Realistic eyes 101

thanks a lot for the tutorial! Actually I am having trouble finding realistic eyes for my dami half closed eyes, I want a 12mm but all I find have a small base and they look weird because the eye sockets are larger than the eyes...

 

How very kind of you to share all this eye-info. It's so complete and very well organized (so you bet I learned a lot), it's obvious you invested a lot of time and effort in this thread. Thank you so much.

 

I'd just like to add that I've definitely had silicone plugs damage silicone eyes. Very suddenly all my eyes developed cloudy spots on them that couldn't be cleaned or wiped off, a mystery until I remembered that I had just switched from kneaded erasers to silicone plugs.

 

Thanks so much for this guide!

Now I have a question for anyone who can help- if I was perhaps interested in ordering from a German-speaking site and wanted them to add a paperweight, could I use the term "paperweight?" Or do the Germans have their own term for it (not going to assume that simply putting "paperweight" in google translate will get me the term they actually use haha)

 

Wonderful, thank you!

 

Thank you for this thread it has been super helpful! I want my dolls to look as realistic as possible to this was great!!! I didn't realize how pricey eyes could get, but those are so worth the cost!!

 

Thank you so much, that was really helpful. i was a little lost because I purchased a custom head and couldn't decide which eyes I should get. Your tutorial helped me a lot

 

Here the results of my practical application of this post^^

I ordered eyes from Eichorn-Nelson, they are good quality and look beautyfull, thou I have yet to find the right shade of green. Perhaps I should custom order the color too... (I spoke with him, and he said any colors are posible, just send him picture references)

The first pair for my Dim MNM Tom hiddleston were 14mm with 5.6mm iris and 1.4mm pupil (with vains)
Colour gray-green (me thinks, I lost the order email....-.-')
They had a slight gaping, and were to dark/iris a tiny touch to big for my taste.
In the pic below, my Luts Winter Event head is wearing them. Iris and pupil are good, but the gaping is monumental (normal when the eye whole is 14mm big, by the way the eyewells are enourmouse) I'll be trying them on to other dolls too.



Here in a DollFamilyH-Rain, Eyewhole 12mmZhou just got himselve new eyes, ^^.




The second order arrived today, 16mm eyes, 5.5mm iris, 1.4mm pupil, with paperwaith dome and vains in green-gray (11-18). (this colour differs wildly from the one pictured at his page.)
Without taking into consideration the colour, I'm very satisfied with the result.
Model: Dim MNM tom Hiddleston



*Close ups are so horrid for your face up skill ego.......*

Just a note on the side, Eichhorn-Nelson round eyes are hollow inside, but sturdy.

 

Just thought I'd supply the link the Mystic Eyes, which just yesterday released a new line of "Real Human Pattern" eyes. I usually order my eyes with custom-sized irises - going one or two sizes down, depending on the doll (i.e. 14mm eyes with 6 mm irises that would normally go on a 12mm eye), but since he makes eyes as small as 6mm you can scale the iris down all the way to 3 mm if you want. And if you send him detailed mock-ups you'll get stunning custom results in the end.

Expensive, yes, but IMO definitely worth it.

 

I still have to practice taking pics, one of the things I don't like of this eyes, is that they look far to dark, if not black, in all my pictures.....
I hope this helps.
The 14 mm I ordered first are colour code 05-18, colour gray green. Seems I added paperwaith then too (sorry would be easyer if I still had the order around......) (Order: iris 5.6mm, pupil 1.4mm---- recived: Iris 6.5, pupil 2mm (I forgot to meassure them on arival... -.-')
The 16 mm I ordered second are the colour code 11-18, colour green gray. There is a difference. This time I know I added paprewaith, but they look flater than the ones before. (Order: iris 5.5mm, pupil1.4mm---recived: Iris 6.5mm, pupil 2mm)
They were ordered for a doll with 13mm Eyes, and because the 14mm gapes, I went up to 16mm, wich fit the sockets perfectly.
The Luts doll was more of a personal experiment 14mm eyes in 14mm eye opening.....
The DollFamilyH has 12mm eyes, the 14mm are a bit to big for the sockets, but fit the eye very well.

