Eyes Making UV resin eyes

hi, this topic belongs in the workshop section of the forum, specifically the styling/crafting section, theres a tag at the top for eyes, there you'll probably find an answer to ur question

 

For the white, I highly recommend using a high-quality dye. I use the Aluminite one, which is super concentrated, and one drop or two is more than enough when I'm mixing up a small batch of resin to make eyes. The dye seems "expensive" when you look at dye sets, but IMO, a lot of those sets are just really low quality without much pigment. I paid $12 for my bottle including tax and shipping.

It's been 100% worth it cos the white just comes out so perfect every single time, and I would not hesitate to buy another if the time comes. Seriously, the bottle should last a long time given how little you need.

As for the eye molds, I just bought a bunch off Taobao from sellers who weren't selling recast items. It seems like Cubeco molds are just mass produced with multiple sellers.

 

Personally with eye bases you might want to go with epoxy/two-part resin, simply because i think if it's opaque enough to your liking it probably won't cure properly (but then again i don't know if being in contact with cured resin will continue the curing process further in where the light can't reach?)

alumilite I think has a two-part resin that cures pretty quick into a solid white, if you're not interested in casting anything else!

 

You can find white UV resin, which reduces the amount of pigment you need to add, but you can also up your curing time from what you would use for a clear resin. I also flip my molds after the back feels cured and let them cure with the iris side up as well before unmolding.

My molds are from amazon and work quite well, but what works for you might depend on what size eyes you're trying to make and what you're looking for from the the eyes you want to make. Most of the eye molds I've seen are transluscent but if yours isn't, then I'd suggest changing to one that is. Opaque molds won't let enough light in to fully cure.

 

change liquid color to paste color. Or you can simply use gypsum powder to make the eye base

 

A small drop of acrylic paint also does the trick. I use this method when making my eyes and I also do various coloured sclera. For the moulds, translucent are what you need for UV resin and after a while of steadily making eyes, the moulds will slowly start to become opaque (I assume from the constant exposure to UV light) so you'll likely need to replace them later on down the line unless you switch to a 2-part resin that doesn't rely on UV to cure.

If you want to do black sclera, you can buy black UV resin but I've found it's a bit of a dice roll as far as fully curing goes. Even increasing the cure time doesn't always seem to get the job done. I would highly recommend that after the initial cure time in the mould is done, pop the eyes back under the UV light after de-moulding (iris facing up) for another couple of minutes to help cure it all the way.

Generally what I'll do for the black sclera is use clear resin and mix in a few drops of the black resin. They will fully cure when doing this. The result is not a solid black but more of a nearly black slightly translucent colour. When the eyes are in a doll's head, they will appear black as there is no light in the head to show they are slightly translucent and not solid black. I discovered this accidentally when I was trying to make sclera that showed a translucency when in a doll's head.