Wearables First attempt at DIY eyes

Ok guys, be honest. I know these need some work.. I used the old designs I had made for glass cabochon eyes, and it looks like the magnification is messing with some of the design- outer detail is hardly showing.

I do see those bubbles- if anyone has any tips on how to glue the caps on and avoid those nasty bubbles I would love to hear any suggestions!



All but the gold ones on the bottom right are printed works (I feel most sorry for the middle left red and purple, they would be so pretty without the bubbles!); the gold bottoms being acrylic paint lol.

But yes...feedback please. I'm sort of happy with these but I know they could use some work.

 

The pupils are all identical; sorry, my bad for taking a close up overhead shot like that.

Better pic here, even with the little shine spots they seem to look a lot better in doll than out (what a relief!).


This shot also sort of shows off what the lighting does depending on the angles.. might be that, or might be the not 100% glue job. I have another pair of the purples (the first ones I made) that I did not glue right, and one of them hardly shows the color from an angle. Kinda sad about that one.

 

Thanks so much, everyone! I dislike shine and imperfections where there shouldn't be, so maybe I'm being overly critical.

@CloudWeaver Thank you! I actually found a supplier for acrylic parts; they're even excited to see my eye designs if I market them rather than making them for my own use only. Hence why I'm being SO hyper critical of the turnout. ^^;

 

Hope an update is all right.
I found a better way to glue, though I still get little "shine spots", it does work better.

Thought I'd share my designs so far. These are unfinished (not glued), so they're lacking a little bit of depth (can't take side shots for example). I know a couple of them need some work, of course; the dark red ones near the end of the shots should be a bit more red.
Any feedback or opinions are highly welcome! ♥


Also, these are all 12mm size with 7mm irises... I designed them though for up to 17mm iris size, so these are scaled down quite a lot.

 

Some of the lighter ones do still need a bit of work, yes... some of them though, like the "white" and the brighter yellow, are supposed to have a glowing kind of feel without actually glowing or being metallic, so those I intend to leave as-is. Since these were only a test run to see how the magnification worked, they're not all done yet. :3

Aaa- yes... sadly, the dark reddish brown one is supposed to be black and red! It came out a LOT darker at the size than I had intended, which needs to be fixed as well. But I do see what you mean; a little graduation on the colors, a little darker near the middles so it doesn't pop quite as harshly. *nods*

And yes, yes I will be! Need to order supplies, though, of course. ^_~
I'm also glad to take suggestions for colors! Still working out more colors/styles to make! ^_^

Oooh yes, I know~ I've done this successfully with other cabochons, such as making pendants- I think I may need to take a note from the method I use for that and possibly glue the front cabochon to the printed iris pattern before inserting it into the base..as that tends to work better for the pendants- or, and I think this is where the bubbles are coming from...make sure to use enough glue when inserting the iris into the base. So far I'm using a VERY thin layer and I think the air is getting trapped under there and surfacing once I glue the cabochon into place.

As for the type of glue... I use a high quality superglue gel that doesn't cause bleeding like other glues. I'm nervous to try tacky glue or something else as they don't tend to dry right or clear enough when trapped in between surfaces like this. But if you have any suggestions for different glues, by all means, suggest away! I always have ways to test others out without risking the eyes. :3

 

@Elysion gear I'm only worried that say, what IF the eye gets wet, it gets into the glue and soaks in just enough to ruin the eye? Not sure if I'm being overly cautious or not, but the idea of it not being 100% permanent puts me off juuust a little, you know? But I'll give it a shot and see how it turns out. Thanks! :3

 

@Monaudious Hehehe I have some "out there" styles from my old designs, and plan on doing more- just need to get bases that don't have the iris and I can do anything~ I have cat-eye styles that are awesome, and most of my designs now are prepped for alternate pupils if need be.

I think the only issue I see with mint irises with salmon pupils would be transitioning them so it doesn't have the bad color "burn" from off blending. But I could get it to work, I'm sure. ::3