Lazy Eye

[staceyrebecca]

What's the best way to fix horrible focus on a puppet that's not going to destroy the puppet's face? stitching? more glue?

*sigh*

I'm extremely frustrated with myself. I didn't notice the bad focus until I'd packed away the puppet (getting it out is going to be a pain) & looked at the photos I'd taken. For some reason when looking at the puppet in person I just didn't see it.

What would you do? Take it out & fix it? Leave it hoping nobody really notices?

I've been waiting to get these things out in the mail and I was so close! I know what I *should* do...not sure how to do it.

*headdesk*

[Teenager's]

How did you put the eye on in the first place? Are you able to shift the pupils?

Maybe you could post a pic.

[staceyrebecca]

I glued the eyes to the face....its a half spherical hollow glass eye. I backed it with polyfoam to give it something to grip & glued it to her face with hot glue.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/staceyrebecca/3347575579/ there's a pic.

[staceyrebecca]

Also, secretly I hope everyone says "what lazy eye? i see no lazy eye? not on *that* puppet for sure!"


.....

[ravagefrackle]

how are the eyes attached?what sort of eye is it?

[staceyrebecca]

*ahem* its a half-spherical hollow glass eye. its backed with polyfoam and glued to the face with hot glue.

[staceyrebecca]

Also......if I mess with it...will it mess it up more-so?

[propologist]

Hi staceyrebecca,
You may be able to move them if you heat the eye up with a hair dryer. Just put it on a warm setting and blow around the eye untill you can move it. Just ddo not stay in one place to long so you do not melt or burn the fabric.

Mike

[Buck-Beaver]

That would be my suggestion too. If the hair dryer doesn't work, I've had success with heat guns in this situation before BUT you have to be insanely careful with a heat gun. They will burn fabric and they can set your house on fire if you're not careful.

[muppetperson]

Also, secretly I hope everyone says "what lazy eye? i see no lazy eye? not on *that* puppet for sure!"


.....

It is not that noticable, but to me, it looks like the brown iris on the left eye is bigger than the right, and that the left eye pupil should be marginally higher, so I dont know if rotating the eye would fix it.Remember that not everyone is perfect in real life.:)

[staceyrebecca]

Thanks guys....The iris is actually the same size. I saw that it looks like that as well, but when the eyes are off and in my hand they're the same. I wonder if its the glare that's doing that.

As far as the heat-gun/hair dryer....I've been using a heat gun a lot on this project and have come *close* to burning the fabric...but this fabric, more than burning, seems to want to melt. I hadn't used a hair dryer yet.

After all this agonizing and stressing out, I've decided I'm going to leave it. The last thing I want to do with the project is to mess something up this late in the game. I want it to be perfect (or in the least--not wonky) for my own portfolio, but I'd hate for them to be *worse* for the client. So...I'll just be proud that I got them done.

(I actually think the person who's portrait it is has a lazy eye....I could be wrong--is that awful?)

[Beauregard]

Might I suggest a trendy eye-patch such as your own? :D

[Melonpool]

One thing I always do before I permanently position the pupils is to use the puppet in a mirror. I learned this trick in cartooning a long time ago. For some reason, when viewed through a mirror, any lack of symmetry becomes painfully obvious. It doesn't really fix things in this case, but it might be a good tip in the future.

[ravagefrackle]

might i suggest , taking your time with the eye focus, it is normally the last thing we do when building a puppet , but it is really the most important step.

use some doubel stick tape, pins to line up the focus , then glue the eyes on, its those little things that make all the efort worth while.

[staceyrebecca]

Thanks guys. The mirror trick is probably exactly what happened with the photograph. Good tip! I was using a mirror for the hair, but not for the eyes!

I always do the eyes last...and I always take a lot of time. I pinned things in place (as best as you can pin glass eyes..) did the tape, etc. This was a new material for me and obviously a new method (even just having the pupil already *there*) It was difficult to gauge how the polyfoam backing would react with the glue. That was the first of the 3 puppets I used that type of eye on. It's just hard (for me anyway) to get the hot glue to adhere to polyfoam & fabric in the exact mirrored way each time...bah. But yeah, it's done. Learning experience? I think with this type of eye (if I use it again) its just going to take practice in learning how the materials will react with eachother.

Like I said, (or maybe I didn't say it here?)....Eye focus is such a huge pet peeve of mine, so having it not perfect (not that I usually do...) is really eating away at me. That being said, I can't let it lead me to drinking...so I'm chalking it up to a learning experience and moving on.

But hey, now I know what to do with my little Ikea Mirror!

[The Shoe Fairy]

That would be my suggestion too. If the hair dryer doesn't work, I've had success with heat guns in this situation before BUT you have to be insanely careful with a heat gun. They will burn fabric and they can set your house on fire if you're not careful.
Mmm. I practically set my hand on fire with a heat gun once; they are NOT fun to get wrong, what ever one is doing.

[muppetperson]

One final option would be to paint the eyes over in white paint and repaint or stick fabric pupils on.

[Kevin the Frog]

It looks like if you could just heat up the glue underneath her right eye, and rotate it a bit to the right (not changing the position) it would help a lot. nice puppet though.

[mike short]

Remember way back when I guessed that these were puppets of the cast of The View? Just sayin'.

[staceyrebecca]

Are you an avid watcher of The View, Mike?

[mike short]

Me and Joy Behar are like this (crosses fingers).

[staceyrebecca]

Tell me....does she have a lazy eye?