Eye lids drive me crazy! It seems like I get docked at competitions, no matter what I do! I have been using A. Sculpt to make my eye lids, but they always seem end up to big. I've read about people using thread and glue, but how about taking thread and rolling it in Apoxie Sculpt and cutting away the excess and then build up the sculpt around the thread to hold in place. Anyway, that has been what I've been doing on my last couple of birds and seems to work okay. Anyone else doing this? Anything I should be aware of? I don't know about you, but trying to come up with realistic eye lids on a teal with sculpt is pretty tough!
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eye lids are tough to do but this way works. They just take some practice and can be done with the thread or free handed. Whatever works is the way to go.
Cary Cochran showed me a few years back how to rebuild eyelids on ducks, and it makes me mad at myself for not figuring out how to do it on my own. It is really simple, it just takes time and patience. First get your eyes set like you want, just remember that you will have skin and feathers over the reproduction head so take that into consideration as to how deep you set your eyes (consult Reference). Second take colored epoxy sculpt and mix well, then take and roll out little "worms" for lack of a better term, you will be suprised at how thin you can get them. Then take and make the shape that you want, pretty much by taking a pin and cutting the epoxy and making a little loop, then you take the epoxy and touch it to the front of your eye where you want the nictitating membrane to be. Use some thinner and your pin to position the epoxy and make your eyelids the same on both sides. once you are satisfied with the shape then you can go back and give them a little texture instead of them being all smooth.
What is really so cool about all of this is you can get your head ready way before you get ready to mount your bird. All of the things that used to give me trouble with finishing are allready done before hand. If you have trouble with one eyelid just finish the one that looks good and finish the other tommorrow or the next day. Good luck and don't forget reference.
.....is to use Wayne Cooper Flex eyes. Say you are doing a teal and they take a brown 9mm. Use a Wayne Cooper Flex eye for a mallard - 10mm, but put a 9mm glass eye in it instead of the plastic one the eye ring comes with. The eye ring looks real and the replacement of the plastic eye with the glass eye makes it look more realistic. Try it on one of your birds and see the difference. Coopers eyes are only about $5 each AND it will save you a lot of time trying to put a sculpted eye ring and then tucking the eyelids into place. With Cooper's, you just slip the real eye lids over the flex lid and you are done. Takes about five minutes. ALSO, you can set the eye rings into perfect postion BEFORE you actually put the eye in permanently. The glass eyes can be put in and removed if necessary.
John,
I'm not a fan of the flex eyes themselves, but the eye lids are okay...I've never thought about going a size smaller on the glass to get it to fit? I have seen a judge doc a guy before, just for using artificial eye lids at a competition. I'll have to look at that tonight. Thanks!
Rick
You can also dremmel out the bottom of those artificial eyelids and use the correct size eyelid and eyes. Dremmeling may get rough on the fingers when you get down to that small size though.
....is that I've never been docked for using them. Why would any judge worth his salt dock you for this when you use a cast head and a pre-made body; inject the feet and fill the wings with caulk ? Any judge that would dock you for using cast ANYTHING is an idiot unless the RULES state you cannot use them. I would protest that at once if it ever happened to me. Always go up a size on the eye ring or you will get docked. The eye itself has to be the correct size. I like the Cooper Flex eye rings because they look real and are easy to set. Also, you can set them BEFORE you even mount the birds with the cast head in your hand. I'm not even sure a judge could tell they are cast. Give it a try.