Tracking Evil Eyes for Your House That Haunt Your Neighbors (video)

Evil Eyes for your HOUSE!!! (Tracking)

Super Cheap, Easy and it freaks out the neighbors day or night...who could ask for more?

Make them as large as you want.

I prefer to make all of my Halloween decor. Not only is it way cheaper but you can make what you need or want instead of just settling for what you find at the store.

Cost to make ones this size was $6.00 if you had to buy everything ** I think I want mine bigger next year :-)**

**This one is a lot of fun! Neighbors catch it ,slam on their brakes, then slowly go forward. muhahahaha. We forgot we had them up for the first few days and kept wondering why so many cars were almost stopping in front of our house ;-) It's great if you need to slow down some traffic**

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Supplies needed:

1 LG box for Eyebrows, beak and such

Two square boxes the same size- or one square box at least 16" deep- Overall size will vary due to your requirements-

Measure the size you desire for your home

Divide width of your measurement by half - acquire two boxes with those dimensions give or take a few inches

Or if your working with what ya got up in the attic, like me, you can measure and find two identical boxes. If one box is deeper than the other one you can cut off the exccess. Shallow boxes work better (6-12" deep) the larger the eye the closer to 12" deep will be needed. I wouldn't go less than 6".

Packing tape

Protractor helps

Paint needed will be black, white and whatever color you want the Iris to be

Brown packing/craft paper roll- found one at the dollar store

20 or so sheets plain white printer paper

A lot of White/Elmers Glue - I use white glue because I have yet to master the perfectly smooth flour mix, plus it kind water proofs it better

Glue sticks are helpful but not needed

String - Twine - Whatever you got

Spray clear coat for weatherproofing (optional)

Two small strings of Christmas LED lights - other option is paint it with UV paint and have a black light spot light on it

Aluminum foil if your going to use black lights

Hot glue gun is helpful but not needed

Craft time excluding drying time-4-8 hrs - depends on how in the zone you get ~¿ö

♥♥♥ Thanks for the hearts ♥♥♥

Step 1: Shaping the Boxes

Open both ends of your boxes

Cut one end of flaps off - (front of eye)

*If you have one large box measure and cut down the middle*

Place the box on a table or floor - flaps down

Fold two flaps, opposite of each other, to the outside of the box -secure temporarily down with a piece of tape

Leaving the two flaps folded inside the box

Form the shape of the eye how you want

Where you see the flap poking out from the sides draw a line- then cut along line

Do the same to the other flaps

Fold all of the flaps in taping them into place

Cover all of the holes in the corners with masking tape

Step 2: Eyes, Eyebrows and a Beak (beak Optional)

Eyebrows

This part your just going to have to wing a bit

Get a piece of cardboard close to the width of the eye

Cut a moon shape or whatever you wish

I cut a half moon, then layered it with shapes and hot glue 

Do not attach them yet - just size and dry fit them

Use the first brow as a stencil for the second - just remember you need a mirror image so flip it

Making the pupil

Measure the height and then draw a slit for a pupil - if you prefer a round pupil find a bowl the size you need and use that as your stencil guide,  either shape will work 

Put your pupil in place and walk back and forth to get an idea of how it looks

Beak (optional)

Hopefully you have enough cardboard left over for the beak

Looking at images of Owls I placed the eyes side by side and then just judged  how big the beak should be - Since size of eyes vary for each of you it's best just to eye this one

Use string in each inside corner of the eye, dropping down and attaching to beak

Step 3: Creating an Iris

Lay your packing paper down and place the box on top

As you can see in the pics I drew a line around the box leaving several inches to spare

Cut out diamond shape - then cut down the middle ( top to bottom) - now you should have two sections for the left and right side of the eye

Using white glue coat one side of the eye - give it a fairly thick coat but nothing too crazy, you just want the paper to slide around on it while your placing it- then lay your paper down

You want to gently crease the paper while the glue is wet

I used my fingers for this and tried to visualize what an iris looks like - Google images helped

Don't crease it all the way to the corners - the flat section will be the whites of the eyes

If the paper tears that's ok - it's all getting paint anyway - just be gentle

Glue the sides down flat - no creasing - unless you want to do viens

Cover the pupil and brows with the paper mache technic and using the same concept as the Iris you can add more detail

Duplicate this step for the other side of the Iris and the other eye

**If one side is more creased than the other and you need to add creases just tear smaller squares of brown paper, make folds in the paper then paper mache down**

Set out in the sun for 30 to 60min - until dry to touch

Step 4: Finishing Inside of Eye and the Brow

Now you want to finish the inside of the box 

**I trimmed a bit off the bottom of the eye since these will be going next to a walkway and I want even the shortest monster to see it**

Cut  strips of 1" x 3" cardboard to make tabs to secure the brow- use inner and outer tabs - Outer tabs needed more for heavy brows

Place the brow pieces you made where you want them - mark the box where good places to put tabs are

A coat of white glue to secure the tabs to the box and then use masking tape to hold them in place ( see image ) Do not attach brows yet

Using brown paper mache layer on the inside of the eye to create a smooth appearance, wrapping around the ends (front edges of eye) so you can't see the corrugation of the box

Do the whole box to make it stiffer and last longer

Make sure you do your final fine tuning now

Make a hole in the front side corners of the box  and then secure rope to the back of the eye with hot glue- make holes for hanging at the corners for extra strength - cover any strings hanging in view on the inside of the eye with paper mache

The eye requires three points of securing the string for hanging. Poke holes through the eye at the corners and paper mache anything sticking out inside the eye to cover it.

**Optional- if using string lights use a wood screw or nail to poke holes in the top front of the box behind the brow - hang from string not lights ***

* Cover any unused lights with black electrical  or duct tape if you can't remove one without them all going out *

Almost there!!! Set that baby out to dry completely - next step is paint !!!

Step 5: The Fun Part

Everything is Completely dry? Start Painting!!

I'm sure by now you have your colors in mind - in this step I'm just going to show how I painted mine

First, I used a protractor to get a good curve for the Iris - measuring even distances from the center of the eye, make a soft line if light colored iris, dark line if dark colored iris

Paint in the Iris and pupil how you wish - I used a sponge brush and dabbed the paint on, most is going to absorb into the paper so you need at least two coats - I start with the neon yellow then neon orange then neon red with black along the edges - be sure to turn the sponge brush sideways to blend colors better (see image)

While that's drying paint in your brows - I did a dry brushing of black on mine

Re-fit the brow and secure the same way you secured the tabs

Fill in any openings between the brow and eye with masking tape -then a little brown paper and glue or use the glue and Aluminum foil to reflect more light back into the eye

Make curves with the protractor on the printer paper - size of curve will vary due to size of eye ( see Image )

Using the glue / glue sticks and printer paper - line up your curves and glue down - then you want to use the rest like paper mache for the whites of the eyes - do the sides too (see image)

I also painted a black curve in the corners - This is to create more of an eye illusion (see image)

Spray on some clear coat for weatherproofing and you're ready to freak out some neighbors!

Happy Haunts!!