Halloween Monster Eyeball Plants Using Paper Clay

Halloween Monster Eyeballs can be placed on potions bottles, grimoires or costumes, in your house plants or Halloween wreath as well as what we've done - they live in their own containers.

Use a few eyeballs to surprise your family. Move them every day. Add more until they are a small army, then have them living in Mom's shoe in the closet. Replace the toothbrushes in the holder with eyeball monsters. Sure to wake someone up in the morning.

TOTAL TIME:

Each eyeball with eyelids takes about 15-20 minutes to make. Adding paint, petals, leaves and tentacles and making several of them can add hours of drying time. This entire project took me 3-4 days since I've also taken photos, written up the lesson and edited it. Just be sure to COVER THE PAPER CLAY WITH PLASTIC if you take a break, as it dries quickly.

1. Creative Paper Clay - 8-12 oz package
2. You can use another, but this one is easiest to work with and cracks the least.
3. Toothpicks, bamboo skewers, small sticks or wires for stems
4. Old scissors or wire cutters to cut stems
5. Paint and small brushes
6. I use acrylics so clear polish or varnish doesn't smear the paint.
7. A container with rice or beans to hold the stems as the eyeballs dry (or a piece of packing styrofoam)
8. Nail file or sandpaper (I use 100, but you can get it really smooth with 220)
9. Wet rag and a SCRUBBY to remove the paper clay from hands.

Optional:

1. Container for finished plant. I used a small pot but a teacup, old tin can or potions bottle works.
2. to weight the container down use a heavy rock, piece of metal, etc. in the bottom.
3. White glue (you can also use a little paper clay with water)
4. Parchment paper or wax paper to work on (I don't use this, just my hands)

Choose what size you'd like; mine are about 1-1.5 " to start.

1. Pinch off a piece of clay and roll it in your hand until it's roughly round.
2. After you open the paper clay close it back up. It dries out fast, but you can spray it with water if it starts feeling hard.
3. When you skewer it with (your choice here - I will use stick) a stick it will deform.
4. Push it back into a round shape. You will be sanding and covering most of this with more clay, so no need to make it perfect.
5. Place parts upright to dry in a small pot with rice or beans in it. I used an old piece of packing styrofoam, but they tend to fall over easily.
6. For a pot full of eyeballs, repeat. I have 5 in my bouquet.
7. Sand when they're completely dry.
8. For those of you who like eyeballs without lids, petals or leaves, skip to STEP 7.

Many painted eyeballs late I realized that it was a LOT easier to paint the eyeballs first (as in blue eyeball pic) and then add eyelids and petals, leaves, etc. so I didn't have to be careful while painting the details on the eyes. Try it both ways, of course, and let me know which is easier for you.

1. Make a small leaf-shaped piece of clay and work with it until you have a very thin leaf big enough to cover half the ball. You may have to wet the edges a little with water or smooth them as you go.
2. Place the upper eyelid in place, using a little water or paper clay mixed with water to help secure it.
3. Smooth down the back a little.
4. Make another eyelid by repeating step one and place it gently in place to see where to place the eyelid on the lower half of the ball.
5. Make slit to go around the stick and use a little water to stick the lower lid gently in place.
6. Smooth the back, being careful not to smash the eyelids into the eyeball. If you are adding petals or leaves don't worry if it's rough. That helps the petals stick to the eyeball.
7. If you are not adding leaves or petals let dry completely and sand gently, then move to Step 6. If you are adding petals it's best to attach them while the eyeball is still workable. You can put it in a plastic bag overnight to keep it from drying completely.

EASY BUTTON:

I have a friend who used some moss she found at the dollar store to cover the paper clay in her pot, instead of making petals, leaves or tentacles.

Petals:

1. Make an oval piece of clay the size of your eyeball. Flatten this out until you have a petal, using water to smooth the edges. The edges should be thinner than the rest of the petal.
2. Place the petals closest to the eyebal and work the base of the petals into the back of the flower.
3. Keep making petals, placing slightly larger ones on the outside and overlapping the petals like roof tiles. I only use two layers, as they are easy to break off if they get too large and thin. Attach them with a little water or glue so they don't move.

Leaves:

1. While the eyeball is still workable, make a small leaf-shaped piece of clay with one end a bit longer.
2. (optional) Add veins with the end of your paintbrush if you'd like.
3. Press End of leaf onto back of eye. Use a little water to adhere, making sure it's stuck on good.
4. Repeat until you have 2-3 leaves. You can add leaves in other places, so make extras at this point if you want them.

While ALL good monsters have tentacles, they are optional (sigh.)

