I have the Eye of the Idol by Tomoyuki Shimomura but it just looks to much plastic to me would love to make it more bizarre what would you do?

Rod Whitlock, one of Paul Harris's frequent collaborators, used to have one at his shop long ago, that he used in his shows. He had found some kind of paint that looked like marble after it dried, and applied that to the pieces (I believe different colors). It looked pretty good...still not real...but not as fake as right out of the box.

It's another great effect from Tenyo that could probably work in the real world if it didn't look so cheap. Sometimes, I've demonstrated these tricks simply for what they are, explaining it was a mysterious toy from my youth...still don't know how it works...etc. Put it in an old box, and make the presentation mysterious.

You may also want to check the Tenyo forums for ideas.

A thin coat of modelling/2 part epoxy may add texture and provide a better surface to paint upon...
I am not familliar with the props involved so I do not know if this is feasable due to weight..balance..etc..
But, its an idea..
Good Luck

This is what it looks like:

http://tenyo-magic.blogspot.com/2010/05/......dol.html

You can buy the paint at Lowes. It's a textured spray paint.

There's a thread about an modified and aged EotI in the Tenyo section, IIRC. Not sure though whether it had been altered or was only intended to...

I have a set of these I got a number of years ago - I painted my tiki head to look like stone, and the cover and platform with metallic copper paint. Looks pretty good. I don't use it much because the key is difficult to see in low light venues, which is where I perform, but it's an interesting show piece.