Removing Hot Glue: How to Remove Eyes that are Hot Glued

I heard someone once recommend placing a blow dryer on low heat into the head. The heat loosens the glue enough for them to be carefully removed.

 

Can't you just peel the hot glue? I remember someone said you could peel it off...

 

You *can* peel it, but it's a LOT easier if the glue is heated up/softened a bit first.

- Therese

 

I've used a plastic knife. I usually use the kind that come in tools for using in polymer clays. It's sharp enough to shave away at the hot glue, but it won't damage the eye. You can also press on the eyeball from the front of the head. That will also usually loosen the eye enough to remove.

 

I've only done it once but found it incredibly hard. o_o I used tweezers basically to pry and pull the hot glue out. I scarred some of the resin inside by doing so, but it was really the only way I could get it to work. Some bits of it peeled off, but there was a lot of forceful digging as well. I tried the hair dryer trick, but it didn't really work for me. The glue went soft, but it ment I couldn't get purchase and couldn't pull it out, because it went too soft. Perhaps I just had the heat up too much.

Good luck though... I can't really offer that much practical tips unforatunatly.

 

Maybe heat, then push on the front of the eye, then use the knife to pry them out? *laughs*

Taking the eyes out will be one of the first things I do with my boy.

 

I've heard of using a butter knife.

 

I think there's something about it in the FAQ on Aimee's site... but I think the best way is to expose the head to some heat (nothing too hot!!) and then pick away at it with the blunt edge of a butter knife. the heat will soften the hot glue that was used to hold your boy's eyes in place making it easier to remove ^_^

 

Hair drier on a low heat! ^__^ As Zevchan said, it'll soften the glue enough to make it easier to pry out. I was also hacking away with it using an exacto knife, bt you'll want to be careful not to scratch up the inside of the head if you do this.

 

Yeah, I wouldn't try to just pick it out. That would be not fun. I have tried. x_x;;

You should do the low-heat hairdryer thing. Be careful, cuz the S-hook will get kinda hot. And once the glue is softer, pick it out with...well, whatever. xD

 

Hey, thanks you guys. I decapitated him, used the hairdryer, *and* hacked away with tweezers and an X-Acto toward the end. I didn't get all the glue out/off, which didn't turn out to be such a bad thing cos then I just popped the eyes back into the stuff that was left, and they're staying in pretty nicely. All in all, things worked out rather well! Only problem's that I've got a blister on my right index finger now.

 

I start by heating the glue with a hairdryer, to loosen it, and then I pull it out with a small pair of pliers (you could just jab at it with something and try to lever it out).

 

just be careful with the eye holes, I've acidentally dented the outside of the eyewell before by trying to get eyes out! (I hate hot glue! GRR!)

 

I used an exacto knife and very carefully tried to wittle away the glue and pryed the eyes out. But do it slowly and with caution.

 

I poke the eyes inward from the outside. When the eyeball is removed I take off the excess glue with a tweezer. Most of the time it comes right off in one piece.

 

Hmm, forgot to do a follow-up post! ops: I actually went and tried the hair dryer thing, which helped me pry the glue away from the eyeballs enough to carefully remove the glue with a pair of needlenose pliers.

Amusingly, there's one "dot" of glue under each eyeball that I guess was used to anchor them in place before more glue was applied to secure them.. I left those "dots" in there, and they seemed to help his new eyes stay in place while I secured them with sticky-tac. :grin:

 

heh it took 3 hrs to get the glue out. hair dryer, needle nosed plyers , and some sharp scissors XD.

 

Well, it took just minutes, but you do have to be carful. I used a ceramic cleaning tool, and I make usre not to scratch the eye or the inside of the head. ^^

 

It's not that hard.. I mean, I've never had the trouble that seems to plague others.

First, I pop the eyes out of the head by pushing them inwards from the front. Second, I look for any area that's not completely flush against the head. If I find a spot (and 9 out of 10 times I do), I take a screwdriver or something with a narrow, thin flat head and try prying it up. Usually the glue will pop right off in one piece.

If it's being stubborn, I stick the head in the freezer for about half an hour, then pry again. The freezing temperature seems to make the glue turn into one useless chunk that falls out easily.

 

Ok, I think I have to put his head in the freezer. God. So, how do I get his head off? Oh, I feel so evil doing this. {{shudder}}

I just read, in a post about MSC, that cold temps can make it flake. Also that Volks sprays limited editions. So, with my Sakaki, if I freeze his head for a 1/2 hour, will his face flake? AAAargh!!! God, how I wish these eyes weren't glued in!!!!!

 

Mine haven't. ops: But who knows? I just stick them in there long enough for the glue to get hard(er) so it'll come off in one piece.

If you're nervous about that though, try using the end of a pair of tweezers to pry the glue out. Find a part that isn't flush with the resin, stick the tweezer edge in, and carefully go at it.

I've used both methods on all my dolls, and I haven't had any trouble. Changing the eyes is the first thing I do. ^_^

 

I still think I'm going to try it, because this glue is not budging! I was just worried after reading about the MSC reacting to cold temps... I'll let you know how it comes out! LOL...

