I am quite curious how urethane eyes like Enchanted Doll eyes are made. I've searched online and what I got is mostly the casting process. But I want to know more about the colouring process and how 'threading' is done. Do they make a 'dented' sphere, colour the dent before placing a transparent lens over it? What type of paint do they use? Thanks in advance for any help!
I believe the threading is a part of the eye-sculpt, that the white part of the eye is cast separately, and then the iris is either inked or airbrushed. If ink was used then it might creep to the deeper recesses and stick less to the higher points, creating the striations or threading. Then the pupil is added, it might be a deeper hole in the middle of the sculpt that is filled with black ink/paint, or it might be a solid ball of some sort that is added in. The lens is definitely added later, not cast separately but poured over the iris and sclera, possibly in stages to create the domed effect. It could be a mold too, that is part-filled with clear resin and then the white/sclera with inked iris and pupil (has to dry first) is dipped facedown in the clear and left to cure. I have never tried to make eyes, so I don't know exactly, but these are some possibilities.
Enchanted Dolls (by Marina Bychkova), based on the porcelain BJDs in the book, Learning To Be A Doll Artist, by Martha Armstrong-Hand (1920-2004), are cast porcelain dolls that are China Painted at about Cone 018, and fired in an electric kiln, if I am not mistaken. Being China Painted, the original eyes are modeled in Polymer Clay, as a part of the head, then molded in Plaster Molds, and slip cast in porcelain. China Painting is permanent. The eyes are not changeable. Her process involved modeling the original doll in oil-clay, molding it in plaster rough shell molds, casting it in carving wax, refining the carving wax doll parts, then molding those parts in plaster slip casting molds, and finishing the cast porcelain ball-jointed doll. It is a very involved process. ETA: I am sorry. I misunderstood the question. Please ignore this post. Thank you, twigling.
I made eyes. I made the white and iris as a single piece which I mad ea mold of and cast. Then I blushed it, esentially very much like you would a doll. a couple layers of MSC to offer grab and then true color in layers. the irsis itself has a lit of texture in my eyes, which I felt was lacking in the eyes I have bought. Then I put clear coatings on to create the lens. I'm making some production molds for this process though so I will have one mold for the whites and iris and another for the clear, then I'll polish it. Here is an example of ones that I have created. These were just to see if I could do it so the aren't perfect, but they are Dallieh's eyes. His have metal behind the pupil set a distance back so they refract light out like a person's eyes does, when you shine light into them. I love that. Sorry for the monster picture but I wanted you to be able to see the eyes. This is what they look like with light shining in them. it overblanched him though cause he's a white boy, LOL. Like I said, they aren't perfect, but they are his . I love Dallieh's eyes because they seem to have him inside. This is a link to my other failed attempts but you can see where I'm going: eyeballs hooray!
Myrretah, they are simply lovely eyes! And the metal backing idea is simply fantastic and ingenious. Thank you so much for sharing!
