Friday, March 25, 2011

Day 17: Eyes

This project has defied all attempts to photograph it in action. I've spent literally hours trying to get a good shot, with the aid of my girlfriend, until I can only conclude that either there's something wrong with both our camera-operating skills, or I'm experiencing some kind of malign interference from the Other world.
'Coraline' has probably gained notice mostly from the stop-motion film that came out a while back, but there are a number of differences in the book and I highly recommend reading it even if you've seen the movie. I liked the movie, but I don't think either the book or the movie is better, they're just a little different.
If only Coraline had button glasses like these, perhaps she could have tricked the Other Mother into thinking she'd accepted button eyes? Probably not, but if you want to try it yourself, just let me know and you can borrow these.
If you're not familiar with the story, it's kind of a modern twist on the old myths of faeries abducting children. Coraline takes a door in her new home through to an alternate world, where she has an Other mother and father, and strange duplicates of the other local residents, all of whom try to entice her to stay. Her Other mother is in charge, and makes her favorite foods and gives her pretty things, but all the people in this world have button eyes. The only catch to staying with them is that the Other mother wants Coraline to let them give her button eyes, too.
I couldn't find buttons big enough for this on short notice, so these ones are made of paper clay with a little black paint and clear nail polish over them. The frames are an old pair of not-very-useful sunglasses (the lenses are red and make everything look weird). I popped the lenses out, glued and then masking-taped the 'buttons' on. I had to make the buttons ahead of time to let the clay dry, but it was a pretty simple project, overall.
Now if I could just get a decent photo.

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