 

never heard of freezing -- does it work better than heat?. I had great luck with a hairdryer; it softened the glue enough to just peel it off (although I didn't take the head off first and ended up burning myself on the S-hook ^^; Metal gets hot under a hair dryer!)

 

Heat turned the stuff into a gooey mess for me, but I probably blasted it too long. Cold has always worked well for me, but don't experiment if it makes you jittery. ops:

 

I found a hairdryer worked well for me. Once the glue was softened - just a push on the eye from the outside was enough. (The next eye set I put in with kneaded eraser, which makes great eye putty, and comes off easily when I want it to. ^^)

 

I'd like to change the eyes of my Kurenai, but when I opened her head I found that her eyes & inside of her head are COVERED in hot glue instead of eye putty.

How do I remove the hot glue & get the eyes out? I've been trying to scrape it away with a butter knife & a tiny pair of scissors, but I'm afraid of scratching her original eyes.

Thanks

~ Jibrille

 

Try heating the glue up a bit with a hair dryer (not too hot). That should soften the glue up enough to be able to pull it out.

 

I took a plastic knife that's meant for use on sculpey and just pried it off. :3

 

What I do is heat it up to loosen it, then grab a good chunk of it with a pair of needle nose pliers and yank it like a tooth. It might take a couple tries, but when you grab the right spot, the whole mess will peel right off.

 

That's exactly what I had to do after I used the hair dryer

I think some people have also tried putting the head in the freezer to "shrink" the glue and dry it out.

 

I tried the hairdryer trick... all I got was goo that was even harder to remove then ever. Soooo not ever doing that ever again. As people have said, you need to find the right part to pull... it also depends how lucky you were with the placement of the glue and how much they used. My Isao came with a rock solid coating of the stuff, and it took a lot of doing to get it out, took me an hour +, fingerstrain and a lot of creative cursing! It wasn't a clean pull at all. My F20 was a lot easier ot pull, because there wasn't half as much. ops:

 

I've accidentally scratched glass eyes trying to yank them out, but I've never had any problem heating the glue with the hairdryer and the pushing on the cornea to pop the eye inside the head.

 

I remove the eyes by pushing it out with my finger/thumb through the front and the eyes should pop out easily then to remove the hot glue inside the head, I use tweezers and just yank it out.

 

Yep, I had to do that yesterday. I used the hairdryer on it and then pried it off, but it was still an effort! Darn Volks.

 

i found it really easy when i had to do it with my msd. i pushed the eyes out from the front, then ripped out what i could then used a hair drier to losen the remains

 

I've heard of three methods: hair dryer, to soften the glue; something like a butterknife, to pry off the glue, or hair dryer + butterknife. I haven't tried any of them, but if I had to, I'd go with the hair dryer.

 

I used a hairdryer when removing my Little Fair's eyes, which were glue-gunned in...

I took the hairdryer, made sure it was set to the LOWEST setting possible (on my hairdryer it was called 'cool', though it was still pretty warm), then blew it into her head at the hot glue for about a minute and a half at a time, taking breaks to pick at the glue and let her cool down inbetween. It's pretty easy, though it takes a while.

I wouldn't use a knife, because they're pretty big compared to doll heads and not easy to control, but if your fingernails aren't long enough to pick at the glue (I have reeeeally long fingernails ops, you might want to use some other object with a small, flat edge (um...a small flat-headed screwdriver, maybe? I don't know) to do it.

Hope this helps!

 

I used the hairdryer trick along with a pair of small needle-nose pliers--not the regular-sized industrial pair kind, but the small kind used for jewelry and electronic work. (In other words, it looks sorta like a kid's version of the normal-sized ones.) Of course, I was working with a Yo-SD, so his head was a bit smaller than an SD-sized doll, but I've heard of others using needle-nose pliers as well.

Just make sure the dryer is on the low setting, and held a distance away just in case--I went in 30-second spurts to soften the glue and then pried and picked it out with the pliers. Just don't get it too warm for too long of the glue starts coming off in flecks rather than peeling off as a whole chunk.

 

I think I read somewhere that you can put the head in the freezer and then gently remove the glue when it is brittle from the cold?

 

Just be careful when you're picking out the glue, I guess. I didn't even think about that when I was doing it! ops: But I didn't have any trouble. I think the glue from the glue gun doesn't really touch where the eyelashes are, usually, 'cause otherwise the glue would be showing on the outside of the eye.

 

i wouldn't suggest the freezer deal. if it makes the glue brittle it would most likely make the resin brittle too.

and there are some people who have had trouble with cracking in the resin due to 'extreme tempratures' and even if just the cold didn't make the resin crack, if you accidentaly hit the head against something

i say the hairdryer :grin:

luck with this!

~Dottie

 

when I got lachlan his eyes were glued in. I just got a butterknife and carefully tipped the end under the edge of the glue and gently levered it up - it was SO easy, the whole amount of glue just cracked straight off, I was left with a perfect figure of eight of glue.

hopefully its that easy for you!

 

I used a hairdryer once and ended up with melted lashes, so I no longer use that method.

I wouldn't suggest using a knife to pry, because you are forcing it towards the doll head, and if it slips you could gouge the resin, or crack the eye if you use enough force.

