What is the best way to clean up the eyes after painting ? Right now I use a paint brush and Q-tip but it's REALLY hard to get in the corners of the eye to make them CRYSTAL CLEAR without removing some of the paint around the eyes.
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I do use paint thinner but I was wondering how to get in those corners of the eye better.
a small artist brush should work
I use a #11 scalpel to scratch the overspray off the eye. Works great with glass eyes...be careful with other types of eyes as they may scratch.
I use a dental pick to scrape the eye clean around the edges.
I use a small brush sprayed with windex and go around the eye to soften the paint , then use a small modeling tool with a thin layer of paper towel and following the edges of the eye . Comes off very quickly .
The other tools will work, but the scalpel has a tendency to flake off paint in places where you don't need it removed. Many times the transition area of the eye will have paint right up to the edge of the eye and even with a magnifying visor, you can nick and flake too much paint away.
...Gary Bowen's Eye Protect for most of the eye, Less cleaning or risk of scratching the glass. For the areas that were not covered,I like using a 3 sidded "Glover's Needle" and a flash light. Works for me.
A dental pick,it works really well but one trick that I picked up that I also do before scaping is to fog the eye(just breath moist breath on the eye) then scrape works great with water based paints.
I new I could count on all you people out there !
THANKS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH for ALL your ideas !
I too use the eye protect and it is awesome. I then use a toothpick to peel it off the glass.
Modge-podge to coat the eye before painting then peel it off when eyes are dry. works like the "eye-protect" not quite as much latex feel though. both work great.
This is one of the easiest things to do. All you have to do is take a bottle of windex and stand back approx 12-18 inches from the eye and lightly spray the entire eye. Then in about 30 seconds take a tooth-pick and clean the eye. The paint usually comes off in clumps and if there are any little parts attached to the eye I then take an air hose and blow the rest away. The trick is not to overspray with the windex because if you do it will weaken the paint and peel off. It's been working for me for the past 15 years. Good Luck.
John Griffith
www.griffithtaxidermy.com
lol.... just how I do it!
..."Eye Protect" is worth it's weight in solid GOLD! Paint it on the glass (or plastic)eye after you do any finishing work needed around the eye lids. Let the eye protect dry(about 5 mins...or a hair dryer will speed it up even faster). Airbrush around the eye area-then use a pin to help "peel" the eye protect off of the eyeball.-
--It's a great time saver...not to mention easier on the nerves.
-Susan