Making Printed Glass Eyes

It’s another mini how-to post! This one focuses on how I do my printed glass eyes. There are a lot of different ways to do this style of eye, and every artist has their own tricks, but this is a simple method I’ve been using since I made the first Pudgy Jackalopes in 2016!

Step 1: You need some eye prints! You can design some yourself in photoshop if you are skilled at digital painting. I am not…so I went ahead and bought a digital download from a seller on Etsy that I could modify. DON’T just grab an image off of google; that’s art theft, and we don’t want to support that! If you aren’t up to designing your own eyes from scratch, make sure you pay a digital artist for a good quality print.

(You can see my ‘modified’ eyes in the bottom left corner. I painted over one of the prints I bought, and changed the colors. Plus I shrunk the iris a little so I would have a bit of white around the edges. These eyes are 18mm)

Step 2: Once you have your eyes printed, you’re going to need a pair of glass cabochons in the right size (18mm in this case), a brush, and a good clear gloss glue. Its important your glue isn’t water soluble or you risk the ink running and blurring!

I like Sakura 3d lacquer because it’s my go-to clear gloss.

Step 3: Take a drop of clear gloss, and evenly coat the back of your glass cabochon. You don’t want it very thick, just enough to give it an even layer with no un-covered bits.

Step 4: Position the glass cabochon over the eye print until its covering as much of the iris as you like. Once its positioned, gently press down in the center of the cabochon with your finer to squeeze out any excess glue and air bubbles.

Step 5: Let the eyes dry for 24 hours. Then, gently cut them out leaving as little paper around the edges as possible.

Step 6: This next part is the most important, and it’s the part people who are secretive about their eye methods don’t want to share- you need to add a backing to each eye to seal the paper, and prevent things like heat from curing resin, or oil from clay, from seeping into your eyes and causing unwanted spots and damage after you’ve put them in a sculpt. There are different ways to seal the back, but I use apoxie sculpt because I have it on hand, and its quick and effective.

Step 7: After you’ve mixed both parts of your apoxie sculpt, place a small ball in the center of the eye. Then, using your finger, knead the clay out towards the edges till the whole back is covered.

Step 8: Once the back is covered, drag the clay up and smooth it onto the edges. You don’t want to leave any gaps here where damaging materials can get to the paper print and cause issues. A nice thin edge of apoxie all the way around the eye is what we are going for. You’ll probably get smudges of apoxie on your glass cabochon. Don’t worry, once you set the eye down on your desk to cure, you can wipe smudges away with a brush, some water, and a tissue.

Step 9: I let my apoxie cure overnight. Here are the finished eyes, ready to be embedded in a resin faceplate!

Step 10: Here we are! Glass eyes are actually embedded in the resin of the faceplate and ready for the rest to be painted!

And that’s it, go forth and make your own printed glass eyes! Or…buy ready made ones from an eye seller for a few dollars and save yourself a lot of work!