If you do decide to make them, chose some time while the eyeballs or flowers are drying.

1. Roll out tentacles by making a skinny roll of clay (roll between hands or fingers, or roll on parchment/wax paper.
2. Wind this slightly to look like a tentacle or roll it around a pencil VERY lightly. It will stick if you press on it, so I remove them as soon as they set up - about 5-10 minutes.
3. Make a few sizes for variety. You can glue the small ones into place later. Use a toothpick for the larger ones by skewering the tentacle GENTLY and lay them down next to the eyeballs and flowers to dry.
4. When these are dry paint them green.

I decided to paint the iris last on this one, to compare how easy it is to painting first and then adding the eyelid. Either way is fine, of course.

1. Paint petals first (any color) being careful not to use too much water. I used a wash of paint, but you have to work fast so it doesn't mix with the clay.
2. Paint eyelids, leaves, stems and tentacles green.
3. Use a wet paintbrush or rag to remove mistakes.
4. Let Dry

When the eyeballs are COMPLETELY dry, sand and paint HALF of the ball white with Acrylic paint.

You can use paints, markers, fingernail polish and/or colored pencils to put the details on the eyeballs, but we find that white paint or polish is critical in case you make a mistake. Test the markers by adding clear fingernail polish or varnish to make sure they don't run.

There are many step by step instructions on how to paint them on Pinterest, so we'll just cover the basics.

1. I recommend starting with a bright and light color as it will show up better against the white and black. Here I've used a bright blue acrylic paint. If you sanded the surface well it is easier to get a circle, but you can fix mistakes by using white paint.

2. Here I used markers rather than paint for some of the details but you can use colored pencils to get it just the way you want it.

3. make a black circle for the iris. I used black marker, as cleaning up the edges is harder in this step. Keep in mind that you're the only one who might use a magnifying glass!

4. White dots to make a reflection is going to add depth.

5. Add clear varnish or nail polish to the eyeball.

I used clear fingernail polish to make the eyeball look real (and healthy) as it comes with it's own brush and is cheap, but clear varnish works, too, or any clear gloss medium. Again, test the polish or varnish with your markers or paint first, to make sure it doesn't smear them.

Hard parts are over! Now is a good time to sing Halloween songs and cackle.

Place eyeballs around the house or make them into a small gathering of monsters by using a container:

1. Add a weight to your container to keep it from tipping over and add paper clay or (for larger containers) wedge in a piece of styrofoam, then paper clay Paper clay by itself is safest, as the stems won't break if you push too hard, but it's also more expensive to use in a large container. Use a sharp instrument to poke through the styrofoam first if it's too dense.
2. Paint the paper clay WHILE IT IS WORKABLE. Don't try to make it perfect, just give it a quick coat so it doesn't start mixing with the paper clay. This will be mostly hidden by plants and monsters.
3. Gently push your stems into the paper clay starting in the center and moving to the outside. I do the back first and try to make it hang over the pot.
4. Add leaves and tentacles as you go, filling in spaces.
5. When your arrangement is done and all paper clay is dry touch up any unpainted spots.

Optional

Add ribbon to go around the pot if you're gifting it.

Happy Halloween!

Next year I'm doing a teacup full of BLACK eyeball plants.

I can't paint! Is there an easier way to make the eyeball?

There is! The little guy above was made with a glass eye purchased online. Just add a piece of paper clay to the back and go from there. The reason I don't use this from the start is the cost of 3-4 sets of smaller (for 6-8 15-20 mm eyeballs) and several larger (25 mm) eyeballs in a similar style and color.

You can also make your own out of glass blobs (just paint on the back), but then we're back to painting. I haven't tried using printed eyeballs and gluing them to the glass, as the glue usually smears the image.

Can this be put outside?

This is NOT meant for outdoor use.  Paper clay doesn’t hold up long in wet conditions.

Will the clay mold or dry out?

I've never seen it mold, but it dries too fast to mold here in the western U.S.  After you open it COVER it with plastic. Check and spray with water if it starts feeling hard. I have recovered it when it's hard but it's never as good as when it's new.

What if it cracks when drying?

This happens a lot, but unlike ceramics it’s not hard to fix. Dip your finger in water and smooth it out. You can also add some wet clay to the crack and smooth over. It should be fine, though it may need a bit of sanding.

Does it have to be CREATIVE paper clay?

Nope! There are many paper clay recipes online and several commercial brands of paper clay. The one I prefer is CREATIVE paper clay because I’ve made the clay from scratch and used several commercial brands, and none are as good as this one. The others all have lumps, crack a lot, either stick too much or don’t stick together like this clay.