1/2 Dome Eyes suppliers?

[Buck-Beaver]

The last contact info I had for Mercury Plastics was:

Mercury Plastics
995 Utica Avenue
Brookly, NY 11203
(718) 498-1557

They don't have a web site as far as I know. It's a little confusing because there are a few companies named Mercury Plastics, but they all have no connection to one and another as far as I know. Mercury only sells in bulk, 100 or 1,000 pieces at a time I believe (I can't remember which it is).

 

[Snark Blarmsten]

Thanks guys. I wonder, why not use wood spheres? They could easily be painted and then you wouldn't have to mold anything. Sure they'd be slightly heavier, but I can't think much. You could drill out part of the back of it to reduce the weight too.

I have no idea how to mold stuff anyway In any event, we'll see what they send me. Ordering 100/1000 at a time isn't going to be real practical due to the cost, I would imagine.

 

[Phantom]

I get wood spheres from the craft store and make molds of those out RTV silicone and then cast them in plastic. Hollow or solid. If they do not have certain shape or size i then sculpt or mill out the needed shape to be molded.

William

Vacuum forming.

 

[hennesprod]

Yep, vacumforming will work to. I did a lot of vacumforming as an intern NASA. One of my projects was to referbish the inside of a Shuttle simulator. Monitors, etc... I have heard of other ways of making domes as well, it involved heated styren and air compressors, crazy stuff.

William

 

[hennesprod]

Just a side note on vacume formers, you can build your own from using a bread pan and a vacume cleaner to larger scale. I have bult the bread pan size to manufacture my own model parts, works well for small things and one could make eyes using this method.

William

 

[MGov]

Boy, I've been pretty spoiled living in Chicago, NYC and L.A. Especially L.A. I can find most of my supplies not more than a 30 minute drive away.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Wood certainly works for puppets and it's been used for centuries. But the weight that a couple of wooden balls adds - in my experience - is pretty significant. I don't personally like using styrofoam, but I think if you're having trouble locating plastics spheres for whatever reason styrofoam balls would be a better way to go than wood.

 

[ReneeLouvier]

...just for simplicty's sake, will doing it the old style way work too? Like Jim originally did? Cutting a ping-pong ball in half, then painting it on? Cause I stumbled upon this topic, and I was wondering as well, I just need to replace my sole puppet's eyes. That's all.

So would a halved pingpong ball work too?

 

[Jinx]

Well, yet again I am in complete agreement with Buck. The wooden eyes would certainly work, but ounces count with hand puppets! It really does not seem like it would be the case, but experience had taught me that just a couple of ounces can make fatigue set in much faster than usual. Also if the weight is higher up it affect the center of gravity and can make manipulation sluggish.

I was at Michael's craft store this weekend and I saw some great clear plastic domes. I have heard of people backpainting these so that the clear plastic furnishes a semi-realistic gleam to the eye. The only thing is that they don't have the post for mounting, but there are always ways to get around that!

 

[pjspuppets]

E-bay supplier

I get my half-dome eyes here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ANIMAL-DOLL-EYE...5660113676QQcategoryZ2415QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

The same supplier also has them in different quantities, but all pretty much the same size. Make sure these are the ones that come with the backs that hold them on. Some of theirs have backs, some don't.

Pat