Eyeball Trophy Jewelry

Halloween is the time to be weird, crazy and bloodthirsty. For some it has to be a sliced open face, or falling out innards, maybe even a combination of both.
I am more of a subtle halloween lover. I don't have to have people cringing at first sight, I love cringing at the second glance a lot more.
So here is my choice of halloween jewelry suitable for any kind of halloween occasion.

- cotton balls (35 mm for the pendants, 30 mm for the earrings)
- red jewelry wire
- glass nuggets (again in two sizes, fitting to the cotton balls)
- a big nail or a pricker
- a black permanent marker
- nail polish in white and red
- mod podge or any other shiny sealer
- glue (not in the photo)

Slice a portion of the cotton ball off. The cut off area should be as big as the glass nugget that you use as a lense. To get a realistic look you need to indent the cottonball, so that the glass nugget can snug into it. It works best when you take some cotton out and then form the mould. Repeat this until you get the desired effect.

Turn the glass nugget and paint the pupil onto the flat part with the black permanent marker. I wanted to create zombie eyes therefore I painted the iris white. You want to create some bloodshot effect, so use your nail or a needle or something and scratch tiny lines from the pupil outwards. Then coat everything with red nailpolish. Let dry.

For the pendant cut 8 pieces of red wire, about 10 inches (25cm). For the earrings 5 pieces, 8 inches (20cm) long. Twist them a couple of times in the middle sector. This will form the hanger later. Fold the strings in the middle.

Most cottonballs only have one opening. Push through with the nail or the pricker and then widen the hole a little so that you can push the wire through. Push it through with the looped middle section first. You can attach a keyring or something similar to secure it. Bend the loose strings to the left and right of the cottonball and start creating the veins one by one. Pull the wire up and loop it around the top. It is important to always loop in the same direction. If you don't you might end up loosening the former strings. Once all the strings are in place create the vein look. For this you take the wire between your fingernails and lightly twist. Vary your direction in this step. This not only makes the veines look more realistic, it also tightens the wire onto the cotton ball.

Now glue the lense to the cottonball. Let the glue dry.
As you might have noticed in the photos, these last two steps do not have to be in this order. You can add the veins and then the lense or the other way round. Doesn't make any difference.

Finally give your eyeball a good layer of glossy mod podge to make it shiny.
(This is a photo of an eyeball created WITHOUT indenting the cut off area, see how the lense sticks out? I changed that later).

The earrings are made just like the pendant only with the smaller parts.