Paper Mache Eye: Take 2, part 3

So!  I am 99% done with this project. And I left it at work, so I can't get that 1% done tonight, but it just involves cutting a slightly larger window for the light switch - not a big deal.  I haven't updated about it in a while... so, here we go!

I've had a ton of fun with this.  A complete learning experience, and never quite what I expected.  I made a few mistakes, and if I had all the time in the world, I would make one more of these.  I might still, if I want one for myself.  But, this one turned out pretty well even if I feel it's a bit cheesy, all told.

Electricity!

But, I'm jumping the gun a bit.  So, I left off with the eye being mostly finished, at least in my mind at that point.  The paper mache had dried, and the iris had been... semi-painted. 

From the beginning, I had this idea of adding a cornea to the eye as well.  I felt like the white tissue paper was translucent enough to work.  And with a hole cut in the iris for the pupil, I could get a balloon in far enough to make a small armature for the cornea.

 So, I taped down the balloon to flatten it out some, and started to add a very, very thin layer of paper mache.  I put a release on the balloon and only wanted to use one layer of the tissue paper.  I wasn't even sure if it would stand up on it's own after removing the balloon.  I let it dry for two days, just to make sure.

And, it worked!  Sorta.  I wasn't very happy with it, though.  The paper wasn't nearly as translucent as expected.  Very milky white.  I'm still not sure why it didn't dry quite as see-through as it seemed to on the eye itself.  It may have to do with the color under it when it was on the retina though.  But, I left it for now.

Late one night, I decided to modify the lighting rig.  I had two door lights, the ones with the magnetic opener.  So, I ripped one apart.  Just completely demolished the casing in the hopes of lessening the space it takes up.  And, low and behold, it worked! 

This was a pretty big gamble, and the magnetic on/off switch did die (and I have not a single clue why.  there's nothing that actually broke.  So why would the magnetic on/off stop working outside the plastic?)  However, this time, the reward was worth the risk.  Although I did lose the diffuser effect.

All lit up, with the (mostly opaque) cornea.

I decided that it was way past time to get the backing painted.  I sketched out where I wanted the otic cup and fovea, and the vessels.  I did make the arteries match up to the thread arteries on the eye itself.  I'm inordinately proud of that.

I added a basic orange, and then a few layers to help lay things out.  And I decided to use the fovea as a type of light source.

Laying in artery placement

Adding shadows to the vessels

So I started to block in where I wanted the arteries to be.  And I found out that trying to paint tiny arteries on a 4 x 4" square with a set of brushes meant for 30 x 40" canvases at the least... is difficult. 

Very difficult.

Shadows.

More shadows.

I stared to add in the shadows that would be cast onto the retina wall.  And I started layering in the shadow more loosely, trying to get a more natural feel.  I kept the style pretty rough, though.

More shadows, still.

Highlights!

I made the shadows deeper, and started to use different colors.  I also defined the otic cup a bit more.

Then I added highlights along the vessels themselves.

 

Then I got a little crazy with the shadows and color layering.  The entire piece had felt a little disconnected, and I couldn't figure out why.  So I went more dramatic.  I layered in a few layers of shadow over the whole thing, and then I added a red and orange layer for good measure.  It's not perfect, but it's a sight better than it was.

But then I got a little paint happy.

I decided that since the background and the retina of the eye had taken color so well, I was going to add some to the white and just a hit of blue on the cornea.

It looked horrible.

Luckily, it peeled off.  Sorta.  the entire cornea was ripped off just like a bit of paint.  Goodbye, cornea.  Not sure I'm going to miss you.

With a combination of scraping, knives, sandpaper of various grits, and judicious use of finger nails, I was able to get the majority of the white paint off.  Nasty paint.

And I took a huge leap of faith and cut a viewing window into the eye.  I ended up liking the backdrop just a tad too much. 

And, no way to go back now!

Cutting a piece did help me to avoid the area where the white paint wouldn't come off.  This cut section had a short stardom role as test painting for about a hour or so, then was put to pasture as just a useful piece of funk.

I don't know if I'm crazy or just persistent (or both, quite possibly), but I tried paining the sclera once again.  I did test it on the eye scrap, and it turned out alright. 

I wanted the texture between the retina and sclera to match as well - at the moment, both sides are painted over with a black wash and then blotted dry to preserve some of the translucency.

I also added some different colors to the iris.  Made it a light blue with more striations and mixed in just a hint of green.  Mostly blue, as you can see.  Some iridescence as well.

Let there be light!

And that brings us back here.  Once I retrieve my eye from Stanford, I'll post some 'finished' pictures.  And consider not doing a blow by blow again... that makes for some long posts.

Paper Mache Clay: Eye 2

I let the eye dry for a couple of days, and I've put the first coat of paint on it.  It's supposed to be a 'dark' piece- so I'm thinking of a sculpture look-alike rather than realistic painting.  I hope that I can pull it off.  And quickly!

Ready to get my painting groove on!

First layer - Burnt Umber, Raw Sienna, and Indian Red.  Mostly burnt umber, as you can see.  This is just to give my dark under tones.







But! Would I really be an eye without eye lashes? No!  So, three gauges of wire stuck in and superglued to make the eye lashes.

A thicker wire with the other two gauges for the upper lashes.  Thinning out as it goes towards the corner of the eye.

And just the two thinner wires for the lower lashes.  Again, thinning as it goes towards the corner.

Painted the wire to match the base color. 

I thought about adding glasses as well, but I made the eye too big to do that.  Whoops.  And I made this one directly on the illustration board, so no take backs!

