OK, here's my method of making LED lighted eyes for mounts. I have shown the method for a werewolf I made, but the same applies to real mounts. The only difference is that you will be locating the battery pack not on the head but on the back board if it's a shoulder/pedestal mount (though for a pedestal mount you can also put the battery pack on or under the base) or on the base if a lifesize.
First, this is what you need to get for one set of eyes:
2 LEDs (I will provide sources later on)
a battery pack that holds 2 1.5V batteries, AA or AAA, 2 C's or whatever (this is for standard LEDs that use 3-4.4 volts, will explain that later & provide sources) & a set of corresponding batteries.
some conductive wire, insulated or not
duct or electrical tape
aluminum tape (recommended but not 100% necessary)
hot glue
a small set of needle-nosed pliers
a razor blade or scalpel blade (for stripping wire, not needed if you have bare wire)
wire snips or just a strong pair of scissors that you don't mind using to cut wire
staple gun
a pair of eyes - any eyes that light will shine thru (you can also use super-bright LEDs and those will show up thru all but dark colored eyes). I have eyes custom made by VanDykes that have the pupils clear, but you can also do this with eyes with the black pupil - in that case the iris will glow and not the pupil (I have special instructions for those types of eyes as you have to do things a little differently but not much).
(please pardon the junky condition of my work bench - there's some stuff sitting around that has nothing to do with this project)
First, you will want to test your LEDs to be sure they work. On all LEDs the long post is always the positive one. Most all LEDs run on 3-4.5 volts unless specified otherwise. I have found a few that run on 9 volts but most aren't. If it doesn't say, then assume you will need 3 volts to run them. You can get a small set of alligator clip leads or just use some of the wire for this. You just connect the positive post on the LED to the positive terminal on the battery holder (the side where the battery is turned positive side up) and likewise with the negative side. Your LED should power up.
Next, you take your wire (and strip off about 1/2" of insulation on each end if you have insulated wire - this is the time you will want to see exactly how long a length of wire you will need to run from the eyes to wherever you plan on locating the battery pack. Just to be safe give yourself some extra length. If you have bare wire another important thing to remember is after you mount the animal make sure it's 100% dry before lighting up the eyes) and bend back about 1/4" on one end (into a "U" shape), and bend up the same length on the long post on the LED. You want to then crimp the ends together with the pliers.
Then, once you've done that, take a small rectangle of the aluminum tape (which you probably can get at hardware stores, if not then use the electrical/duct tape for this step), which looks gold in the picture but is actually aluminum, and wrap that around the connection you just made. Do the same for the negative side. It's at this point that you want to be sure to use a different colored wire (if insulated, if not then put some colored tape on each wire) for positive and for negative.
Then when you get both sides and both LEDs done, you want to use the duct or electrical tape (but not the aluminum tape!) and tape the two connections to each other, but be sure to separate each side with a small part of the tape.
Then you test the LEDs again to be sure the connections you made are good.
Next, you fit the eyes you want to use into the mannekin. The eyes I'm using are blanks that I painted.
Next, you want to rough-fit the LED into place where it will sit behind the eye. You can bend the posts (but don't bend them excessively or they will break off, the metal they are made of is soft) to get it to sit right. You will likely have to dig out a pit in the back of the eye recess and then make a small channel to lay the wires into as they come out from behind the eye.
Here's the back of the eye with the clear pupil. If self-painting (which I don't recommend for first timers using this method) you have to be super-careful about gluing the LED on and handling the eye because the paint can be pulled off.
Then, take your hot glue (this is easiest with eyes that have a divot on the back of the pupil) and put a small bead in the pupil indent or area, taking care to not leave any air bubbles and fill the whole thing. Then, very quickly press the LED into the glue and try to get it as straight as possible - meaning at a right angle when the eye is seen from the side - you want the light pointing directly out of the pupil. It's not quite as critical if you have a black pupil. But, if you have a black pupil this is what you do differently. Once the LED is set, you will need to flow glue onto the whole back of the eye and get it as even as possible, or the edge of the glue blob will show from the front side. One other thing, if you make a mistake setting the LED, you can usually just pop it off, the glue will come off the glass and off the LED.
Then, you will want to carefully set the eye into the socket you made for it, making sure everything fits properly. Then you can wait until you are ready to mount or you can clay/glue the eyes in now. Again, if using water-based clay, if it touches any of the bare wire you will have to be sure it's 100% dry before turning the eyes on.
Both eyes assembled and set. Just ignore the marks on top of the head as those are for the battery pack and switch, which you won't have there for a real animal mount.
Next, if you are using a switch (I didn't mention that in the supplies list as it's optional but a nice touch), you will want to connect both positive leads from the eyes and both negatives into one wire. I have shown one way to do that. But you will want the single wires to be longer than shown.
Next is the wiring of the switch, if you have one. Small low-voltage switches like this are hard to find, perhaps you might find some at a hobby store for model railroads. I got mine from a surplus dealer. The basic principle here is that you will want your switch to interrupt either the positive or negative wire before it gets to the battery pack. My switch has crappy terminals that are hard to wire, but you might find something that's easier to connect. You just install the switch - one side of the wire into one terminal and one side connected to the other.
Next you will want to wire the battery pack or battery holder. The positive wire goes into the positive terminal as before, and what you do is take the stripped end of the wire and insert about 1/4" thru the hole in the terminal and it will project into the part where the battery fits. Then you hot glue the wire into the outside part of the terminal and when it dries make sure the wire that's inside is bent down so as not to impinge on inserting and removing the battery. Do the same on the negative side, this has a spring on the inside and you will want to bend the bare end of the wire down so it is pinched under the spring when a battery is inserted.
Then, pop your batteries in and both eyes should glow. If using a switch, then make sure it's set to "on". The battery holder and switch can be attached and set anywhere in the base.
Again, your battery pack and switch will be far, far away from the eyes unlike in the picture.
You can now use the staple gun to attach the wires at points along the form, making sure if bare wire they don't ever touch each other.
One other thing - if you solder, you can omit most of the taping and gluing and solder the post to the wire, wire to wire and wire to battery terminals.
Now, for supplies. Here are some good sources for LEDs, battery holders, wire, tape, tools, and other electronic stuff.
www.sciplus.comhttp://www.mpja.com/https://www.superbrightleds.com/leds.htm (on this page it's the top section of 5mm LEDs that you want).
There probably are plenty of other suppliers, these are the ones I use the most. Again, if you have a local hobby store you may want to check there for model railroad wiring supplies.
If I've missed anything or something's not clear, just PM me and let me know.
Here are some more views of another set up, this one that has the LED with a small circuit board on the back.
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