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

I have no idea what it is, I bought it from a small shop, they usually sell only Volks, but will buy and sell used tinies as well.

The soaking seems to be working... but it looks like it will take a while.

 

What you're doing should work because some putties do dry out. You can probably pry it out w/ some tools latter and/or push it out through the eyes.
If your eyes are acrylic, you might wanna check on them after. I had a case of having some Dollmore putty drying out on me becoming hard as a rock and it ate away at the acrylic eyes. If you wanna go for an easier route for some putty, kneaded eraser works great and I've heard also the silicon putty found in earplugs works well.

Also your photo images are broken.

 

SUCCESS! The eyes are out! But there is still some putty stuck on the inside of his head.
I'll let him soak a bit more...

 

That green putty is just AWEFUL! I bought a Devlin (who later moved on to a new home, though I loved him) It took forever to get it all out...in the end I had to scrape a LOT of it off with my fingernails, then carefully with a nail file and a small needle. I've only ever seen the stuff in Devlin, too.

 

Okay, so it wasn't the previous owner. Good.
I got it out with some work, there's still a bit in there, but it's not enough to really matter.

I got his eyes back in with some putty from my other dolls, I'm so not used to putting eyes into a doll so small...

 

One of my iplehouse dolls came with this kind of hard, waxy putty. Some companies use those when shipping with eyes already put in the head.
Luckily your doll's eyes weren't glued in. o_O

 

It's been a while since someone posted here... so I hope I don't have to wait too long for a reply, so I have a quick question!

As we all know oil + resin = big no no!
So I'm a little worried about my Blue Fairy... you see Blue Fairy sells Oil based clay to old in the eyes, so of course the default eyes would be attached with said clay. Should I change the clay out for something like sticky tack?

 

Well, it's the clay's effect on the eyes that's more critical. If you have glass eyes, you have nothing to worry about. If you have acrylic eyes, you'll need to use something that isn't oil-based like ear plugs or sticky tack.

 

I have a Devlin and he came with the green wax and plastic eyes. It took forever to scrape out using my fingernails and a dental pick. I had almost forgotten. Mine had a faceup so I didn't soak him. I got new nice glass eyes for him...Hated the default eyes but I kept them just in case. I use the soft silicone earplugs for eye putty. My favorite doll so far. Glad you got the putty or glue or whatever it was out. Just a pain. Plus they used it to try to keep the head cap on so I had to get that little green blob off too.

 

Sorry to revisit the whole tacky thing again, but--Simply Tacky! is great.

I've since gotten my boy, and this stuff is working even better than I expected. I take his headcap off every now and then to check inside, and I haven't found any traces or spots of any oily residues. And it hasn't completely dried out in his head--it's gotten a tad hard, but a bit of working around in your hand and it returns to it's normal spring! Although it was initially hard get around the eyes and in place, once it's in there, it's not going anywhere!

It's holding up really really well. I would definitely recommend it if you have a Hobby Lobby store near you!

 

Another vote here for silicone earplugs!

 

I'd say blutack is the best to use in terms of cost and availability, I use it and thing bad so far

 

Bumping this thread up to ask the owners of urethane eyes, specifically Dollshe urethane eyes, which eye putty they use/would recommend? I've waded through this thread and it seems that some have had success with silicone ear plugs? At the moment I'm using the white putty that came with my Fairyland dolls but it is quite sticky and I'm worried about it eating the surface of the eyes or even clouding them? Thanks for your help!

 

I am using a grey kneaded eraser that I picked up for about a dollar at Michaels. I had one kneaded eraser laying around, and was able to use it for two pairs of Dollshe Urethane eyes with some still left over for face-ups. Be sure to stay away from Sculpey, I've read that it will eat DS Urethane eyes. I'm not sure about silicone ear plugs. I have those as well, but decided not to take the risk because Dollshe eyes are fairly expensive. A kneaded eraser is the only option I can confidently tell you is 100% safe for Dollshe Urethanes. Hope that helps ^_^

 

AmberLeigh - thank you so much for your help! I've just bought a kneaded eraser from eBay I've been worried about using the wrong putty as I love their eyes, so it's great to find something that works. Thank you!

 

Wisdom~ I use earplugs for all my dolls, and it works beautifully. No residue (as far as I can tell) and it rolls out easily.

 

I was wondering -- when you change eyes in your dolls, do you re-use the putty that's already in her head, or do you need to use new putty to hold the eyes in?

 

Hi, I'm not an expert, but I have re-used it with no ill effects. I'd re-use as long as its useful. Maybe someone else has another idea?

