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Supplies EYE PUTTY: the good, the bad, the ugly

Sep 16, 2004

    1. Is there something else that could be used for eye putty besides the Volks specific brand of it? I was thinking Silly Putty....?

      Erin
       
    2. Try Stickytac. I have the Volks putty and it wouldn't hold the eyes in. Sticktac worked better for me and was cheaper! $1 at dollar stores!
       
    3. Sillyputty goes hard, so its only good if you don't want to remove the eyes again. Try BlueTac, or some people even use stickytape, or uncured Sculpey.

      - Therese
       
    4. If you use sculpy, i'd say make sure you use white or colorless (which is a peachy color) otherwise i *Think* it might stain.

      ~Erin
       
    5. I use "Blue Tac" or "Fun Tac" as the stuff I found is called, and I do use the blue coloured stuff. It hasn't done any harm to my hard glass or glastics and it sticks really well, but is also reasonable to remove.
       
    6. I use the skin tone (peachy) sculpty. It works reaally well!

      It's funny cuzz in sharmins head when it came is sculpty. It smells the same XD
       
    7. Sculpy has plasiticizers in it; I wouldn't trust it not to cause problems with the resin.

      ymmv.

      Ann in CT
       
    8. Ghaleon came with modeling clay in grey. :> I have a ton of it left over from my time as a sculpture student... so I use my white clay. I'd say if you use it, just use white or natural or grey/green. Black, magenta, ect... that's going to stain.
       
    9. Hi

      Ok ok please dont laugh :lol: I dont like the putty's so I use...... Blue tack or white tack its great no mess, just pop it in brilliant everytime and so easy to find and buy.... :daisy I use it in all my Kids well the doll ones any way lol

      Hope this helps
       
    10. I used to use kneaded rubber erasers, but I have come to love white blu-tack!!!

      I found some generic in white at Office Depot. My erasers have gone back to erasing again!
       
    11. I like sticky tac... I think I have the 3M version, but any one works great. :D
       
    12. If the eyes are in temporarily, I use the white Fun Tak. I have gobs of it around because I also use it to keep my action figures standing upright.

      If I've decided that these are more or less the permanent eyes, I use low temp hot glue and my mini glue gun. I've found it holds them in the best, and should I need to get them out, I've had no problems gently prying out the glue.

      Your mileage may vary.

      Marcia.
       
    13. I use the purple putty that came in my El's head and I intend to keep on using that. It's wonderful!
       
    14. Does that tacky white stuff leave residue on the eyes? The eye putty volks sent with Nora doesn't really stay in very well, but I've been too wary to try anything else on my own, and I've always had a problem with blue tacky goo leaving everything it touches sticky.
       
    15. That's one of the things I like about glass eyes - they're easy to clean. ^_^

      But yeah, the putty that CP and CH uses are both really nice! I really don't like Volks putty at all!
       
    16. I use yellow sticky tack. I think it is "handy tak". I got it at walmart. Whatever it is, it works great.
       
    17. I use the white stuff that you use to tack china and lamps and stuff to your furniture in case of earthquake. I baught mine at the hardware store (Lowe's).
       
    18. the putty that CP uses is plastilina- a type of modeling clay- i recognise the smell. :3 I have tons of it around the house left over from sculpture. =_=
       
    19. I use either a kneadable eraser or poster gum.
       
    20. I really like Sculpey. It doesn't leave a residue and comes in various colors. I agree that Volks Eye Putty is lousy. Don't waste your money. Whatever came in my CP girls (Lishe and Soo) is great but kind of messy as it's a dark greenish brown color.

      Jay
       
    21. volks eye putty is so bad, I used blu tack ( stuff with many different names over the world, you stick posters up with it), holds them in well, but easy to change as well
       
    22. I used white-tack. It was the first time I had changed eyes..and it was realy easy to use!

      Charlie *^_^*
       
      • x 1
    23. Okay, here's a problem I hadn't expected to encounter.

