Several years ago I made some gouged out eyeballs out of ping pong balls that were pretty awesome and I decided I wanted to make more. This time I wanted to make eyeballs that appeared to have been ripped from their sockets that I could place in my Terror House kitchen. I also wanted to make some that looked more realistic that I can later insert into mannequin heads for a future zombie project (stay tuned) so this tutorial will tell you how to do both!
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Supplies
- Ping pong balls or ping pong eyeballs
- Printed irises
- Red string
- Hot glue and gun
- White paint
- Red paint
- Black paint
- Mod Podge
- Paint brush
Ping Pong Ball Eyeballs
You can use regular plain ping pong balls or purchase a package of 12 plastic Ping Pong Eyeballs at the Dollar Tree around Halloween for a buck. If you are REALLY gung-ho you can purchase an entire case of these on their website at Bulk Plastic Ping Pong Eyeballs, 12-ct. Packs | Dollar Tree.
I do recommend the balls with the pre-printed eyes. I tried using both the pre-printed and the plain sides of these balls as you’ll “see” further down (ha ha). Even though I cover the print with my own paper irises, I decided I like the blood-shot effect these have and wished I’d used that side for all of them. In spite of this, they all still turned out great (at least I like to think so)!
Eyeball Irises
First, I printed out a sheet of various colored irises. You can just Google irises and a lot will come up but Terra’s Halloween Eyes | Halloween Forum has a good sheet of irises.
Once I chose a variety of colors I wanted to use I cut them out.
Using a paint brush, I “painted” some mod podge over the top of the ball where the pre-printed iris was located, then placed the paper iris over this. If you allow this to dry it will keep the irises from sliding around when you paint mod podge on top of the paper iris which is the next step. I had some mini wine bottles for another project so I started out setting these on the opening to keep them from rolling. I later found that a pallet tray I had on hand worked much better.
Once this was dry, I used white paint to cover up the remaining pre-printed eye including the red capillary areas. It made the capillaries not stand out as much, but as a result, it gave a more realistic blood-shot effect. As mentioned previously, I think these look better than using the plain side of the balls.
Capillaries and Eyeball “Guts”
Zombie Eyeballs
For the zombie eyeballs, I frayed a small piece of red twine that I mod podged from the back of the ball toward the iris to give the appearance of capillaries. String would probably work better because the twine was stiff and a bit difficult to work with but it was what I had on hand and it got the job done.
I painted on the mod podge twice over the twine to make sure the strings would not come off. These are now ready to be inserted into my zombie eye sockets! (Now I just need to get those built)! Watch for a future tutorial on this! 🙂
Eyeball Guts
I wanted the remaining balls to appear as if they had been gouged out with some trailing eyeball “guts”. In order to do this I started by turning the balls over and placing a glob of hot glue on the back. I allowed this to run down a bit, then let it dry. Once dry, I added another layer adding a little less glue. I repeated this about 2 more times letting the glue dry in between.
I used a couple different techniques to form the “guts” of the eyeball. Firstly, I added another layer of hot glue but this time turned it over to allow it to drip down off the back of the ball. As a result, quite a bit will drip off but as the dripping puddles began to cool I dipped the ball in and pulled it up gently. This created bunches of loose capillary strings. They are a bit difficult to see in the picture below. In truth, I should have set this on a darker surface but you get the idea….
The other technique I used was to unroll and tear off a piece of cotton ball. I rolled it in my fingers to thin it out a bit, then hot glued it to the back of the ball.
Once this dried, I used more hot glue all over the cottonball string and let it run down the string. You might need to so this several times letting the glue dry in between.
Painting the Eyeballs
Once I was satisfied with my eyeball guts, I needed to cover them with blood. In order to do this, I used red spray paint to cover them. I directed the spray at the guts. Consequently, some spray gets on the ball and that’s okay. It creates a bit of a “blood shot” look. I let this dry then turned them over spraying each side until all the hot glue was covered in “blood”.
Once this was complete I dry brushed black acrylic paint in various areas over the spray painted areas allowing this to dry.
Last but not least, I also dry brushed some red acrylic paint on top of this. This combination makes it look like clotted blood. I now have gory gouged out eyeballs, guts included! These will likely be an appetizer for a steaming pot of human stew.
Which eyeballs do you like better – the zombie eyeballs or gouged out eyeballs? Leave me a comment below and make sure to check out my other tutorials on my blog at Terror House Haunt! If you liked this tutorial leave me a like below and stay tuned for more!
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