Paper Mache Eye - Take 2

Well, where I left of last time, I had plans for a new eye.  And, not so surprisingly, I've been working on it.  I had a new set of interesting issues that popped up with the new design.  But it's been fun and ... slightly messy.  Paper mache is not a very forgiving medium, or so I've discovered.

Well, to refresh, I did a series of quick sketches to get a better idea behind how I want to structure this new eye. Retina, non-visual retina, iris, sclera, etc.  Possible cornea.

And here, I've used my layout ideas and sketched it out on the tape over my balloon armature.  Just to get that first paper mache layer in a better position.

Alright, I've put on the first layer for all of the anatomical details.  I'm not sure how the layering will work, but I'm game.  I have a yellow base for the retina, a red one for the non-visual retina, and a green for the iris base.  I do want a blue eye eventually. 

I've put a second yellow layer, moving up the side of the non-visual layer. Also, I've put the blue tissue paper on the iris, also moving the iris down the non-visual part of the retina.  I'm hoping to blend everything together using just tissue paper, but it's not looking so good.






Well, I may have forgotten to take a few pictures, but this is the result of a few steps.  I was not liking how the iris was looking at all.  Nothing like an actual iris. So, I scrunched up blue tissue paper into small, semi-trianglular pieces to put radiating out from the pupil.  I also added a few green, and even a yellow one here and there.  It was a mess.  A Mess.  I then added red back over the non-visual retina part. But... I'm still not particularly happy about any of it.  Hmm...

So I tried to put a blue layer of tissue over the iris... but it really wasn't transparent enough.  You will see in the sclera that the white becomes super translucent once dry, but the colors don't have the same reaction.  I think it's because the actual construction of the tissue paper is different.  The white tissue paper falls apart much, much easier.

I have added the vessels before I put the orange layer on.  I brought the orange up over the non-visual part of the retina to try and bring two layers together.






I'm liking the way the vessels look, but not the transition between the retina and the non-visual retina.  Or the iris.  Time to break out something I haven't done in 5 or more years.

Actual painting.  I'm super stoked.  And my little tiny craft table is getting slightly overwhelmed at this point.

Using a light, transparent layer of acrylic paint, I added a reddish blend between retina layers.  And a blue/green iris.  The iris will need another layer of paint, but it's looking good for now.  I'll wait until the eye is closer to finish to put the final touches on the eye.  I didn't want to use paint, I really wanted this to be completely tissue paper, but I'm glad I changed my mind.  The retina, at least, looks a million times better.

I've started to add the sclera onto the eye now.  As you can see, even with two layers of white tissue paper, it's extremely transparent.

I'm using a folded edge to get a better line along the edge, and along the iris edge.

As you can see here, the wet layer looks really, really thick.  It can be difficult to judge where I need more paper while the paper is wet.  I do believe that this is 8th layer?  I'm also trying to add at least two layers of tissue at a time, not just one.

This is that previous layer, mostly dry.  There will be a little more translucency gained as it dries overnight.  But, I'm going to add one more layer on tonight, and then let it dry.  I'm also going to add one more layer of vessels, since the white has finally started to cover the original ones. 










I'm getting closer to the finish of this incarnation of my eye.  I may do one more after this one, if it doesn't turn out the way I want, but I'm pretty close.  I have one more eye tile to do, and I came up with a great idea today.  But we do have a little more to cover as far as the eye goes.  The tissue paper is surprisingly strong when it is dry too.  Signing off!