Tutorial for making Resin Eyes

This is my current tutorial for making the eyes I have in my critique thread. It will be updated with pictures soon when I get around to it.

What you need:
Master eyes in sizes you need (DIY eyes from Pupapa)
Enamel paint (Testors)
Molding clay
Silicone (SmoothOn Oomoo 30)
White resin (SmoothOn 300)
Clear epoxy glue (Devcon 2-ton epoxy or 5-min epoxy, crystal clear with the nozzles)
Mold conditioner
Cheap/old paintbrush
Exacto knife
Plastic container or cup to hold the molds
Popsicle/craft sticks
Bathroom-sized plastic cups
Disposable plastic gloves

Before you begin:
Choose and prepare your work surface. The chemicals you will be working with are hazardous and can cause bad reactions in your skin and/or lungs if you aren't careful. This project can be done inside, but make sure the room is well-ventilated. This is a time-consuming and messy project so choose a place that is clean and generally unused. On your actual table place a plastic bag or sheet over it to protect the table's surface from accidental spills. Lastly, organize all of your materials in one place so you have easy access to everything.
I recommend you do this project when it isn't raining or won't be raining for a while. Don't even try it when the ground is wet after a good storm. Resin is very sensitive to humidity; this is the same reason why Korean companies have trouble casting dolls during their rainy season in the summer.
Note about irises: If you don't or can't use enamel paint you can print out irises using a high quality printer paper (think HP or Epson, not store brand x). Make sure you use the highest quality printing setting when printing them out so you won't get pixels, discoloration or streaky lines showing up in your finished eyes.

Step 1:
Prepare your eye masters. I use the DIY eyes from Pupapa's store, and if you get enough I think they may come in a nice little plastic container that is perfect for making the mold. These are hollow so you want to pack some clay up in the recess and level it off so they will sit anchored on the bottom of the container. Then squish them into the bottom of the container with an even distance between them. You can use one of your plastic cups with the top cut off if you don't have the Pupapa container.

Step 2:
Spray the mold conditioner into your master. Make sure all the surfaces that will be exposed to the silicone are covered, and use the paintbrush to brush the conditioner all around the container, creating an even layer. It's kind of like spraying a layer MSC onto a doll's face to do her face-up. Wait for the entire thing to dry to the touch (about an hour or two) then you will be ready for the next step.

Step 3:
Pour out an equal amount of part A and part B of the silicone into separate plastic cups. Place them beside each other on a level surface and make sure the levels of each liquid are lined up. This is to ensure that you have the same amount in each cup. I usually just estimate how much of part A and B I will use, but if you want to be precise you can use a weight scale to measure the exact amount. Then pour one cup's contents into another (I usually dump B into A because it's less viscous) and scrape the side with a Popsicle stick so you get all of it out. Mix slowly to reduce air bubbles as much as you can. After about 30-60 sec of mixing, pour the mixture into a brand new cup and be sure to scrape the sides. Mix again for another 30 seconds to a minute. When the mixture turns a lavender color with no swirls, you've mixed it well.

Step 4:
Take the Popsicle stick, smear a thin layer of the rubber mix onto the eyes in the container and pop any bubbles that appear. The DIY eyes have an undercut that can sometimes retain bubbles, so by creating a bubble-free layer you can reduce the possibility. Then pour the rest of the mix into the container, but let it seek it's own level (ie: pour only in one place and don't pour it directly onto the eyes!). Scrape the side again and let it sit.

Step 5:
The silicone takes around 6 hours to completely cure. After this time has passed, take an Exacto knife and run it between the mold and the side of the container to release it. Then use the knife to prop and lift the mold from the container. Alternatively you can use the hose of a vacuum cleaner If you're using a plastic cup, feel free to destroy it so you can get the mold out. You should see the bottom of the eye masters. Bend the mold so you can release the masters from the mold, and pray that you didn't get any bubbles :p If you see little pinhole bubbles on the lens rim of the eyes, don't worry; there is a workaround. Clean up any flash (thin edges) you see by pulling them off or by using the knife.

Step 6:
Next step is to repeat the previous steps and create more eye molds, if you want. It's better if you use more than one mold so you won't have to keep mixing a lot of resin and to have a better chance of producing more successful molds and eyes. It's a good practice to spray your molds with the conditioner and spread it around with the paintbrush, but you don't have to do it every time because silicone won't stick to curing resin. Just once every 5 or so casts is good enough to ensure a long mold life.

 

Step 7:
Time to mix the white resin and make some eye whites! Take two cups and fill them with equal amounts of parts A and B. The resin which I use has a rather short pot life so you will want to use some kind of timer or stopwatch to time your progress. As for the amounts, too much is better than too little so make an overestimate of how much you will need. Dump part B into part A, since you can reuse the cup that had part B in it. Stir slowly for a minute until the opaque swirls disappear, then pour the curing resin into the eye mold cavities. If you notice bubbles in the poured resin, you can remove them with a toothpick or an old Exacto knife blade while it's still clear. Alternatively you can pass a fire from a torch or cigarette lighter over the mixture, which works because fire consumes oxygen and the bubbles have oxygen in them.
The resin should fully cure in 10 minutes, unless the environmental conditions are not ideal for the curing process. It's exciting to watch the clear mixture turn white, isn't it? You can remove the eyes by bending the mold once they're fully cured.

Step 8:
Now it's time to create the iris. Use enamel paint to paint the eyes how you want. This type of paint takes a while to dry and colors do run easily so my advice is to work with one color at a time. What I do is take a toothpick and "drip" the color onto the iris so it goes on smoothly and evenly, and it also creates a nice gradient effect towards the middle since the paint dries a bit transparent. After the main iris color has dried use another toothpick to drop the pupil in the middle. If you make a mistake you can use alcohol to remove the paint. I have used sparkly ink and metallic mylar paper to color my eyes so I encourage you to experiment! For each color layer, I allow at least 12 hours for the paint to dry.
If you want to use paper irises, design them on the computer and print them out using a high-quality printer paper. Then cut them out using either a pair of scissors (if you're careful) or a hole puncher (go to a craft store to get punches that can punch different diameters). Carefully mush the cut-out irises into the iris-hole using a toothpick for a perfect fit. No glue is required if your irises are perfectly sized for each iris size, just make sure the iris lays flat with no ridges or bumps (these can cause bubbles in the lens if you aren't diligent).

Step 9:
Time to make the lens. This is where your Devcon epoxy glue comes into play. It comes with a handy mixing nozzle that allows you to apply the epoxy without mixing. Slowly and carefully, squirt the epoxy onto each eye, creating a "dome" that forms the lens. Don't make it too high or it will slump over. Afterwards you may notice some bubbles on the edges so use your torch/cig lighter or toothpick to pop them (the epoxy can turn yellow and burn if the fire is left on it too long so be extremely careful!!). If you're using the 5-min epoxy it will cure rather quickly with little time for bubbles to form, but you'll have to work fast. After the lens is click hard in a couple of hours, you can apply a thin layer of the epoxy or spray a glossy coating onto each eye to give it a protective and shiny finish.

Don't be discouraged if you mess up the first few times. I am still trying to achieve perfection myself!

 

Thanks a bunch, chibichibiusa. I hope it can help you some. As of now, my tutorial is probably the only one available for making resin/urethane eyes... no companies/individuals are willing to share their secret to making the professional eyes so I just made up my own method!

 

You can use modeling clay, silicone eye putty or poster tack to hold eyes in the head.