      My doll arrived before her eyes, so I made her a pair by painting white onto two of those half-marbles people use when arranging flowers, adding in a pupil in black, and slapping a few coats of a gloss paint sealant on the whole mess. They actually look pretty good. My problem is this - I got Masterpiece Softglass eyes for one of my other dolls, and since his head is still in Japan, I thought I'd let her wear them until her own eyes arrive. For some reason, the putty (Handy tak) that I used, which held in the marble-eyes very nicely, doesn't stick to the Masterpeice eyes at all! Can anyone reccommend a good putty to use for Masterpeice eyes? They seem pretty slippery...

      Until I figure it out, I guess she'll be stuck with marbles in her head. :oops:

      Thanks for all the advice so far, everyone!

      - Kiya
       
    24. For masterpiece eyes, stretch the putty all the way over the back so that it's gripping onto the doll's resin on either side of the eyes. I think it works best if you cover the masterpiece eyes entirely and seal it to the doll all around the edge.

      Laura
       
    25. I use blu-tak, both for holding in glass and acrylic eyes. I find it works well, stays soft for when I want to change them, and doesn't stain. :daisy
       
    26. I use the kneaded eraser. The putty/poster tack doesn't stick to my doll's head very well, and hot glue pops out sometimes. I find the eraser works very nicely ^^
       
    27. I use sticky-tack as eye putty, and to keep Sharmin's extra ears securely in place. I've never had any trouble with it staining, but you could use the white kind, just to be on the safe side.
       
    28. I have blue sticky tac too and I use it to keep their eyes in place. It seems to stays on just fine and it doesn't stain the resin. :grin:
       
    29. I use a pretty specific brand of poster-tac (which I can't remember at the moment.. I only recognize the packaging.. :| ), because I've noticed some is much stickier than others, and for me, anyway, the really REALLY sticky stuff is a pain to get out. :roll: I've used kneaded eraser on 1/6 dolls, but it's so annoying to get to the proper gummy consistency that I never bothered with it for the big dolls! :oops:
       
    30. what me and my friend use that is cheap and easy is those kneded gum rubber erasers, they are like 50 cents at a craft store, work guuud ^^
       
    31. I was out looking for Blu-Tac, and couldn't find it, or white, or yellow, etc... I DID find UHU Tac, which says it's a Removable Adhesive Putty, Non-Toxic, Clean & Safe for plastic, porcelain, etc, etc... It's white and comes in a sheet of small squares - you take as many as you need, and roll it in your hands until it becomes a warm mass. Says it's for calendars, posters, to secure items on shelves. It says, "Surfaces must be clean and dry. Do not use UHU Tac on absorbant, silkscreened-printed, hand-stenciled wall paper, recently decorated or delicate surfaces. Test in inconspicuous area before use." It says it can be peeled away and reused.

      What do you think? Is it ok for holding eyes in? Thanks for any help! :daisy
       
    32. You know, I've never even stopped to consider if the tac-putty-stuff I'm using is "safe".. XD; Good question... don't know why it wouldn't be okay, but that's just me :oops:

      (I will say, never use colored stuff.. I had some orange sticky-tac once that stained both the wall and the poster it was holding up :x )
       
    33. It's white, thank goodness, or I wouldn't have dared! I'll report back, and hopefully someone has used this stuff and can verify that it's safe... :daisy
       
    34. UHU is a good adhesive brand, they seem to try and make their stuff pretty inert, I use their glue sticks for restoring antique book bindings, because its acid free, non-staining, non yellowing, and can be scraped off if need be (expet on coarse paper)

      Iam just saying this because I would think, since they try and make things "archival safe" that even if its a bit bad, a diffrent brand is more than likely much worse. Come to think of it, I do believe Ive used their putty to hold the edges of plates (to keep them from falling over during an earth quake) and it didnt seem to get sticky and goo-y or harden up very much.

      More than likely fine.
       
    35. you can also use Mr.sculpey. It holds eyes in very well, better than the blue tack i used. Blue tack loses stickiness after a while XD I use pink shimmery sculpey. LOL~ (cheap too)

      The luts eye putty was AWFUL! it was dark grey and stuck everywhere! I had to clean every speck of it off....
       