 

generally I reuse whatever putty was in their head if it's putty that I put there.
sometimes I'll reuse the putty from the company, but it depends on what they use; for instance dollzone uses blutak which is awful and too sticky so I always replace it.
but in general unless the putty has lost it's stick there's no reason you can't reuse it.

 

Unless its really disgusting like the putty that came in the DF and BBB/RS boys I have, I generally use whatever the company sent. My Sprite and my Wind came with this really awful stuff that I had to scrape out and it smelled gross and felt horrible so I replaced it with bright yellow poster tack. My DZ and my An have whatever the came with.

 

I am still rather confuse as what to use for eye putty as there are so many mix reviews on products, but one thing for sure I would not ever use again it's Sculpey (skintone) as it'd melted 3 pairs of my plastic eyes already. I'm still yet to try earplugs or kneaded eraser.

 

Just to summarize what I think I got from reading through this thread. Most people go along with this:

""I ADORE the silicone earplugs. Super easy clean up. I was using poster tack previously and I like the earplugs better :> ""
"If you have the soft glass/silicone eyes do NOT use the silicone ear plugs for putty!"

Although someone says that the earplugs were bad for their vinyl dolls and bad for acrylic eyes.
It was stated that silicone is not the same as oil. Oil is bad for resin. Gotta remember that. ie. NO human make-up and no oil based pastels. ~NO OIL~

I got that some people thought kneaded erasers were very sticky, and another found her kneaded eraser would not stick to anything. IS THERE A BRAND DIFFERENCE WITH THE KNEADED ERASERS?

Some think braces/dental wax works. I think that is a soft paraffin which does contain mineral oil and moves to liquid if it is in heat. BUT, I'm not sure if this applies to dental wax?

Eye putty that is a non-hardening oil based clay like Plastilina -->>will CRACK ACRYLIC eyes<--> sometimes<
Experiences with real eye putty from doll companies seems to cover a wide range of opinions. I got confused.
ANY KIND OF SCULPEY TOOK A BIG HIT IN MY OPIONION:
Please everyone, do not use any kind of Sculpey, I beg you. I'm an artist, and I have used it. It is a polymer based clay and will eat through anything. It is also oily. Please, if you are using it, change it! If you have been using it and have no damage you are extremely lucky. Also it has carcinogens that are released into the air when baking, so if it gets hot enough you will have that to worry about too. It's seriously dangerous stuff. I read about it in my Artist's Safety Guide. -- THIS IS A QUOTE FROM mustbemissa

Smaug did an experiment and gave this helpful info:
Even after a few hours the brown putty had a very visible oily stain under it. After 24 hours it's quite distinct. The silicone earplug also left an oily residue on the paper. So much for the perfect reputation. However the earplug's residue is much less visible than the putty's. And finally the sticky tac that was advertised to leave residue - no mark AT ALL. Really, nothing. It stuck to the paper really well though...

Someone said anything you use has to have some liquid and would therefore "leak" some of it's liquid over time.

I'm still pretty new with no experience to share except what I got from sorting through this thread. I think I'm going to buy some WHITE sticky tac. If I have any experience to share about it in the future I'll report in what happens with my dolls. I thought the idea of rolling the product you use into a little snake shape to wrap around the eye was a great idea. That might help with the complaints against sticky tac as far as messy removal issues, and maybe less sticky when applying? I have enough dolls I may compare for myself with some ear plugs.

 

I would really love to use sticky-tac on my girls, but I've been using it for years and one thing really worries me... Every brand of sticky-tac I've ever used has left residue after extended placement. Blue or yellow, it's literally stained everything it's touched, from walls to posters. Often, it leaves huge grayed spots on my posters when they've been up for a while. When I began taking better care of my things, I started taping the corners of my posters just so it wouldn't stain them.

... So people that are using sticky-tac... It really hasn't stained your dolls or harmed their eyes at all? What about leaving it in for months (or years) at a time?

 

I've been wondering if it would work to mix them. Use the least corrosive for the type of eye, and plenty of it. For example, kneaded eraser for silicone/soft glass eyes. Plenty of it, and THEN next to the eraser the thing with better stickiness ~ Like maybe the silicone earplugs. Some said DO NOT USE silicone ear plugs with silicone eyes...

I guess changing once in awhile is a good idea and not the hardest thing to do.

 

I use stickytac and it hasn't stained anything yet. Most of my dolls have had their eyes installed for better than a year...

