The Eyes Have It (part 2)

The Mold:

This part will be the same as the mohawk lens build.  Plasticine for the base and plastic for the walls.

The difference from the mohawk build is the fact that we need to make a second half mold. So, we need to make "keys" so the 2 halves can join back exactly in the same spot.

TIP: Just found a pencil. Pushed it down around 1/8".  Those 3 little "noodles" that are attached to lens are there to mold the channels where the resin and air will be travelling through. I'll explain this during the resin build.

TIP: Once the walls are up, I drew a "pour line". It's roughly .5 inch high. This line will tell me when to stop pouring the mold liquid. Any less, then the mold would be too thin... any thicker, then it's just a waste of good (expensive) mold material. It's my goldilocks line.

I had a new box of RTV Rubber Mold stored away for years. It's a 2 part mix compound. 20:1 ratio (Rubber:Catalyst). I was going to start this half tonight, but when I opened up the box... I found the catalyst was completely dried out! UGH!

Now, this sub-project will have to wait till I can make a trip out to the supply store. 

I hate delays when I'm inspired and motivated.

The Eyes Have It (part 1)

Eye Lens:

Ok.. put some thought into the eye/lens obstacle.

I can....

1) Modify a pair of cheap sunglasses (the yellow reflective ones) - Gotta hunt for these. Not easy to find.
2) Modify a set of gold mirror smartphone screen protectors. - These are REALLY hard to find. Most vendors only carry the silver ones
3) Yellow auto tint. (some are those cheesy mirrored ones too!) - Not easy to find either.
4) Clear acrylic. Painted yellow clear. - Easy. I have the materials already. But, the end result may not be what I'm after.
5) Do nothing. Leave blank holes - Easiest!
6) Yellow tint a 2 way mirror. - I'm not sure how to go about this one. As I would need to light the front part of the mirror too to make the backside dark.
7) Fabricate from scratch the lens. (Like the mohawk lens) - Hardest. Most work.

hmmm.... looking at the list. And knowing me (and if you had been following my thread.. you would know my answer too!)
I already know which method I'd go for on this project.

* a friend suggested strapping 2 smartphones behind it! haha.. I can have goggly-eyes playing on them as movies. That'd be funny.

In the tradition of not taking the easy way out. I'm diving head first into fabricating the eye lens from scratch.

Have to sculpt the lens first using Sculpey. Since the eyes have a  very unique shape to it, I'll need to mold it into two halves.

Like the mohawk lens, I'm adding random detail to the back side. I'm hoping I can have an option of lighting up the eyes with an LED. Making them glow!

Got lazy and didn't bake them.. and just used a heat gun. Still works, but the concentrated heat caused some of the internal bubbles to get out of control. O well, it's ok... I'll call it "detail". hehe