buckram

Ahhhh thank you! :D It was on the tip of my tongue, but my brain was just NOT cooperating.

no problem, I suggest buying it at a fabric store, not online that way you can make sure for yourself you can see through it.

Buckram.

Buckram, but beware! The stuff from fabric.com (for example) is useless for eyes because it's barely opaque. It's better to buy it in person if at all possible.

Hmm, thanks, good to know! I usually buy my fabrics in person, but not knowing what the stuff was called made it hard to ask someone where it might be. :o I'm right near a really huge fabric store, though, so I'll definitely go ask them first!

I just order some of that for a suit so I hope its better than you say or the one you got. xD

also just putting this out there...the screening for the front door works amazing. the holes are nice and big but still small so you dont see in once painted.

Hmm, interesting idea! Do you use the plastic kind or the metal kind...? Something semi-rigid is what I am looking for ideally.

the plastic, i got it at home deopt...as HUGE roll for like 6 bucks

aluminum screen wire would not make a good opaque screen - what you want is the plastic (which is actually rubber-over-fiberglass thread), careful with it though - it can tearlikeabitch if you catch it, and it just unzips.

Ooh, good to know, thank you!

You CAN use buckram, or you can use other fabrics like door screen or nylon.
I personally use screen and nylon since its easier to see out of.

Other than the aforementioned Buckram, I think I've seen people use fiberglass screening and cross-stitching canvas. And I'm not sure, but I think one of my old roommates had his eyes made from thin fabric, which wasn't too opaque to see out of, but enough that it looked about solid from outside.

Sounds like chiffon or organza, both are sheer fashion fabrics. I've never been fond of working with them, they're more expensive than the utility fabrics for the most part and haven't had the durability I'd want in a fursuit material.

Hancock Fabrics carries the kind of stuff you'll be looking for, I've never found it at JoAnne's. http://www.hancockfabrics.com/Buckr.....VVviewprod.htm is the link to a full bolt of it! Buckram handles paint and markers for bright colors on eyes (see  matrices post with Cathlamet's new eyes in her gallery for an example) One of buckram's best properties is its ability to hide the wearer's eyes if there's a photo taken with a flash, rather than getting that weird ghost-red-eye thing you've probably seen before in pics.

Other makers use speaker fabric, which is a solid black. You can find speaker fabric/speaker cloth at most fabric stores, it'll be with the other utility fabrics (burlap, ticking, etc), and is a little stretchier than buckram. Speaker fabric doesn't have the same photo-flash blocking properties as buckram, but its application is more for places like tear-duct vision, or blacking out the inside of a mouth/nose for vision through there, where a large white piece of fabric would look strange.

Good to know, thanks! I haven't found it at JoAnn's either, though luckily there's a huuuuge independent fabric place just up the road from me. I just didn't know what I was needing to ask for is all. :) Speaker fabric sounds like a good idea, too, I'll have to look into that next time I'm over there.

There's Buckram, Chiffon, and Door screen.

Did we mention Buckram yet?

No, but you should definitely try some buckram!

Thanks for posting this journal! I had the same question in mind. Are you making the entire eyes out of mesh or just meshing the pupils alone?

I am actually planning to use it for around-the-eye areas, not eyes themselves. :) I may use a bit behind a pupil, but I've got bigger areas that need to be seen through and require less detail (flat black).