The eyes have it

Another four hour day. Lots of chats with neighbors. Really bad sunburn even though I used a lot of sun screen. Special thanks to the self-proclaimed most amazing person in the world for going out and buying me glue when I ran out of it.

One of my neighbors rode up on her scooter and said "What are you going to call her? The eyes have it?"

One side down, one to go

I worked for about four hours Saturday and finished the passenger side of the car. I learned that I can talk on the phone and work on the car at the same time. Thanks to Steakfinger for helping me test my abilities. Yeah multi-tasking!

You can see everywhere

I spent close to four hours working on the car Saturday and it is now symmetrical again.

The beautiful weather meant a lot of my neighbors were out so I met several new people as I worked. One of my blind neighbors felt the car while waiting for his ride. I love the texture myself, so I suggested it as a way to explain what I was doing. Many drivers stopped to ask me questions, as I was working in one of the main cab/passenger drop areas for my apartment complex. One said that I should be safer while driving since all the eyes on my car will make it so that I can see everywhere.

That's a Fancy Car

I've gotten a lot of questions recently about how I wash the car. The car has been through a drive-thru car wash and came out unharmed (although I didn’t stay under the drier for the entire time). I always wash the car before I start gluing eyes and normally, I just go to a self-serve car wash to clean it.



I didn’t get many eyes on the car today. I had planned to make the passenger side match the driver’s side today, but it started sprinkling. I continued gluing for awhile, but it soon started raining too much to keep the glue dry. Maybe with daylight savings time, maybe there will be enough light after work for me to focus on the car a little each day.

After my failed work attempt. I went to lunch at Phil’s Ice House. When I was leaving a family that had been at Amy’s Ice Cream was looking at the car. The mom asked if it was OK for them to touch the car. One of the little girls said “This is a fancy car. I like fancy things.”

what you lookin' for?

I only finished the driver's side door today. Direct sunlight makes the glue set up VERY fast. It also results in very bad sunburns for fair-skinned folk.

A truck load of people stopped to look at the car while I was working. They asked several questions from far away and then drove closer to say "What you lookin' for?" then "See you later." Ha!

Eyes in the wind

I worked six hours today. It was very windy and several little eyes escaped into the parking lot. For the most part it was a beautiful day, so several of my neighbors stopped to ask questions about the car.

The older lady who drives her rascal scooter at breakneck speeds through the apartment complex said her special transit service driver (cap metro little bus that picks her up to take her to places her rascal won't go) had been asking where I got all the eyes. She seemed disappointed that it was via the internets.

An exchange student was surprised that I was working on the car in the parking lot. He thought I had some other place to do that work. He also asked me if I was an artist.



Passenger's side (I just did the line that goes from the trunk to the front of the car above the window on this side today)




Driver's side above the window




Driver's side (I also finished half of the back door on this side)

Googly eyes are watching you

I spent about an hour putting the eyes removed earlier this week back on the car and finishing up the trunk lid. I had a few more eyes, so I also did the gas tank cover. The car is about to go on a long trip, so we'll see how the eyes hold up to long periods of 70 mph.

Trunk day two

I couldn't do much today because I couldn't find any eyes that weren't all black to keep the ratio the same as the rest of the trunk. I spent maybe 10 minutes gluing today.

The trunk

I started at 9:30 a.m. I worked for two hours then took a break because I was getting a little sloppy and I could see I would need more glue to finish the top of the trunk. I worked two more hours after returning from this trip.

I purchased a different type of glue bottle and it was harder to use. I ended up using a lot more glue with this type of bottle. Also when I switched glue, I started putting things closer together. The wind was really blowing so that made me work closer in and a lot of the medium size eyes were used early on so it was mostly 12mm or less left ... these two things may have also contributed to the closer gluing.

I ran out of little eyes with more than 3/4 of the car done and went to get more. I think because of the closer gluing, I still didn’t finish the top of the trunk. I had estimated that I had enough to complete this part of the car today (and I guess I could have but it would have been just big eyes and since I started out with mostly little/medium on the trunk I want to keep it that way). I made those estimates with the full order from the bulk place, but I think I really did still have enough. It’s just that early on I wasn’t putting enough of the 40mm eyes on and the closer gluing also impacted my project.

Lessons:
Only work for two hours at a time.
Use glue with a little spigot to control the flow.
Mix-in more big eyes.

Testing

I looked at several web sites to find tips on art car gluing. A lot of the suggested glues require you to put a little on both pieces let them sit for 5 minutes and then place them together for a firm hold. I can’t imagine spending 5 minutes between each of these eyes, so I’m not using that type of glue.

I’m going with a silicone glue, but I don’t want to buy a lot of something that won’t work. This evening I got a 2.8 oz tube of a silicone glue and am doing a little test. Weather reports say it’s going to rain tomorrow morning and then get clear in the afternoon. I put a few eyes (27 total) on the car to see how it will hold up to the weather.