I've started to add in the green under tone as well.  After this dries completely, I'll be able to start doing washes with other colors to give it a richer look.

Paper Mache Clay: Eye

I discovered this awesome site - The Ultimate Paper Mache Blog - a few weeks ago.  However, I never had the chance to actually make the paper mache clay that she has listed on her site.  I finally did tonight.  And I love it.

One of my ideas for the eye square completely flopped.

Yep, that's supposed to be an eye.  It didn't work out so well.

This happens.  I'm not happy that it happened, but hey - move on.  So I did.  And with the due date not just fast approaching, but rapid galloping towards the cliff... I need to get cracking quickly.  So, I pulled the nails from the board, and started my third (or rather, technically a variation of my first) idea.  I'm excited about it, and I plan on working hard core on it so it's finished and dry by the time I need to leave for Toronto.


So, I used the recipe that she outlines on her blog.

• 1 and 1/4 cups of damp (complete soaked and then wrung out) toilet paper.  This was most of the roll for me - you can see those three lumps left over.  And you measure the toilet paper by smushing it pretty well down into the measuring cup.
• 3/4 cups of white (I used Elmer's) glue
• 1 cup of joint compound 
• 1/2 cup of white flour
• 2 tablespoons of linseed oil - and yeah, I completely eyeballed this as well

I broke the wet pieces of toilet paper up as she described, so that the mixer could deal with them.  And then I combined all the ingredients and mixed.  I'm pretty sure that I had too much toilet paper in mine - the mix is supposed to be like cookie dough, or frosting... lets just say that mine isn't.  But it works.








The resulting mixture.  It goes on very well with just my fingers.  I should think about use a different delivery method, but I love to work with my hands.

But!  You still need an armature to work with.  If I were to use this like actual clay, not only would it be pretty heavy, it would never ever dry.  So, I used some of the left over tissue paper and tape to make an eye armature over the illustration board.

I wanted a sideways looking eye, for reasons that will become clear as this goes on.  This is the first layer going on.

I'm not thrilled with out the eye lids are looking.  or rather, not looking.  So I decide to add another layer of tissue paper and tape.  This is pretty much what I do until I get the desired look.  Exaggerated details work well when applying the paper mache clay.

 Better eye lids going on.

After that, I still felt like the top lid wasn't pronounced enough.

 The finished armature.

It has a vague eye-like shape.

 So, I started to cover the armature!  This is pretty much where I immediately fell in love with this stuff.  Seriously in love.

It goes on pretty well, not many lumps at all.  And it has a nice texture to it.  Slightly papery, as you might expect.

 

And here is the first layer of the paper mache clay eye!  I'm drying it now, and I may need to build up a few details here and there.  A tip that is kinda gross... this stuff smooths better with spit than it does with plain water.   However, I don't recommend it.  I'm thinking that using an oil (like linseed oil) would be a good substitute for a smoother as I am working.

I can't wait to start painting it!

Paper Mache Eye - Take 2, part 2

 So, the next steps of this paper mache eye are complete.  I'm finally at the 'painting the backing' stage.  But, I'm getting ahead of myself.  Here is the photo documentation of these stages of the paper mache eye.

So, I last left off with many, many stages of white tissue paper sclera over the retina.  However, those layers were covering up the initial vessels made of thread.  So, I added another layer of those onto the sclera alone.  I tried to match the side profiles together as well. 









Here you can see how opaque the tissue paper looks while it has the glue mixture on it.  Because the paste I am using has a high component of Elmer's Glue in it, it adds to the whiteness of the look while it is wet.  It dries clear though.

Hence the vessels looking very prominent once that layer is dry.  I decided to add one more layer on top of this one, as the vessels are just a tad too red for me.

So, the eye in natural light.  I think that I am done with the paper mache part at this point.  The tissue paper sclera is at a very nice thickness, and the iris smallish, but okay.  Time to remove the armature.  Because the eye needs to have the light inside of it and sit on a different backing, it also needs to be able to stand on it's own, without the balloon inside.  Here's hoping the lotion is enough to keep the paper mache and the armature from actually sticking together.

Yay!  I sliced through the edges of the paper mache all along the base about a quarter of an inch in.  And then I cut small vents up to the corners, so the base could be removed, but the paper mache could be glued back onto a new base.  I then cut a small hole hole on the cardboard to better be able to maneuver the base out.  It took a little bit of doing, but I was able to carefully separate the armature from paper mache.

The armature itself deflated when I started to cut into the base.  But, using just the space heater method, it didn't actually deflate the balloon until the very end.

I cut a small pupil into the iris.  This is the thickness of the paper mache at the iris. 

Aaand, a paper mache eye!  One with a retina, non-visual retina, sclera, vessels, iris, and pupil.  I haven't worked out how to do a cornea yet, but that's next on the list.

This is what the paper mache eye looks like with the light inside of it.  I'm pretty excited, all told.  It's really starting to come together.  And the many layers of tissue paper for the sclera are much better than the single thick layer of white that doesn't show as much light through it.  I even like how the non-visual retina doesn't have as much light showing through.  All in all, it's starting to wrap up.







Unfortunately, or fortunately if you think of it in another way, I may have to do this eye over a third time.  As you can see in the last pictures, the eye itself bulges out over the sides of the 4" tile backing. It's not really supposed to do that.  Whoops?  So I may go ahead and make a third eye, made to the absolute correct dimensions.  And it would give me a chance to change the size of the iris as well.  That is one part that I think I would redo if I had the chance.  And who says I don't?  So, once more into the breach.  Nope, with a lack of time, I'm going with this one.  Life catches up with you.  I hope it all works out!