I have been working on the pumpkin quite a bit, but paper mâché is not a quick process. I added the final layers of paper mâché to the inside of the pumpkin and around the large opening for the face and the opening for the light at the bottom. I also added some of the last layers of paper mâché to the face.
After all that, it was time to start reverse painting the eyes. I wish I were better at it, but I think there is a lot of room for improvement. Anyway, the first photo is the eyes viewed from the front. The back of the eyes look quite a bit different.
I will go into how I painted these eyes, but I suggest you look online at other people's online tutorials. I found a few different methods for what materials to use and how to paint the eyes. Some methods use acrylic paints and others used multiple colors of fingernail polish. I chose to use acrylic paints as I had them in stock. Using multiple colors of fingernail polish would have added about twenty or more dollars to the project.
These eyes were painted on glass cabochons. Cabochons are domed glass circles. You can find them at most craft and scrap booking stores or websites. However, I did not use those, I used the inexpensive ones that you can find in the home decorator sections of many department stores and dollar stores. These cabochons are not perfectly round, but they work pretty well. You just have to sort through them to find two similarly shaped ones. Using the less perfect ones is a saving of several dollars.
The domed glass surface reflects the light much like a human eye. I did not have to paint in the highlights. The bright hot spots are just reflections off the glass.
This picture shows the flat back side of the eye where the painting takes place. The first thing to paint in is the pupil. Getting the pupil in the center of the eye is the most difficult part. Not only do the pupils need to be in the correct place, but they also need to be the same size. This is not easy for me, especially if you are working with smaller eyes. I found the small, rounded surfaces hard to hold.
I tried a method numerous times that I saw on the internet. It seemed to work for larger eyes, but did not work as well for smaller ones. One way was to put a drop of black paint on the center back of one eye, and then gently touch the back of the other eye to it to create the pupil on the other eye. Theoretically that works and alleviates the problem of trying to get the pupil in the same spot. In practice, it ended up with me, my work area, and the glass cabochon smeared with black paint. I gave up on that. The failing may be with my stiff fingers rather than the method, but it is not as easy as it may seem.
I found the center for the pupil by using some graph paper. I find the point on the graph paper that I want to be my center. I put the cabochon on the paper and line it up so that the center sits on the marked point. When properly aligned, I trace around the cabochon and cut out the paper and place it on the back of the eye. Using carbon paper, I transfer the mark to the eye.
I dipped the flat bottom of a wooden skewer in black paint. Before touching the eye, the skewer is pressed against a paper towel to remove most of the paint. Then I lightly touch it down on the marked center. The mark will be faint, but enough to determine the circle. After that, I paint the pupil in that circle with a small detail brush.
The next step is to paint in the black ring that indicates the boundaries of the iris. I have found that you cannot just paint the flat back of the eye for this. For it to be visible on the other side, you have to paint a small amount on the side of the cabochon. Let the paint dry before continuing on with painting the iris.
After the black paint is dry, I mixed Cad Yellow and Hunter Green for the yellow-green color surrounding the pupil. The color is painted in a series of irregular marks. The green part of the pupil is solid Hunter Green. I painted the green while the yellow was still wet, blending in and out of the yellow.
Once all the paint was dry, I painted the entire back of the eye with some exterior satin acrylic sealer. The paint really needs the sealer. It is a very thin coat and tends to scratch off easily. Once the sealer is dry, it is time to mount the eyes. The eye holes were initially cut larger than the eye. This is because
that once the holes are cut, they need to be covered with more layers of paper mâché over the raw edges. This is not an exact science. Sometimes I may have to make adjustments to the size of the eyes and sometimes have to carve out some of the layers of paper mâché with a craft knife. It can take a while to get it like you want it.
Once the eye holes are right, I mount the eye to the back of the eye hole. Once the eye is positioned like I want it, I use a bit of blue painter's tape on the front of the eye to hold it in place. Next, flip the mask over and use hot glue around the eye to glue it into place. When the glue has cooled, remove the tape from the front of the eyes.
This is as far as I have gone on this project so far. I have not yet had time to add the lips and paint the inside of the pumpkin and the back of the mask, which is the next step. It is a holiday weekend here, so I don't think I will get it done until after Monday. But next week's post should show how I mount the mask to the pumpkin.
I hope you will check back next week to see the progress.
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