“Glass” Eyes for your dolls—Tutorial

By Aimee Jeffries

Hello my pretties! Come on in and sit a spell. I’ve got something fresh out of the oven and you… hmmm… well… might not want to eat them, especially when they look at you that way! *Cackle!* Oh my… another wave of Halloween spirit swept over me for a minute there! I’m afraid the wonderful smells are merely from the Pumpkin Pie Spice tarts melting in the warmer. He-heee!

So! If the last tutorial was a mini-tut, this might be a mega-tut. I do feel like sounding the trumpets for finally getting it done, but that might be mega-tooting my own horn? Ha! Okay, okay... I’ve gotten the eye tutorial finished. I’m so grateful for all the information artists share that have helped me along on my artistic journey. I’ve always sworn that, once I figured out how to do something cool, I would share it, and I think these have turned out pretty cool!

I’ve attempted to do this tut for a while now, but I end up getting so involved in the creating that I forget to keep taking pictures along the way! This is my way of doing them, with a few variations stuck in here and there. I even had a few “A-hah!” moments, getting new ideas as I was taking pictures. So, I don’t know if this is the right way, wrong way or crazy way... just my way! :-)

Supplies:

Supplies can vary because many of these things can be found around the craft room—bits and bobbles you never thought of as tools.

• White Polymer Clay (or whatever type of clay you are using): This can be whatever brand you like (for polymer, it can be Premo, Sculpey, Fimo, etc.). Experiment with the color of the whites of the eyes. Straight white can work, depending on the lookay you are going for. Sometimes I might mix a tiny pinch of blue or flesh color to make them more realistic. My mixture is:

• 2:1 transparent to white. That means I use half as much white as transparent clay. Try different ratios to see what color works for you. Mix them very well until you can’t see any streaks. A pasta machine is very helpful with this. :-)

• Liquid Fimo: I’ve tried other brands of Liquid Clay and found that they don’t get as clear as the Liquid Fimo; they are much thinner and harder to get a nice “domed” cornea shape from which magnifies nicely.

• Paints of your choice (acrylic, Genesis Heat set paints).

• Baby Powder/Talc or corn starch to keep your tools from sticking to the clay.

Equipment:

• Glazed ceramic tile for sculpting on, as well as baking the eyes. I picked up a 6x6 inch tile at Lowes. (Today, I picked up another in black so I can see the shape of the eye better in contrast to the tile).

• Heat/Embossing Gun.  

• Kemper circle cutters: I was also experimenting with another style/shape of eye using these. (In place of the Kemper circle cutters, you could also use a cap, lid, etc. to cut out circle shapes for alternatives in case you don’t have the “uber cool tools” listed here. LOL! Of course, you can also roll little balls of clay, place them in

your freezer for a few minutes, and then cut them in half. If they are cold before you cut them they won’t get smooshed so easy.)

• Pat Moulton’s Perfect Eye Tools : Okay… if you really want to spoil yourself and make things uber easy, I absolutely love Pat Moulton’s Perfect Eye Tools. They come in lots of sizes, from life size eyes down to tiny 2mm. You can see them in the pic below. You can buy them on her website under:

Find the Perfect Eye Tools at: Pat Moulton’s Baby Collection: Our online shop: Tools: http://www.patmoultonsbabycollection.com (I am not affiliated with the website in any way, I just think these tools are fab!)

• Ball Stylus Tools: I got mine from a Nail Supply Shop; I think they call them “dotting tools.” There are lots of tools and cool stuff you can find at Nail/Beauty Supply shops much cheaper than from an Art Supply! Especially teeny tiny detail paint brushes!

Pat Mounton’s Baby Collection Website

Online Shop

Tools

Pat Moulton’s Perfect Eye Tools,(http://www.patmoultonsbabycollection.com)

Aimee’s white polymer clay, Liquid Fimo, Kemper Circle Cutter and acrylic paints

Ball Stylus Tools and Needle ToolBab Powder

Making the Eye Balls

Mix your 2:1 transparent to white clay. That means I use half as much white as transparent clay. Try different ratios to see what color works for you. Mix them very well until you can’t see any streaks. A pasta machine is very helpful with this.

