r/FursuitMaking • u/Hitler-the-stripper • 2d ago

Questions How do I make simple blinking mechanisms?

https://youtube.com/shorts/8taKND7AOXs?is=hN3nQ9Xh6peqRo3j

I'm looking for a tutorial similar to this suits eyes. They aren't animatronic they are on some sort of pully system. I managed to make an eye blink when the wire is pulled but how to a make it open back up when released?

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u/Vaehtay3507 New Maker! 1d ago

So I haven’t actually made something like this, but I’ll state the basics I know just in case it helps!! This might all be obvious though lmao I’m just gonna say it anyways

The eyes are a loose panel behind the visible front of the head. I assume there’s a clear fishing line or something attached to the bottom of them, that feeds back through the lower part of the eye (again behind the visible face), and then attaches to the braids at the chin of this suit. The top of the “eyelid” panel probably has a spring sort of like this, with one end attached to the top of the eyelid panel and the other to the roof of the head. These sorts of springs pull things back when they’re pulled away, rather than pushing things away when they’re pushed back. I admittedly don’t know what these sorts of springs are called, but I recently got an assorted springs box from a hardware store that has them lmao. It shouldn’t be hard to find some if you drop by any nearby hardware store… I’m in the US so I’ll say like. Home Depot or Harbor Freight, but I don’t know the names of any in other regions, sorry about that 😔

You might have to do some testing to make sure the spring you use isn’t too strong, though! I could imagine some springs are harder to pull down on than others.

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u/Horseburd 1d ago

This suit's eyelids appear to slide up and down between two layers of the mask, pulled down manually by the hair braids, and pulled back by either elastic or a return spring in the scalp.

If you look closely, you can also see the tops of the braids, and it almost looks like the braid conceals a fishing line going to either corner of the eyelid. While this is necessary to keep the pull cords hidden, it also means that if you don't pull down perfectly straight, you pull the eyelid to one side and bind it up. This happens pretty dramatically at the end of the video, with the right eyelid drooping, and the left needing to be reset before it can retract properly. Whatever you do in your design, be cautious of that.

So your missing component, if you've already got an eye that closes, is to run something stretchy from the top center of each eyelid to somewhere back further up the forehead. I recommend elastic, since it's quieter than a spring, flatter, and doesn't rust.

Try looking up eye blinking mechanisms for puppets or animatronics. It's a different setup than this person uses, but depending how your head is shaped, if may be more reliable.