Resin Eye Tutorial

                   My husband makes a lot of the eyes I use in my dolls and jewelry.....here is how he makes them.

First you'll need a silicone mold of a sphere the size you want your

eye to

be. It needs to be a one piece mold thats open at the back.

Get some Devcon Clear Two Component Epoxy from your hardware store. Also

get some dry tempera paints.

First, mix up a small amount of epoxy and use the black tempra paint to

make it black. VERY CAREFULLY, using a toothpick or some similar tool,

collect a

blob of the black epoxy on the end of the toothpick and carry it to the

mold.Let a pupil sized drop fall right into the middle of the spherical

mold. Don't let it hit the side of the inside of the mold and run down to the very

bottom, you must hit the center/bottom of the mold on the first try. You are

creating the pupil of the eye, and it must be perfectly round!

As this sets up, mix a larger batch of epoxy and tint it the color that

you wish the iris of your eye to be. Using the toothpick again, or better

yet a cheap disposable paintbrush, collect a dollop of the iris colored epoxy

and drop it into the mold right on top of the black pupil that you have just

created.

Of course, the iris color should flow beyond the area of the pupil.

Again, hit the center/bottom of the spherical mold the first time! to get a perfectly

round iris.

While this epoxy is setting up, mix a larger again batch of epoxy and

tint it a cream or white color. This will be the white of your eye. Mix

enough to pretty much fill the rest of the mold. Pour it into the mold and it's

best to let the whole thing set overnight. The following day, de mold the eye

and see how it looks. If you are happy with it, and since most dolls, figures have

TWO eyes, you now get to make a second eye just exactly like the first! Good

Luck! Once you have your TWO eyes, I would lightly sand them both to get rid of

any textures that may have formed on the surface of the eyes. Once they

have been sanded evenly, coat them both with an un tinted coat of epoxy to give

them a wet look. Sometimes a second or even third coat of clear epoxy is needed to

get a uniform coating.

This is a really down and dirty way to make fake eyes.Your biggest

hurdle will be to get some molding silicone to ccreate your spherical mold.

You'll also need a sphere to mold. A Ping Pong ball, large marble, etc.

Locate Burman Industries on the internet to purchase silicone molding materials, and

information on working with it.

Good luck! Be forewarned -This takes a great deal of practice, silicone for the molds is expensive and expect a high failure rate while you are learning.