes, as the heat causes the eye to flatten out as you press it with the coffee-stirrer stick/putty combo. They end up looking a little like the foil prismatic stick on eyes you buy at the flyshop.
To maintain the 3-D look, you would have to use super glue gel. You could still use the stick/putty combo to apply the eye...that part still works great.
I am trying to find the ideal puddle shape and amount of fabric paint to apply so that you get the eye you want with a 3-D appearance. It is possible to 'puddle' too much with the fabric paint. The eyes look good, but tend to be too flat. Haven't quite gotten the timing down yet.
One thing I am going to try is to construct the eyes on the inside face of the plastic coffee can lid, then after I have made an evening's worth of eyes, I will turn the lid upside down over the coffee can. Gravity will tend to keep the eyes 3-D as they hang downward and set. As it is now, gravity makes the eyes flatten more than I would like.
This technique is fast and very cost effective. I have made around 70 usable eyes just playing around, and I can't have used more than 10 cents worth of fabric paint.
Wes Wada Bend, Oregon