    36. Steph, I use white Sculpey (you can get the little packages at Michaels for about 2 bucks) It works great!!!!
       
    37. I just use Sticky-Tac.
      Like, the blue kind.
       
    38. I found some really neat stuff called HoldTu by Dixon. it's white, totally not sticky or smelly and leaves no residue. it's safe for pictures too. it's soft enough to knead easily and doesn't dry out at all, so no shrinkiing. I found it in a craft store. It might have been Jo Anne Fabric or the Rag Shop. I can't remember.
       
    39. I use white poster tack because it's sticky and pliable without being difficult to work with. (I know a good number of others use the stuff, too.) Other people have used different things, like eye wax and Super Sculpey. It's a matter of personal preference, really.

      To insert eyes, just pull off a little piece of the stuff and roll a short, fat snake, then put in the eye and stick the poster tack along the top inner edge. Do the same for the bottom, then position the eye so it's at the proper alignment and add a bit on the sides to keep it secure. And repeat!

      I can take some photos if you need me to, but I think you'll find that it's pretty easy to get the hang of once you're doing it. ^^


      ~Kalmia
       
    40. Hi :daisy

      I usually use white plastiline eye putty for my BJDs, since I don't like the smell and the greasiness of the old Volks eye putty.
      But I heard the new Volks pink eye putty is the best, so I was wondering if its smell was good or not... :oops:
      Could anybody please tell me what its smell is like? Thank you! :daisy
       
    41. No noticeable smell at all. It's a bit firm out of the jar and requires working a bit first to soften up. If you're used to sculpey clay, it's like that sort of. It took a couple tries to get it to stick Hana's eyes in. Of course, she has 22mm glass paperweights (heavy), which might have something to do with it.

      Ouch! :nosebleed And I pinched my finger on her head cap trying to get her eyeball back in the socket (no fun)...
       
    42. Thanks for the kind reply and very useful info! :daisy :D
      BTW, is Volks pink putty greasy?
      I really hope it isn't!
      BTW, I'm sorry for your finger! >_<
       
    43. It's slik but not greasy at all.

      Kat
       
    44. Nope not greasy at all. Chewed bubblegum would be a better analogy.
      :barf

       
    45. I just bought some Uhu-tac, but beside the above-mentioned things it also says on the package "might leave oily stains on the surface, which can only sometimes be removed."
      this scared me a little. The word "oil" together with "resin" is quite a "NO!!" after all, so....

      Did any of you experience any problems with Uhu-tac so far?
       
    46. I use this too! And I've used it in my doll head for almost two years and no staining and it works great.
       
    47. I actually switched to poster tack since my Sculpey keeps drying out. It ruined a pair of acrylic eyes cause it dried on them and wouldn't come off. :oops:

      I've had no problems with the poster tack so far, but it can get a little unsticky.
       
    48. I'm not sure if it's even the same brand you guys are talking about but when I read this I immediatly thought of the poster tac stuff I had as a teen. I put posters up on my wall and when I moved out of my parents house and took the posters down it left these dark oily stains on my walls. My parents and I never did got it completely off.
      So I would be wary of some of that stuff, especially the ones that warn of staining.
      I wouldn't want it to do to anyones doll what it did to my wall!
       
    49. I've got several different kinds of sticky tac that I use. They are either blue, yellow or white. Some of the brands I've used are Scotch Adhesive Putty and Plasti-Tak (both of which are white), that I can think of off the top of my head. Neither had an oily residue and work quite well.
       
    50. i use blu tac. i tried sticky tac before but it took some serious scrubbing to get it all off an d in the heat it went.. odd..
       
    51. Well, I've decided I'm courageous for once and tried 'my' Uhu-tac out for a few days - it works wonderfully, left no stains whatsoever, and is a lot less messier then actual eye-putty. you can easily peel it off, it doesn't smear like putty, and it doesnt stick under fingernails and anywhere else.
       