First, roll out some clay on the thickest setting on your pasta machine. Dip your circle maker (Pat Moulton Eye Cutter, Kemper Circle Cutter or round cutter of your choice) into your talc or corn starch, tap off excess, and then press into the white polymer clay like so:

Aimee’s rolled out 2:1 ratio of Polymer Clay and Transparent Clay with her Talc all ready to use

Aimee’s white clay, cut into small circles using the Kemper Tool

Press down until you feel the tool against the tile, give it a little spin and lift off. When I move on to using the Perfect Eye Tool, I fold the clay in half, doubling it, so it will be thick enough to fill the dome of the tool (for this tut, I’m making 6mm eyes). Again, with your eye cutting tool, repeat and dip in powder, tap off excess, press into the clay. It might seem tedious to keep dipping your tool into the talc/cornstarch every single time; sometimes I can get away with dipping only every other time. But often times, it ends up getting stuck in the tool and I have to pick it out and start all over again.

Aimee cutting her doll eyes with Pat Moulton’s eye tool

All cut out, ready for cleaning up

You might notice there is extra clay around the eyes that was smooshed out by the tool. I take a small stylus or tooth pick and clean up the edges. This doesn’t have to be perfect at this point; we will do it one more time in a bit, and then we can get knit-picky.

And here they are all cleaned up

At this point, your clay should be sticking nicely to your tile. This is a good thing! We won’t be moving or removing them from the tile until we are completely done—unless you are feeling adventurous and enjoy chasing little eyeballs all over the place when you use your heat gun.

Making indentation for iris

Now, I use a stylus and make a shallow, gentle dent. Just use the weight of your hand holding the tool—don’t press. At this point, the clay has been compressed and too much pressure given too fast will cause little cracks around the edge of the iris. These will then suck the paint right into them, which we don’t want.

This first dent determines the depth; now we’re going widen it a bit. Place your stylus in the dent and start to wiggle it a bit, building up to a tiny circle until it is as big as you want it. You can see the progression of the iris size in the three I’ve done below, the top being the largest.

The different sizes of dents, progressing from small to large, in making the iris

The next step is important if you need to be precise with the size. I started with a size of 6mm. But, I’ve displaced some of the clay, thus making them too wide. I could probably start with a 4mm, and then widen up to a 6mm—another test for another time! So, for now, I’ll use the Perfect Eye Tool once again to bring them back to the right size. More clay will squish out the sides.

It is time to clean up the edges for the last time. This is where the black tile will come in handy so I can see if I missed anything (obsess much? Why yes, yes… I do, ha-ha!). …Because these really are no fun to try to sand at this size. You might also want to turn on your oven and let it start preheating.

Now, look them over good. If any of the irises have shrunk from the last step, gently widen them again; it will take only a nudge. Make sure that you have matched pairs). 

Note: Try using a smaller ball stylus or similar tool to press the pupil into the middle of the iris so that itwill be all set to add black paint after painting the iris.

Or: Impress stylus into the middle of the iris for pupil and drop or glue in a small, black bead forthe pupil. May not have to impress stylus first, but it may be easier to center the iris with the stylusbefore inserting the black bead.

Baking the Eyes with Indented Irises

Time to bake! Read the instructions on the brand of clay you are using for temperature and time. I bake mine at 275° F for about 12 minutes. An oven thermometer is a big help as well. I have a convection oven that I use just for baking clay, and I find the temps get about 5–10 degrees hotter when I’m not using the fan option, so pay close attention and adjust your temperature accordingly. 

Always pay attention to your temperature; temperature varies when the fan is turn off.

Experimenting

I’ve experimented quite a bit with different tools, shapes and paints.  Don’t feel bad if you find yourself surrounded by eyes... it’s quite addicting, he-he! On the blue one on my finger below, I used the clay itself to create the dome, then glossed it with Liquid Fimo. It loses its glass 3-D effect this way, but I just wanted to show you some other options. I created the groove for the darker contrast color and the dome at the same time using tubes. You could also use straws, caps, lids, even those little tube sleeves that come on your new paint brushes. This is how it looks:

Adding color is a later step; this is simply to display that the iris and pupil may be done at the same time

Eye with the iris and pupil done simultaneously with different sized tubes as cutters

For final dolls sculpts, I prefer to use Genesis Heat Set Paints (GHSP) for things like blushing, shading, lips, etc. But for the eyes, I found acrylics to be much easier to use. To build the color, I tried mixing both types of paints with Liquid Fimo (LF), but the GHSP were quite fussy and not as clear as I would have liked. If I used the tinted LF, I also had to decide when to add the black dot for the iris. Under the GHSP, it wasn’t clear enough. Over, and it looked like it was floating, sometimes even casting a shadow.

