Product Review: Artistry of Wildlife Reflective Eyes

Just wanted to share my experience with these eyes Dennis is offering here in the US. I was asked by the NSTA (Nebraska) to give a coyote mounting seminar a couple months ago and thought it would be a neat time to try these new eyes. They are a little different than the Russian eyes in that they are flat backed and far less expensive. I was impressed before they even went in the manikin. They have beautiful artwork in the iris, very natural veining and great depth. Setting the flat backed eyes was a breeze, no different than the eyes I am used to using. Mounted up they looked great and everyone at the seminar seemed to like the reflectiveness they have. It isn't overpowering, and can only be seen in a very bright room with direct light, or by using a flashlight or camera flash. If there is a negative, it is that they are acrylic and that needs to be considered when mounting and finishing. I thought latex would be a good way to keep them clean while painting, but the solvents in the latex clouded them a bit. A coat of liquid crystal and they were as good as new. Had I done it differently I wouldn't have had to gloss them. I was asked in the seminar (jokingly) if I was going to compete with my bondo eared, plain based, customer coyote that was mounted in a poorly lit hotel meeting room. I thought "Why not?" so I took it first to IA, then KS the last couple weeks. It did well winning BOC at both shows. Both judges were impressed with the eyes and asked where I got them, and wanted the info so they could get their hands on some as well. Here are some pics of that coyote in different lighting showing off the reflectiveness of the eyes. I've got a couple more pairs and can't wait to try them. A pair of fox and bobcat eyes. I will post my results with them as well when I do them.








This is in normal lighting.


This is in direct sunlight (from window) with bright sunshine and snow cover outside.


This is in bright camera flash lighting.

 

I don't know, if one of those guys showed up they would probably have the BOC, lucky for me they didn't finish on time. LOL

 

I thought I would just add to this thread, instead of starting another. Here is a bobcat done with Dennis' non-reflective eyes. For about half of what I'm used to paying, these eyes fit the bill great for this bobcat. This eye would be a fine eye for commercial work, but honestly the quality is there to be considered a competition eye as well.