I like the needle nose pliers method - just grab a chunk of glue and pull until you get it all out. No heat or cold, no metal tools driving towards your doll's head. ops:

 

I'm sure this has been posted elsewhere, but I've searched and I can't find anything (I may just be incompetent right now, if so, I apologize). But, I need to know what the best way is to remove the hot glue from behind Volks eyes? I can't seem to just push them in with my finger, and since this head is not destined to be one of my girls, I'd rather not accidentally push and crack the resin or anything. ;_;

Can anyone with experience help me?

 

Use a hair dryer on the hot or warm setting - put the tip inside the head and blow on the hot glue, to soften it - be careful not to burn yourself, as the S-hook, if it's still in, will get every hot! - then use pliers or your fingers (be sure not to cut yourself if the eyes have glass stems) to work the eyes out. You might have to push a little bit from the front, but usually pulling at the hot glue itself with the pliers will remove it.

If you heat it for too long, it will get too sticky and soft, and be hard to pull out. You just have to heat it long enough to make it 'pop' out when pulled.

Hope that helps. **has done this many, many times, on my own dolls and other people's**

 

that's what i did to a couple of my dolls because the eyes were hot glued in so i recommend this technique

 

I didn't have to use the hair dryer when I had to remove Link's eyes. I just sort of pried off one "end" of the hot glue, made sure I had a firm grip, and then I just "unwound" the entire loop of glue off. Same thing with the second eye, except that the loop broke into 3 different pieces. Still, it was relatively easy to remove.

Try it and see? If that doesn't work, then go for the hair dryer.

 

I've also seen people use what I think is Mr. Thinner paint thinner and a very thin metal tool to pry it up. You need to be careful with the thinner, because if it gets on the face-up it can ruin it, but it's a relatively effective method. Volks sells the tool you use, I'm not sure what else you could use to do it, as it's like a very thin, longish flat screw driver blade.

One thing to be careful of with the blowdryer method, is it can fry the eyelashes really easily if you have eyelashes in your boy or girl's eyes.

Good luck!
Rachel

 

If you don't have a hair dryer, you CAN steam them out. *prepares for people to be horrified* just use a really hot cup of tea or coffee. Don't hold it over too long, give it quite "steams" then work at the glue.

 

What a big help. I remembered that I'd read this thread when it was first posted. However at the time I was afraid to remove Louisa's eye. Not only was it easy, but if you have a garmet steamer it really makes the job quick. I covered her face with a cloth though because I didn't want to damage her face-up. Then I used a butter knife (one with very few seratted edging on it) and just lifed it up.

Thanks guys I hope this thread continues to be an asset to others.

Christal

 

Old thread, but newly-discovered trick = I heated up a tiny jeweler's screwdriver in a flame, then used it to plow through the glue. You don't have to push hard at all, because the hot metal melts the glue like *whoosh!* So there's little/no risk of gouging or chipping. And no risk to the eyelashes.

Once I loosened enough of the inside of the glue-glob, I could go in with tweezers/ forceps/ needle-nose pliers, and start pulling it out in chunks.

This method worked awesomely on my Isao-- he'd had his default glue in for 2 years, so it was cured-up pretty hard, and it would NOT come out without heat. Volks also had loaded him up with about a pint of glue on each eye, so I needed a 'toehold' to get the blob started. Glue removal is way easier if the doll is new & the glue is fresh; then you can just use pliers, like Kiriko sez.

(Only thing I had to keep reminding myself, was to wipe off the carbon after taking the screwdriver out of the fire. Left some wee sticky black smudges inside the skull, which can be cleaned if I ever get-around-tuit. -_-)

 

I tried a hairdryer on a low setting, and got tired of it making no difference for me, and heating the resin more than the glue So, I sit here, with a pair of jewelry pliers (with the rounded tips), and I am pulling/picking the glue off.

It takes a little patience, but it seems to be rather effective!!

 

My girl has her eyes glued in her head with what looks like something from a hot glue gun. How do I go about safely removing them? And once the glue is off the doll what kind of putty do you recomend I use for the eyes?

Thanks!!!!

 

One of my volks girls came with hot glue in her eyes. I just used a blow dryer on low heat until it got soft enough to pry off.

I use putty to keep my doll eyes in. usually i use sculpy to hold them in.

 

Another trick for getting the hot glue out of heads is to put the head into the freezer to harden up the glue. Sounds weird, but it does work. IJust be careful of condensation; don't leave the head in for too long.

For keeping eyes in, I use sticky tack. It works great!

 

I've never done this, but I've heard to be careful with both methods, but especially the freezer method. If the resin gets too cold, it could become very brittle and possibly crack. (This very nearly happened to me when I left my Ichii in the car in January in Vermont.)

 

"Mr. COLOR THINNER 110" (Mr.カラーうすめ&#28082 is useful to remove the glue.

Use paint blush and spread this thinner carefully on the edge of glue, and use tweezers (for doll is best). Glue will be removed easy

This thinner removes "makeup", of course, so please spread it carefully with blush. I know several ways to remove glue, but in person this is the easiest way