Edit: sorry forgot to add: Paperwaith no additional cost.
And here to the pictures out of doll.







Madame, did you ask for paperwaith on those eyes or are they their standart?
Im thinking of ordiring a pair from there, because their light green may be the better option with my little colour dilema. But I'm not convinced with hteir natural iris structure....(don't like it that they have so little pics, that don't open/grow on top of it. And they overprice on shipping ,going with their price listing) I'll be searching for owner pics in the forum.

 

Just wanted to add that for Mystics, you can order the real human pattern eyes with the limited colours, which means you can get them with more than one colour (My favourite is Limited #2, which is a very beautiful hazel colour).

Additionally you can go totally nuts with the custom eyes. I've got a pair in the current pre-order that isn't just custom colours (4 of them) but, it's also hopefully going to be able to "red eye" the camera under appropriate lighting conditions (we worked out that maybe we could use reflective material that would be relatively dark in the shadows, but when lit up directly will flash colour). So he's very willing to try all kinds of crazy stuff. Costs extra, of course, but eyes are really important to me so I don't mind the expense. (Ironically, I actually mostly order custom eyes that are most definitely meant to be unnatural, but I figure it can go both ways ^^ )

 

Before I order anything else, I will wait to see how your iceblue eyes look in a doll Madame (Madame or better Maus?).
Still have to wait to after the convention next month to be able to order anyway^^.

I was thinking, if we know that the iris is allways going to be 0,5-1 mm bigger than what we order, we could just order a smaller one and would hopefully get the size we need. At least Eichorn-Nelson has eyes as tiny as 3mm, he should be able to do very smal irises, if asked to.

The future will tell^^.

 

I ordered some eye putty from ebay two weeks ago, I think. They were horrible. They didn't stick well to the resin unless I put large chunks in it which sucks cos I bought a small one and was gonna use it on my bf's doll too. Oh well, you live and learn.

Thanks for this! VERY HELPFUL

 

Wow, thank you for the links! I am always looking for eyes and I'm so picky with them, love seeing some that look better than just 'doll eyes'.

 

Well after reading this, I decided to changed the putty, because I was using Luts+acrylic. Unfortunantly, the putty had already severely cracked the outer covering of the eyes. I was using Almost Real Acrylic Eyes from DDE (experimenting). I'm keeping them in while I buy new ones. Guess I'm just one of the unlucky few...

 

I'd love to see some pictures of the custom glass eyes in a doll! (BTW, your Saint picture on the other page is broken.)

I've had consistent good luck with unbaked Sculpey as an eye putty, with *one* exception -- I had a pair of glow-in-the-dark Ersa Flora acrylic eyes, and they melted into stringy plastic goo where they'd been in contact with it.

Never had a problem with glass, acrylic, or urethane eyes, other than that one -- but that was a doozy! I only have a couple of pairs of silicone eyes (and the pair that's in a doll has been sitting in a drawer for a number of years now . . . er, should get that floating head out, one of these days!), so that may have to do with my success. (FWIW, I've been using the same large package of Sculpey since I first started collecting, and I still have plenty left!)

I find kneaded erasers not to stick well to resin, and Blu-Tac prefers my fingers to both the eyes and the resin, so I'm sticking with Sculpey -- but fair warning for users of acrylic eyes.

-- A

 

Why do you think you have that problem with ordering? Is it because it is costum made..?

 

I'm wondering if you could send them pantone chip IDs for the acceptable range of blues (or any other colors) your after. at least that way when they make them they'd know if they were even close or not?

 

Ah yeah I suppose the nature of glass is the root of the problem.
It was worth a shot suggesting though!

 

Thanks for the pictures, Maus.
Your Akando looks great with both sets, but I know how frustrating it is not getting the color you wanted.
I'm not going to try my luck with the Thomas' in light colors again, not worth the headache.
I'm wishing for a way lighter color for my Lokis eyes, that the one I have at the moment. Beautyful yes, realistic, yes, but oh so dark, it looks nearly black on my camara...(not in person, but on the camara, not even getting good results in raw, and with editing.....) Arrrrrrrgh.
Lets see what I can find elsewhere when I'm back home again^^

 

Oh my, He's gorgeous with either, But I do favor the lighter ones, and if they were as light and "ice" blue as the promo it would be even better. I see why you want them as close as possible to that color pallet

 

Both sets of eyes look really good (the darker ones change his expression and bring more attention to the eye area), but I can definitely see what you're saying about them being nowhere near the color of the promo pic, or the color you were trying to achieve.

