A 2” square piece of wood which was turned round, then while held between centres a hole saw with its teeth removed and to the required size was sharpened, but it must have a handle fitted for use, in this way you will always produce the same size of ball. The ball was mounted between mounted wood centres and then the additional bits of wood can be removed, and then the ball can be sanded.
A large depth of jaws were used for this and a wooden collet made to fit the jaws and this was cut in half so that it can tighten against the ball then mark where the eyes are going to be with 900 apart on the centre line. The eyes were cut with a core drill and a hole drilled down the centre to form the eyes.
Turn the eye area from the side and using a 10mm drill for the eye to be mounted, the inner part of the eye had a small bead formed around the eye core. When completed, a beak was produced by using a small chisel. The eye is glued in with superglue.
This is also shown on Woodworking Wisdom by Axminster.
Link to Wood turned Owl Project – Woodworking Wisdom on YouTube