Eye See You...

I love dragons and dragon movies so when I saw that Katy Sue Designs came out with a set of Dragon molds I know I had to have them.

They are amazing!!!

As soon as they arrived I started work on this tin...

Isn't it amazing? I can't tell you how real the eye looks in person.  

Here is how it was made....

Step 1 - I pulled out my Creative Paperclay and started filling molds. 

Step 2 - Prepare the tin by sanding the top and taping off the bottom of the tin with painters tape.

Step 3 - While the clay was still wet I gently peeled the eye out of the mold and glued it to the lid of the Altoids tin using Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue.

Step 4 - I peeled out bits of the skin mold and began piecing them around the eye on the top of the tin.

Step 5 - As I was piecing the skin around the eye I used flower shaping tools to hide the seams and blend it all together.  I cut away the excess along the edges using an exacto knife.

Step 6 - Let it dry completely...I let mine sit about 24+/- hours. So hard to do because I was so excited.

Step 7 -  Decide on a color scheme and pull desired colors of paint. I wanted to go with a green dragon with a really colorful eye. I looked for info on painting eyes and all I could find was how to paint glass marbles which didn't help at all because they are all painted from the back.  So, I just winged it!

Step 8 - Paint the entire lid black. 

Step 9 - Let the lid dry completely then touch up any nooks and crannies you may have missed on the first pass.

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Step 10 - Paint the eye.  Now I mentioned above I couldn't find any good info on how to paint an eye like this so here what I did.  

I knew I wanted to leave the iris black so I only painted the areas to the right and left of the iris. 

I started with a base coat of Extreme Sheen Bronze. 

Once that had dried I painted stripes of 24K Gold Extreme Sheen radiating from the outer corners to the iris on both sides of the eye.

Next I took the smallest ball on my flower shaping tools and started drawing lines of color just like I did above - from the corners of the eye to the iris.  I did NOT allow the paints to dry as I wanted them to blend as I added more and more color.    I used the following colors for this process - Extreme Sheen Sapphire, 24K Gold; Dazzling Metallics - Rich Espresso, Peacock Pearl, and Americana Citron Green.  I layered the colors until I was satisfied with the look.

I then painted red in each of the corner and a gold "frame" around the iris.

Step 11 - After all  of the eye color had dried I filled in the iris with a layer of Liquid Glass and let it dry.

Step 12 - Paint the edges of the eye with Americana Citron Green.

Step 13 - Dry brush Hauser Dark Green over the entire skin area.

Step 14 - Dry brush Citron Green under the eye and around the 4 corners of the tin as highlights.

Step 15 - Fill in the eye with a layer of Liquid Glass and let it dry completely.

Step 16 - Once the eye has dried, rub Lavish Green Metallic Luster over the skin and around the edges of the lid.

A close up of the eye...you can really see the color mix in this photo.

 And here he is...

What do you think his name should be?

Supplies:

Katy Sue Designs - Dragon Fantasy Range
Creative Paper Clay 
DecoArt

• Extreme Sheen - Bronze, 24K Gold, Sapphire
• Dazzling Metallics - Rich Espresso, Peacock Pearl, Festive Red
• Americana - Lamp Black, Citron Green, Hauser Dark Green
• DecoArt Media Liquid Glass
• Metallic Luster - Lavish Green

Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue

Altoids Tin

Flower Shaping Tools

Exacto Knife

Painters Tape