Damn, that's a shame -- I'd been considering going with them, but if the color is that unreliable (and I'd have shipping to the US to consider -- I *hate* having to mail back international returns), I have a feeling that I'd wind up unhappy.

You'd think their own QC would pick up that it doesn't even remotely match the advertised color, rather than shipping it out to you and waiting to see if you complain :/

Seriously contemplating Mystics, but their order page isn't terribly user-friendly, so I'm thoroughly "meh" about it until I can muster up the energy to figure out how to order the custom iris size.

-- A

 

Ashbet, send them an e-mail. I've been in touch with them about doing a custom pair of eyes from the Real Human Pattern Series. They do allow more than one color in that series (I asked about getting a different rim color) and custom iris sizes as well. I've been waiting until after my Yur arrived to order from them, but since she arrived two weeks before my wedding, I'm waiting to see how much money I will have left before I submit my order. When I do though, I'll keep you all updated.

 

This is very interesting! I am working on creating my own eyes at the moment and now I know how to size the pupil accordingly.

 

Since I bought a second-hand head with a real mess of old eye putty inside, I've started giving the inside of my heads a quick spray of MSC. In the Virginia climate, which can go from bone-dry to subtropical humidity in a day, I figure I can't be too careful. The matte MSC doesn't seem to improve or impede the adhesion of my white tack. I have a couple pairs of Eyeco silicone 'soft glass' eyes, and using the 13 mm where most people would use 14 mm gives me the look I'm after. So far, no signs of the eye tack sticking to the eyes, but now I'll check them periodically.

Also, I put a layer of gloss acrylic spray over acrylic eyes. Its makes the eyes look moister and of course more reflective. If you use a good grade of acrylic spray I suppose it would make the eyes more scratch-resistant, too.

 

Subscribing. Thank you!

MadameMauMau, I want to get a pair of ice blue eyes too but I'd like to have a slightly darker rim around the iris. And enough white around the iris to give them a realistic look. This thread is very helpful.

 

Recently in my never-ending search for doll eyes, I stumbled across these. The pattern itself isn't very realistic, but the color was close enough to what I was looking for. Plus, they're pretty cheap. After consulting the seller (12mm eyes have a 5mm iris, 14mm 5.6) I bought two pairs so I could see what would look better in my Rex as a short-term solution until I can save up for the urethane eyes I am wanting to order for him.

Here's how the 12mm look. I can't decide if they're slightly too small or not, but I definitely have to say that I'm pleased with them - I checked how they fit in his eye compared to my husband's eyes and they seem pretty spot on. They also sit very nicely in his eye-wells, with only a slight amount of gaping in his left eye when turned at certain angles. I can get more pictures if anyone is interested, and I can try to get some with the 14s in as well. What do you guys think?

Leskow by drderange, on Flickr

 

This is awesome! Especially for a noob like me, Thank you for sharing!!

 

I honestly did not know the differences in the kinds of doll eyes at all. Thanks for all the info!

 

i have this ridiculously easy way of making custom eyes that i feel like everyone should know about. there's a seller on etsy who makes amazing irises. her store is Snow Bars. you can either pic from the massive selection she has on Etsy or you can literally send her a random googled picture of an eye color you like and she will make them for you. i came by her quiet accidentally... I ordered several pairs of eyes for my posable BJD companion animals as i wanted to try using glass eyes in them. they were all 10 mm but she sent me a pair of blue 5mm irises as a gift and i thought what the heck, lets make a bjd eye and it worked...really well actually.
any way....basically, i send her pictures of the eyes i like, she renders them into full circles for the irises and sends me pictures of what she's going to print, then once i confirm she starts to make the eyes. i ordered mine in 5 mm but she does 4mm...maybe even 3 to 3.5 if you ask her. i haven't. she will do a pair with two different colors (heterochromatic eye), she will change the pupil shape if you like to be a slit, a circle or whatever else.
once i get the irises, i just make two white polymer clay domes to match my dolls' sockets, then push the iris gently in to them and bake on look head for about 10 mins. if you're worried about the color changing in the oven, you can push in the irises till they leave an indent in the clay, they take them out, bake, and stick back in. here's what Heathcliff (my dollshe David) looks like with the blue eyes she sent me. i haven't had a chance to paint the whites properly yet, but it gives you an idea! I've ordered another 5 pairs <.< so excited!!!!!! this process is so easy, that if i were to make a tutorial it would be at most 3 pictures long <.< and i could probably do it in one.

