Mandy from Bon Bon Blythe and ZooBeZooBeZoo was kind enough to share her technique for painting and adding glitter to eye chips.
To change the color, I use regular acrylic craft paint (the kind you get for $1 per bottle in most craft stores). In the first picture (Disco Boogie), I painted only the inside ring of the eye chips, where the ridges are. I thinned out the paint with just a little bit with water (be gentle when mixing, so that you don’t create a lot of bubbles), then painted it all around the inside area, making sure to get paint into the corners of the little grooves.
After it was dry, I used a dry toothpick to gently scrape the paint off of just the raised parts of that area (and also any that might have gotten on the outer edge of the chip), leaving the paint down in the grooves. Then I went over the raised parts again with a wet toothpick to further clean them up and get rid of any cloudiness. This technique gives a lot of definition and depth in the eye color, rather than a flat, all over color.
In the second picture (Love Mission), I used this same technique for the inner part of the chip, and then I also painted the outer edges of the chips in the same colors as the inner parts. The outer rim requires 3-4 coats of slightly thinned paint (make sure you let each coat dry thoroughly before applying the next). I recommend using paint that is cut slightly with water because it goes on smoother and thinner, and therefore won’t add too much extra bulk to the inside of the chip (this is especially important if you are going to add glitter, which is the next step).
On both pairs of eyes, after all of the chips were painted and allowed to dry overnight, I painted on a thin layer of decoupage glue (I use Mod Podge; you should also thin this out with a tiny amount of water), then I poured extra fine grain glitter on the wet glue (I got my fine grain glitter at a craft store like Hobby Lobby or Michael’s. It’s MUCH smaller than regular craft glitter). Let that sit for a few minutes so the glue can set up a little bit, then carefully pick the chip up and dump off as much of the excess glitter as you can. Allow these to dry for a couple of hours, then come back with a soft, wide paintbrush and gently brush off any leftover excess glitter. And that’s it! It sounds like a lot of steps, but it’s actually quite easy.
I’m going to work with the chips I had painted brown. I’m also thinking about opening up Audrey’s head, removing her eye mechanism, and painting the lids. That will also allow me to do a better job with the shadow. Eep! Now I just need some bravery.