If you look at your own eyes (or randomly start starring at other peoples’ eyes—hah… yep... guilty!), you’ll see that the color of the iris doesn’t cover the black pupil. I had trouble getting the GHSP thin enough to work with. The Genesis Thinner is the consistency of Vaseline, and the instructions say not to use more than 40% or it might not set correctly. I also tried mineral spirits/turpentine to thin the paints. I found with the small amount of color needed, they didn’t mix as well as I would like, and evaporated quite quickly. You can see my “experimental pallet” below.

If you want to try Genesis, they can be expensive. But there are sample kits and testers available. The large containers are the ones I bought, and then emptied the plastic tubes into them for easy use. The smaller containers I bought from a “Reborn Supplier.” You can get many different colors in small amounts this way for a decent price.

Aimee’s Genesis Heat Set Paint

Painting the Indented Irises with Acrylic Paints

Whole Iris and Outer Iris

Painting the Whole Iris, a lighter color than outer iris

In the end, I found I prefer adding two coats acrylic paints of for the irises using a small brush. They flow better, can be easily mixed, and really... I didn’t notice any difference in the final product between acrylics and Genesis. I made a little paint pallet by taping a piece of Freezer Paper to my table. Experiment with colors and have fun! Here, I’m showing the Metallics by DecoArt in Bronze. I like the way this looked as an over-coat or mixed with brown, creating an orange-sparkle effect. 

aAimee’s experiment with metallic paint

I used a tiny paint brush to color the iris using two coats of acrylic paint and then drying in between. You can paint your darker color first, and then go over the iris again with the lighter/accent color, or if you have steady hands, you can paint the lighter color, and then paint the darker ring around the edge after it is dry.

Painting the Outer Iris, darker color

I find that the tip of an awl is easier for painting the outer ring of the iris with a darker shade. Wipe it off frequently and then reload when you paint the edge. Think of painting eyebrows on a mouse… tiny little strokes.

It’s hard to see, but my awl has dark blue paint on the tip!

Aimee’s awl with dark blue paint on the tip, ready to paint the outside ring of a blue iris

If you make a mistake, wait until after the paint has dried, then scrape it off with a needle or your finger nail. If you try to wipe it off wet, it tends to smudge and stain the whites of the eyes. I just scrape my nail across the top to get rid of any excess.

Aimee’s eye with darker ring around the iris

Now, use a clean dry paintbrush to get rid of any dry paint that has been removed.

Brushing off dried paint with a soft brush

More experimentation using a bead for indentation for iris, or a bead for the pupil

While I was taking photos for this tutorial, I had three “A-hah!” moments. Are you ready? I think they’re pretty exciting, but maybe I’m easily entertained. Okay, okay... I was asking myself... “Self, what if the people reading this don’t have a ball stylus?” Hmmm, indeed, self, this could be a problem. But... what if they have an awl and a ...drum roll, please... bead!? Yes a bead! See the nice little dent it makes in my scrap clay? It’s cool huh? I thought you would agree. 

Okay that’s my “A-hah!” #1. Thheeennnn… I thought... “Wow... what if I turn it the other way and press it into the clay? I would have the pupil dent and the iris, BAM!” “A-hah!” #2! Ahem...

So, for “A-hah!” #3, as I’m “eyeing” (har-har) my bead box... I spy with my little eye some seed beads! Now whhaaatt iiifff... I stick that in the clay. (This experimenting stuff is fun, I tell you!) Voilà! You have an iris.

Just add a dot of black in the middle. Just don’t use plastic beads—they might melt.

Indentation done with awl holding a small bead if you do not have a ball stylus

The Eye’s Pupil

Okay, okay… where was I...? Oh, yes… we need our pupil! Use a small stylus, awl, needle, or toothpick, etc. When I dip my stylus or awl into the black paint, I prefer to touch the excess paint onto scrap paper so that I have just enough paint left on the tip to paint the pupil. It’s easier to control the amount of paint you pick up with an awl or stylus. I dip the stylus into the black paint, leave excess on paper, then take a deep breath, exhale, and dot the center of the eye. Wipe off tip of stylus, remember to inhale, and repeat. It’s not frustrating, it’s

Zen... don’t forget this.  

Note: try indenting the pupil in the unbaked clay after indenting the iris, using a smaller stylus, in order to have greater control of where the black paint is added for the pupil .Or, rather try using a black seed bead instead of paint.