bellow you can see Heathcliff with the eyes i made for him (using my older technique) in the first picture, and bellow that, with the irises i buy form Snow Bar. she is great!!!

 

i should think any self hardening clay is as good as polymer clay. in fact, it is probably best to use a self hardening epoxy to avoid any heat damage. you already know my trade....polymer clay is quite essential to my work so it's the one thing i'm always bound to have in my workshop. asked about 3 mm. bellow is her response to me.

"I don't have small glasses. even 4 mm very difficult to do. 3 mm is not yet possible for me. maybe I'll try it."
so perhaps pursue it with her and see. I'll tell you this though...the blue eyes are actually 5 mm...and i could have sworn they were 4 mm. so either i'm a bad artist or the high dome of those irises make them look a good mm smaller.
i specially like her's because the printing quality is great there is really no visible pixels unless you zoom in more then you really aught to anyway.

i thought i'd attach an example of what i mean regarding custom colors. the 1st picture is what i sent her. underneath it you can see her rendition into a full circle (bottom row second from the right). and these will all be 5mm.....except for the slit eyes in the corner. those aren't mine.

 

bahhahah!! <.< i have no idea :P i thought i was dealing with a woman all along! this hobby has destroyed my gender recognition ability! i think maybe it's a Husband and wife team? <.< i'm looking through my conversations with her from way back and i referred to the seller as Buba! dear God i hope i had a good reason O____O i must have seen it somewhere on her profile or something <.< is Buba a guy's or a girl's name!? according to google it's slang for Old lady in Russia!!!!!!!!! and another source says it's an affectionate nickname given to the eldest brother? X___X Russians!! i need help!!! >___<

 

oh man!!! that would be a nightmare! HAHHA!!!! i'm such a goof X__X lets hope it's the husband's nickname and i didn't just pull it out of my arse :/ !

 

Thanks for doing the review!

 

Wow, I'm so very glad you have shared all this information as the bjd I have on the way has reddish eyes, which I'm not so keen on really. I'm relatively new here to all this. Now i feel more confidant after reading all this. You saved me a lot a trial and error? Thanks so much!!

 

Thanks for your recommendations! I am not going for hyperrealism, but I still wanted my dolls to look more realistic than not. According to the formula, the 13 mm Eyecos I got my boy are 2 mm too big, but I like the look and it is more realistic than what I would have gotten without your help. Now I am waiting for my girl's custom DreamingTree eyes to arrive. I didn't see any iris measurements, so I hope the AD2s I ordered turn out all right. I would have gotten my boys there to, but a) no measurements b) I couldn't find the exact hazel I wanted and c) I was impatient and Safrin Doll had the eyes I wanted in stock.

Mine:

IMG_20160906_102200[1] — Postimage.org

The Migidoll website:
Dream is now here..... Migidoll...

So far, kneaded eraser has worked out alright. It doesn't stick to the eyes, but it does to the resin, which works for me. I don't want to get residue all over them. You have to knead quite a bit though.

 

Really helpful tutorial!
I like realistic eyes with small/normal pupil, and you show very interesting options.
I will have to choose calmly.

 

Has anyone tried custom ordering from captured in glass?

 

Very useful thank you! I opened a thread about a type of eyes I m searching... I hope to find what Im looking for... to find the eyes looking Im searching it s hard!
I m also not good in math and Im not sure I understood well how to calculate the right dimensions of iris , sclera and pupil. ><