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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Sculpture and Glass Eyes

Fresh out of school, I modeled figures for the mannequin manufacturer Wolf and Vine/ Greneker.
Instead of creating one life sized figure a semester, I made a new one every other week. And got paid instead of a grade for it.

I loved that job.

At the time they were transitioning from using beautiful handmade glass eyes to cheaper cast plastic eyes. This video by Thomas Leech shows how glass eyes are made. The mannequins use a full sphere eyeball with a small post left on them so that you can position them in the fiberglass head.


The Glass Eye Maker from Tomas Leach on Vimeo.
Video by Thomas Leech on Vimeo

6 comments:

Stone Art's Blog said...

Very interesting stuff.

Sherrie York said...

I'm suddenly reminded of a wonderful, eccentric, stubborn old woman I once knew. She struggled with the glass eye given to her by her doctor, so with the help of a museum friend she procured a "perfect" taxidermy eye, which she wore to the end of her days.

patrickgracewood said...

Sunny, I love his attitude, he's the best (and only) eye maker in England, and has relationships with his clients that have gone on for years. Why can't someone rustle up some good apprentices for him through the crafts alliance?

Sherrie, that little story is a great idea for a children's book!

Sherrie York said...

:-) A tad macabre for a kids' book. Maybe. Maybe not. She also lived in a pre-Civil War-era house without plumbing, was notorious for serving roadkill to guests, tended to sleep on the floor, and was the only woman to earn a degree under Aldo Leopold.

Long live Franny, who left us in 1998.

patrickgracewood said...

Sherrie, Our 7 year old is captivated by the Lemony Snickets books, each one more dire than the last. The outlook is high gothic late victorian...
So at least record your memories of Franny for posterity....and maybe an off your wall series of prints?

Sherrie York said...

Oh, of COURSE! Why didn't I think of Lemony Snicket? (We even liked the movie, which friends sent us for Christmas. Should tell you something about the company we keep.) ;-)