Vinyl Stickers for Bust/Sculpt Eyes.

[hankey01]

Just had a thought. Instead of expensive (or cheap) glass eyes for busts, what about removable vinyl (or other) eyes (just the coloured part with the iris)?

It could be a print of actual eye photos. Just paint the eye portion with a gloss white and stick this on (after the white dries of course). The possibilities are endless for colours, size, and design (sith eyes, snake eyes, blue eyes, brown eyes, red eyes, etc etc etc. The risk of painting is getting them to line up just right but a removable sticker that could be readjusted until perfect. If you get bored of your bust looking straight ahead you could move or replace them with eyes looking to the right. Crossed eyes for April 1st. Rolled eyes if annoyed, etc etc. An Anakin bust could have normal eyes, or sith eyes depending on your mood.

I'm certain this could be useful for sculpting too when working on the eyes.

Anyways..just an idea for people who can't paint worth a darn, and don't want to order glass eyes or be committed to the eyes looking only one way. I'm sure the purists would prefer glass eyes but this would be a useful idea for many. I don't have the means to make or sell them but I thought somebody might like the idea. I have a Superman bust who's eyes (I used cheapo glass eyes) just don't look right. The Han Solo I used to have looked much better when I painted it and covered it with clear nailpolish, but if I had the option of removable stickers I would have done that for both!

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

I like the idea. I've been unsure what route I wanted to go with a few 1:1 busts I have.

 

[chuckyAPP]

Love to see how it would look. remember though when you put on circular sticker on a round surface like the eye, it may not lay flat.

 

[itsalive]

I printed irises out on overhead transparency sheets before on a standard ink jet. the ink stays wet for a while. It's pretty hard to apply it onto the eyeform completely and with smudging it because of the eyeforms spherical shape.

The designs on Skateboard wheels are transferred with a soft latex bulb.

Maybe if you stamped one these soft latex bulbs onto the printed iris ink on a transparency sheet and then dabbed it onto the eyeform it would work. If the eyeform is acrylic- you could seal it with a dip in Monopoly Syrup from Factor II, Clearcoat eats the ink and makes it run. So I don't know how MONOPOLY SYRUP would react. You would have to let the ink dry out for a while to get the best results. How long. I don't know.

 

[division 6]

They make water slide decals for eyes in assorted sizes including 1-1, even exotic styles for monsters and aliens.

 

[itsalive]

Print based transparency sheets have a film on them. Regular overhead ones do not have this film. If you soak them in water the film will come off of the sheet along with the print. You can cut them to shape.

My attempt with this method also failed. I had the irises printed at staples on a laserjet printer- regular ink fades in the water soak.

The Ink dried faster, but the machine melted the sheets. That was fun!

I put seveal irises in rows all over the transparency sheet. So I was able to salvage a few of them from the melted print. I cut them out, soaked them water. Pealed them from the sheet with a needle. Applied it to a nylon eyeform (should have used acrylic balls). It was still a pain to depress it evenly over the spherical form of the eye.


The crystal clear ate up the film and made it bubble. Don't know if decals are made in the same manner, don't know how they would respond to monopoly syrup. Decals by themselves would be victims to wear out. You have to put a seal over them. I was experimenting with on hand stuff.

If I was to try it again. This or the bulb way so the design is exactly what I want on acrylic eyeforms with a monopoly dip to protect it.

 

[SonOfPumpkinhead]

what's monopoly syrup and where can it be purchased? what's it's main use? is it glossy when cured?

 

[Vaderman]

Hmmm. Are these going over a sphere shape or is it just the eye portion of the sphere?
Seems like, if you had the space of a full eyeball, you could try the water slide decal or one of the other methods and then cover it with shrink wrap.
You could certainly get the forward portion of it nice and smooth and it would be glossy and protected. The back side though, would be bunched up and have a seam where yo selaed the ends of the shrink wrap together.
I wonder if you could also do this by hand with saran wrap or similar?
Just to get that glossy finish and the slight depth you'd want.

 

[hankey01]

I suggested vinyl and it can stretch to stick and be re-applied to a smooth glossy surface (thinking of my kids' reusable stickers).