EyeBall

From Simreal

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I did a fair amount of sculpting this year -- and the eyeball was one of the easiest bits I sculpted.

Starting with glass eyes (really, just the front bits) from VanDykes I rolled a clay ball behind them to round them out into proper balls.

A simple roll of clay makes the optic nerve, and then I laid a bunch of clay threads on and around it all for veins. Yeah, a bit over the top, but it's fun! Finally, a few tattered bits of clay around the periphery of the eyeball for the tattered ends of the muscles.

Trivia note: while many mammals have four eye muscles, humans have six!

The paint jobs were extremely quick -- I did them all in fifteen minutes or so, in the guide lounge of the haunt just before going on.

Once made, I scattered them around the haunt (such as in the Dentist room, featured in BloodAllOver, and the MadScienceRoom), and later made one into a costume for myself, MajorTrauma.

I poured the urethane mold around the entire eye, including the glass bits, letting the optic nerve serve as the pouring sprue.

When casting, I inserted the glass eye back in the mold and cast the silicon over it. However, the paint behind the eye didn't stick to the silicon and the glass eye pops out pretty easily. I'm still working on that, but I figure that a ball of epoxy putty in the eye will provide a good mechanical grasp for the silicon.