    52. I guess I should have specified that with my walls it took years to stain. Since resin is at least slightly porous I can only assume that given time it would stain as well. But over a long period of time. I just wanted to let people know because I would feel really bad if I didn't say anything and down the road people had problems from it. :oops:
       
    53. the long time thing is still my worry as well ^^; But at least the tac is *inside* the head, thus is case of evil, you cannot see it on the outside. And since I'm exchanging the eyes rather regularly I'll hopefully see when it begins to stain O.o; Though it is white tac, maybe it wouldn't get too bad. I saw the same Uhu-tac in gaudy-yellow, that might've turn out nasty.
      If I'd ever find a proper brand of non hardening, non staining, non whatever-ing clay here in germany I might start using that though :D
       
    54. On my walls at least it left an oil stain as opposed to any sort of color. It looked like a wet spot almost.
      Is Sculpey not available in Germany? If not I could send you some. :grin:
       
    55. The thing is, I have no exact idea what german clay brand would be similar to sculpey. we have something called "Fimo", comes on all kinds of colors (white too), and is oven-hardening, but it's poisonous, and from experience (I used to use it much when I was younger) it leaves oily stains in every case. Beside it has some chemical in it that holds the clay smooth... and I do not want to look into my doll's head some day to find out that the resin was made smooth (= that it melts O_o;;; )
      The other clays we have mostly dry in air, so after one day you couldn't get the eyes off anymore. Not a goos choice either, right? ~_~
      Mh... do you have a package-photo of sculpey maybe? I want to try to find something here before I bug people to send me some. But thanks for the sweet offer, I'll keep it in mind! <3 <3
       
    56. I use the white Scotch brand too. :grin:
       
    57. I was thinking ´bout the sculpey thing too?? so it won´t stain? even super sculpey? (it´s what I´ve got here now)


      There´s this forum I frequently browse through (here in Spain) where several users told me to remove the default putty from my luts girl IMMEDIATELY! (weird that they come with something harmful but anyway) ..thay also posted that many of them used both this white tack poster thing (I think the UHU one) and blue tack with no problems at all

      I must say I painted my bedroom in yelow "stucco" or "marble powder technique" which means a reeealy absorbent material. After using this yellow brand for some posters(so it would´nt stand out much if it did not come off) ...my wall looks like I fried chips on it..so no yellow goo for my lishe :grin:

      so...super sculpey? uhu tack? blue tack? just leave the default luts putty? *_*
       
    58. Well unfortunatly there is no definitive answer for that. Every one has a different preference that they seem to feel very strongly about and all you can do is listen to each opinion and make a decision from there.
      As I mentioned I had bad experiences using poster tac. So I choose not to use it. I chose Sculpey because I did tons of research in the forums here while I was saving for my dolls and the majority seemed to agree that it was the best substitue for eye putty. I would just suggest reading up on different peoples opinions in the forums here and go with whatever sounds the best to you. Just remember it is YOUR doll so only use something you feel confident about.
      And randomly... a good test for any material is to take a sheet of rice paper (or toilet tissue if you don't have any rice paper) and smoosh a hunk of whatever putty it is on it as you would if you were using it on your doll. Wait about a week and then remove it. If it leaves an oily spot or stain then that's probably what it would do to your doll.
       
    59. This is gonna sound like a really stupid question. I read somewhere that you have to put putty behind the eyeballs in order for them to stay in place.

      Is this true? If so, what kind of putty is it? And is it automatically included with your doll? I ordered a Soye doll from Domuya. She already has eyes in her head but I'm just asking in case I ever decide to change her eyes.
       
    60. hmmm wait goes to check my soye since i got mione from there

      *brb*

      back

      domuya's soye [limited edition]
      http://www.domuya.net/detail.aspx?ID=1741

      eyes are with putty... :D so if u want to change the eyes u'll have to remove it and u can either get putty or use the cheaper version called blue tack :P

      yeah my arthur's eyes came off so i used blue tack kinda cool and cheap :P