 

I would just like to chime in that during my face-up commission adventures I've seen all different kinds of putty used for eyes and here are my notes on them:

sculpy or any polymer clay = VERY BAD.
I noticed that most of the putty that companies sell is in fact polymer clay!
I have had cases where the acrylic eyes were MELTED where ever the clay had touched.

As said earlier in this thread, polymer clays have oils in them to keep them from hardening, they are dangerous for dolls. It may take a year or two to notice any effects, but it's not worth the risk!

Silicone ear plugs
From pulling them out of client's heads, I've noticed a couple things.
Yes they have an oily feel to them, but not like the polymer clay.
Sometimes they are hard to clean out, I'm not sure why this is, brand perhaps?
When I tried them on my own dolls, I had a hard time getting them to stay in.
I have not noticed if they damage any eyes at all.

Sticky tac
I haven't had a client with this used, but I've tried it myself once and it seemed to work nicely.
The only thing I would be careful about is if you're using the colored kind.
Stick to white in case there's a staining issue that could possibly arise from using the blue or other colored.

Kneaded eraser
As every artist knows, they don't all work the same and it does make a difference what brand it is.
The kneaded erasers of the following brands are usually ok unless they have changed their formula without my knowing.
-Prismacolor
-Generals
-Design, not sure on this one, haven't tested them in a little while.
I think it was a Roseart one I last tried for drawing work and it was AWFUL. The higher priced brand names aren't that much of a price jump from the cheap erasers. The nice ones stretch easier. It will also become more sticky the more you play around with it.
I use kneaded erasers for my own dolls and haven't had an issue with any eye type.

 

I see alot of people liking the silcon earplugs. I bought 3 packs based on this but after purchasing them left them in a box for 6 months. When I took it out to use it had left a huge oily stain on the enclosed leaflet. After seeing that there was no way that was going in my dolls.

I haven't had any problem with the blue tac that most companies put in their dolls.

The only problem I have had is a whitish grey eye putty that was in my AOD Sara when I bought her. I changed her original eyes and put in Soom silicon eyes. I recently wondered why she didn't look like her original photos that I took. I had a closer look at the eyes and the putty had yellowed them. That stuff went straight in the bin. Horribly sticky stuff and ruined a pair of eyes - not happy.

 

whitewolf- From what I just heard about the combination of silicone ear plugs and silicone eyes, it's a REALLY good thing that you didn't use those in your dolls. A friend here informed me yesterday that a chemical reaction can take place between the silicone eyes and ear plugs that results in a weird fusing of the two, completely ruining the eyes in the process. She said that the eye manufacturers had no idea people were doing this, and recommended strongly against it. From the sound of things, I think white poster tac is going to be the best bet.

Also, does anyone know which kind of substance Leekeworld sells as eye putty? I got some from DDE last November but noticed that it's very dry.

 

I will only use Mack silicone ear plugs in my dolls the clear kind and only use glass eyes in my dolls, I have used plummers putty in the past and some swear by it but I find it gets gooey after a year or so. an I have used commerical brand eye putty from Volks, etc which tend to harden and get crumbly after awhile. however Mack have proven time and time again to be reliable and the best of the best I have found anyway. I have some dolls that they have been in years on and when I want to change eyes I just scoop out the putty they dont dry out an get hard like some do.. I just a small string puller w handle to just scoop out the excess if some sticks in there.

 

What is the best putty you've used for eyes? Do you prefer different puttys for different eyes like acrylic, silicone, glass, etc.?

 

Certain putties, like Sculpy, can melt acrylic eyes, though I had Sculpy around my boy's acrylic eyes for about two years and they were fine. Personally, I used to use blu-tack, but sometimes it can show around the eye and look very odd. So now I use white-tack, but I like Sculpy when I can get it for my glass eyes. It smells nice! And it's all squishy.

 

I prefer the green sticky tack some companies send along. I use it for all eye types. It doesn't smear, is easy to get off yet still keeps the eyes where I want them. It also doesn't stain my silicone eyes.

 

Question! Has anyone tried the kneadable erasers from Faber-Castell?

 

I just use a kneaded eraser. It's not too hard to find, and pretty easy to take out. For heavy eyes, I have some white eye putty I received from Fairyland, but in Florida temperatures (80-100*F), it gets sticky and a pain to remove completely.

 

If i dont have any putty or dont want to bother with it i just use masking tape :3 takes a little fiddling but stays where i want it and its not messy

 

For me white sticky tac works great!

