1. Den of Angels is closing in August 2026. New account registrations are closed. Please see this thread in Den of Angels news for important information: /threads/the-future-of-den-of-angels.893314/
    Dismiss Notice

Modification Eye mod logistics?

Oct 27, 2023

Watch Thread
    1. Hello!

      I’m trying to figure out a way around having to actually mod a head in a permanent way, but I’m having a difficult time coming up with an alternative to that. The character I am shelling has an eye that is completely missing (ie, facial scarring around the eye area, eyelid entirely gone, not just the eyeball) and has been replaced with a circular lens. References of this here for visuals (warning for (illustrated) eye injuries):

      eye refs - Google Drive

      Initially I thought about just getting a custom eye that matched what the lens looks like, but that really would not get me the look that I’m aiming for. That being said, I would really prefer to not mod the actual eye socket permanently. Someone I know suggested to me that I create some kind of two-part magnetic “eye” where i make a piece that stays inside the head with a magnet that attaches to the lens part on the outside of the head. I am trying to figure out a way to do this where it would actually look like the lens was directly on the head, and not just being held against the outside; I feel like if I just did a flat piece for the lens there would be gaps?

      Mostly, I’m looking for advice on materials and how to make the lens look like it’s actually set into the eye area without having to sand anything off/down. I’ve thought about making a mold of the eye area so i could have a resin piece that’s fitted for the eye socket/shape of the head, but I’m not sure how well that would work or even how I would go about doing that.

      Any help would be greatly appreciated!
       
      #1 lycheeblooms13, Oct 27, 2023
      Last edited: Oct 27, 2023
      Tools
      + Quote Reply
    2. So, here’s a crazy idea… why not measure the eye and find a camera lens to fit it? You can find spare parts or old unwanted cameras pretty easily, and lenses come in literally all sizes. I’m sure you could modify one into an eye.
       
      #2 ashbelEro, Oct 27, 2023
      Tools
      + Quote Reply
    3. How about instamorph? I've molded it against resin and never had it stick once cooled (but test on a safe spot on your doll, all resin is a little different). You could press it against the eye area and shape it however you want. Shove stuff into it (like a lens), etc. It's paintable or you can mix pastels into it to color it how you want. If you don't like how it looks heat it up and try again or work on it some more. Much easier with a heat gun than water in this situation. Once you're done just use a little white glue or poster tack to stick it to the doll.

      It's fairly easy to get "organic" soft shapes, but if you're looking for sharp edges and such that's much more difficult.

      Here's a thread where I used it to make some tools.

      /threads/quick-helpful-tools-from-thermoplastic.763539/
       
      #3 scripple, Oct 27, 2023
      Tools
      + Quote Reply
      • x 2
    4. You could use any oil free air drying sculpting material (the lighter the better, paper clay for instance), cover the head with some cling film just in case, sculpt the eye part on top of the head with the lens in, let it dry, use low temp hot glue or normal white water soluble glue to stick it on the face when done with it. It would make sense to paint it before and stick it on after the faceup is done, though, as you wouldn't want to spray the lens with sealant.

      Depending on the doll size, you might want to look into phone cam parts as they are rather small and flat and easy to make look like part of the eye, or pancake lenses for bigger dolls.
       
      #4 cobaltconduct, Oct 28, 2023
      Tools
      + Quote Reply
    5. Here I'd been trying to figure out how I'd make a convincing camera lens out of any other material, and it didn't once cross my mind to get an actual lens, lol. I'll definitely look into this!!

      I'm not sure if I'll be able to make use of this for this particular project because I do want some sharper shapes, but I'd never heard of this before! Making a mental note of its existence because I'm sure I'll find something that this would be useful for in the future :)

      Again, another thing that didn't cross my mind at all, lol.... seems like repair kits for phone cameras are pretty inexpensive, so I might order a few of those to play around with.

      Thanks all!!
       
      #5 lycheeblooms13, Oct 28, 2023
      Tools
      + Quote Reply
      • x 3
Draft saved Draft deleted
Toggle Width
Styler
Styler
Color Options
Color Options