I'm in the process of making my first figure which I am currently casting in resin and will eventually be getting produced in vinyl. I lack actual artist // crafting talent, so I went with a really simple design that I still thoroughly enjoyed as the first creature that I would work on:


[this picture is of the super early pre-finish Super Sculpy phase]

It's supposed to be a really simplistic lantern monster but given my abilities it looks like a living barrel made by a child with broken hands.

As far as I'm concerned I'm content with the overall design of the character and only have a few additions to implement on the final prototype, but I've hit a bit of a snag in the planning process: the eye.

One of the things I was dead set on was having one of those ever popular teddy bear dolls eyes [the stemmed kind that are found in a lot of sofubi] sitting in the middle of the constructed eye. I am aware that vinyl will indeed be slightly smaller than the prototype, but I'm not 100% sure as to how much of a difference it will be.

Basically, I don't know how big to make the eye rest [the slight impression where the eye sits] and am afraid of it being either too big and goofy looking or too small and obstructive. I was wondering if anyone here has ever produced a figure that utilized this style of eye and if they had any advise on precisely how big I should make the eye rest or could give me an account of their experience dealing with this particular accessory in the vinyl process. Also, if anyone knew where to get the exact eyes that Marmit and other Japanese companies use for their eyes that would be awesome. My search [etsy, ebay, hobby sites] has only given me options that look like cheaper versions of those awesome eyes and I know there just has to be a resource out there.

Thank you everyone!

https://www.tohickonglasseyes.com/shopc ... sp?catID=1

They sell world class eyes there. Not cheap but great quality and they have good deals pretty often.

In my experience with vinyl you get roughly 10% shrinkage from sculpt to final product but that really depends on who is making your stuff and where and how.

Thanks a ton man! These eyes look awesome.

would it be possible to just drill the rest out on the resin version? then you can drill to whatever size eye you decide to fit?

I'm playing around with a dremel right now to try and make it a little bit bigger than what it needs to be. Hopefully that will be just enough to compensate.

Vinyl shrinks when it is cast so regardless of your original sculpt it's going to be smaller coming out of an iron mold.

I'm just trying to figure out exactly how much it's going to shrink so I can compensate for the eye rest area.