Hey all, thought I'd try my luck on DOA with some recs before I end up dropping way (more) money on glass doll eyes! I managed to get my hands on some smaller MSD sized heads (and I LOVE them) but I'm hitting a snag with the eyes. I have a preference for glass eyes, but the dolls came with acrylics - 10/4. I ordered some small (low arc too) glass eyes from Dolly Planet before which worked (16/6 for a bigger eyed doll) but they don't seem to have any 10mm eyes at all that are glass.... I also ordered some 8mm glass eyes (just in general) but the iris is 5mm, not 4mm (and that 1mm makes a HUGE difference! Plus, the gap between the eye and the eye socket is not ideal...). Dolly Planet has 12mm but the measurements are 4.5 to 5 and I'm a little wary of trying them just to have more eyes I don't use. Does anyone know where I can get smaller glass eyes? Or will I have to suck it up and stick to acrylic?
I'm sadly not very familiar with glass eyes, but I do have a question: Are you interested at all in resin or polymer clay eyes? A lot of artists will do custom sizes and colors with those materials, but I don't want to flood you with suggestions in a material you don't want.
If it's work for your search, MYou has 9mm eyes for their mature tines, and they have small irises. They vary by whose default eyes they are (like Bettina's default are purple and larger than Alan's that are grey/blue and much tinier iris size), and because they are handmade, they can have slightly smaller/larger iris even within the same pair of eyes. I got three of them for my Bettina male doll, because I am aso struggling to find small iris eyes in smaller than 10mm that are glass and not any other material. The only down side to MYou's are that the color choices are limited (I'm looking for icy-blue eyes, or pale grey), and that you might get a pair that has a very obvious smaller iris than the other. I got mine through Alice's Collections, and MYou were super-fast about my order, despite being handmade. They have low profiles so they fit really well in narrower eye shapes as well, and not only that but they are super inexpensive. I am actually thinking about asking if MYou would be willing to do some custom-made ones, because it is such a pain to find smaller glass eyes with smaller irises. Hope that helps! (: Edit to Add images: MYou Tiny irises 9mm glass eyes, the Alice's are not small iris, despite their listing suggesting otherwise and the deceitful photo they have on the listing.
I don't know what happens with me and Resin eyes, but I seem to immediately scratch them as soon as I install them. :') I didn't even know clay eyes were an option! Are they durable?
Alice has eyes but they don't have the measurements for things for the listings (as far as I saw when I last checked)
WOW this is perfect!! The Myou Alan's look perfect, and I think I can live with a 9mm eyeball... thank you so much!!
There is an Etsy shop called porcelaindollsbyme that has beautiful oval glass eyes. Most of my dolls have these eyes and they look very natural.
I'll let you know once mine finally get in - I've been waiting for two months. They're highly customizable, though, since many artists who use them can do any size of iris on any base.