Once your paints are dry, it’s time to gloss the whites of the eyes. I used an old (but clean) small paint brush and poured some of the Liquid Fimo onto a clean piece of Freezer Paper. Don’t be tempted to fill in the iris—not just yet. Heat set the whites of the eyes first. You can pop them in the oven for a couple minutes, or simply use your heat gun. They harden pretty quickly, so be careful not to burn them. When using your heat gun, keep it at least 3 inches away (verify this with directions for heat gun). The whites of the eyes will start to look dull, frosted or hazy and then become glossy. As soon as this happens, take the heat away.  I tried to do the cornea (the cornea is the transparent front part of the eye that covers the iris, pupil, and anterior chamber) and the eye white gloss at the same time and it tends to run... something about surface tension here. Doing it this way makes the pupil dome stay put better. Notice I have another (12x12 marble) tile under my ceramic tile so my counter top doesn’t get hot.

Warning: the smaller tile will be hot, even after only a couple of minutes. I wipe the excess liquid clay from the paintbrush and then clean with rubbing alcohol.

Now, we’re going to fill the iris. Using a toothpick or preferred tool, drop some Liquid Fimo into the iris. Look at them from the side to make sure they are fairly similar in the height of the dome. (Move your head, not the tile, or you’ll be crying over spilled cornea—*giggle*!)

Note: If your oven is far away from where you are making your eyes, you might want to plan ahead for the next step so you don’t have to carry them far. Try filling the irises with LF near the oven to prevent the LF from

spilling out of the eye.

Aimee drops Liquid Fimo into the indentation of the pre-painted iris, after painting the whites of the eyes first with LF and a small brush

Now, let the eyes sit for a minute (no fans, cats, kids, etc.). Let the eyes rest for a few, yes—yours too! Let the oven heat up (turn off the convection oven’s fan option!) and grab a cup of tea. Pssst... We’re giving all those pesky potential bubbles a minute to show themselves. Sometimes they do if they don’t think we’re watching them! Bet you didn’t know that about bubbles, did you? They are quite sneaky!

Now, when you come back, you might notice a few bubbles. Use a toothpick to gently pop them. Turn the toothpick around and use the other end to pop the next one. A dry toothpick works better; again, something about surface tension. Now, carefully place the tile in the oven and bake them for 5 minutes.

Once the tile is cool enough to pick up, bring it back to your work station. They will be slightly foggy at this point. Now here’s where the magic happens. Turn on your heat gun, let it warm up a few seconds, and then hold it over each eye for 5 seconds or less. Presto! Nice and glossy!

Aimee’s dolly eyes are now glossy after being heated with heat gun for 5 seconds or less

Despite my best efforts, sometimes those pesky bubbles are more clever than I am. Eye? So it’s a good idea to make a few extra of the same color just in case a couple don’t pass inspection :) 

Close-up of Aimee’s dolly eyes, filled with Liquid Fimo

Wait until they are no longer hot, but still warm before removing them from the tile. They will pop right off. Now they are ready to use! When you go to use them in a sculpt and you’ve been working with raw clay, make sure that you wash your hands before you place them in your doll’s head. The clay on your hands will stick to the eye and make it look hazy. This might happen anyway; just make sure you wipe them off before you bake the sculpted head. When you are all finished with the baking process, you can put a thin coat of Sculpey Glaze/Gloss (or your favorite gloss product) on your doll eyes and they will sparkle again.

*EDIT: I discovered after using Sculpey Gloss coating on a finished practice head that it looks great, but because such a thin coat is needed, any pressure or contact made to the eyes might crack it ( like me poking it with my finger nail). This is because there is a little flexibility in the Liquid Fimo after it is cured. I wouldn’t recommend using this brand if you are selling/shipping your creation. I did try putting another thin layer of Liquid Fimo to fix it, but I had to heat set this for only a minute in the oven. I was really careful with the Heat Gun, and still ended up burning an eyebrow (the sculpt’s, not mine, heh!). 

Whheewww! It feels good to get all of that out of my head and into a blog, finally! I hope it all makes sense! Now... I have this recipe that requires eye of Newt, I wonder what color those would be? *Laugh!*

See those little symbols right under this post? (I haven’t figured out how to make them bigger, brighter or more eye catching... yet!) Feel free to share this post! If you make some eyes, feel free to leave a link in the comments. I’d love to see them! Happy creating! :-)

~*Aimee*~