 

I used the kneadable erasers from Faber-Castell all the time when it comes to eye putty. So yes, this is workable. :>

 

Yay thank you~! No staining no matter the colour?

 

I'm mostly a lurker around here, but I had to chime in on this thread as I was intending to do a bit of customization on one of my boys today and found he had a nasty oily residue pouring out of his head when I pulled him off the shelf. Cue me thinking, what the heck? because my dolls are up on shelves high out of the way and the most grime they get on them is dust.

When I popped his head open - bam, oily residue EVERYWHERE in his head, and it had managed to pour out of it and onto his neck and shoulders, too. No damage to him, but had the oily stuff gotten on his faceup it might have been bad.

I used white sticky tac to put his eyes in about two years ago - that's what was leaking. Literally all of my other dolls have grey kneaded eraser keeping their eyes in. No problems with them at all, just him.

I do live in a very, very warm condo, so that might have something to do with it. Just wanted to add my word of caution when using white sticky tac (mine was UHU brand, in the yellow package) on your dollies. I cleaned my boy up with some dish detergent and water, and it seems to have come off, but still, yuck :<

 

Macks silicone ear plugs!!! I will never use any other crappy eye putty again. It's easy to use, you get a lot for what you pay for it. It rolls in and out easily and keeeps the eyes in place. It's .99 at drug stores or on safrindoll.com.

 

Aleene's acid free craft tack, is the best to hold eyes in place, it doesn't stain the resin and it's reusable, they sell it at michael's, joanns and hancock fabrics. it's white and it comes in small cubes that are the right amount for each eye. it's also very easy to remove. i love it!

 

Just about everything that can be said about eye putty has been said more than once in this thread already, so I'm going to close it. If there are any major advancements in eye putty technology, feel free to start a new thread!

 

So I've just received a doll with silicone eyes. And this time I want to keep them in the doll. But I know from experience that using my standard putty of 'poster buddies' (the EU equivalent of blue tack) seriously doesn't work for silicone eyes. The silicone seems to suck the pliability out of the putty, turning them brittle and non sticky over time and the eyes just drop out of the sockets.

Does anybody have longer experience with a putty that will work with silicone eyes?

Would using silicone kneed-able earplugs work? The poster buddies I used didn't harm the silicone eyes but a silicone putty might pass on its color onto the eyes, and I certainly don't want that! They might also eat into the eyes, because they are both silicone based. Does anybody know?

 

Hm, I wouldn't use the silicone ear plugs. I have clear ones so color isn't an issue but, at least in my experience, they tend to go sticky and want to adhere to the eye. I use glass eyes, so I've always been able to scrape any residual ear plug off, but it being a silicone eye...I'd worry that they would meld together. :/

I only own one pair of silicone eyes, which came from Soom. They sent a white putty that is very soft with them. I've just been using that with those eyes since I'd assume they would know. ^.^"

 

Silicone ear-plug works just fine, i use it for my eyeco, i mostly have eyeco silicone eyes and i never had problems, sure as Lady Ravenswood mentioned silicone eyes tend to stay sticky after a while but wash them with a bit of soap will turn eyes clean and smooth

 

I use kneaded erasers for all my eyes and it works really well with silicon eyes. I have read somewhere that silicon will
react and eat away at silicon, so I always avoid using any type of the same material to hold silicon eyes just to be safe.
I believe Masterpiece (or maybe Eyeco?) had stated that silicon will stain/damage their eyes, but I can't recall where
that was written (it was posted somewhere here in the forum, if I'm not mistaken). I keep my dolls in my closet for long
periods of time with their eyes in and never had any issues with kneaded erasers (it's all I've used since I got into this hobby).
I own both Masterpiece and Eyeco silicon eyes, never had a problem or reaction using kneaded erasers with either.
I hope it helps a little, & good luck! (:


- Enzyme

 

I've been using mack's silicon ear plugs as eye putty on my dolls for a few years now. And I was wondering, is it actually safe over time on resin?

I love the stuff, even though sometimes I notice the eyes will start to shift and I have to fix it and I'm planning on buying more, but im hesitant now.

Im asking because I was doing an eye change and I sat a ball of it down on a decorative paper photobox, which I keep some dolly items in. It left a saturated greasy mark on the paper.

Over time is it doing the same to my resin dolls eye wells?

 

MadamMauMau has created a WICKED eye reference thread here: http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?581494-Realistic-eyes-101&highlight=realistic+eye

It does briefly cover silicone eye putty, but if you're feeling unsafe about it in general, I've used the UHU white tac from our local dollar store for years without any oily residue or damage.