I recently purchased an awake Dominic and awake Clyde from @Babies - thank you again so much! My questions are this. First, I’ve never done an awake baby. Mostly because they intimidate me, but I decided to bite the bullet anyway. One issue is that on the BB site, they list Dominics eyes as 20 mm, and Clydes as 18mm. Are these flat back? Oval? I have no clue. I paint with air dry so no baking. What is the easiest and most stress free way to insert them? I am also on the hunt for very realistic looking eyes, so any input on places to purchase would be amazing! I’d also love to see either or both of these babies that you’ve made for reference to brands or types of eyes you’ve used. Thank you so much!
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I use the acrylic round ones from BB when I need them. I usually go up a size because I don’t like the wide eyed staring look. It’s really hard to decide which to get. If you see a pair of eyes that you like in a finished doll you can ask what size they used.
Inserting them I carefully cut a slit in the bottom of the eye pocket from inside the head with an xacto knife. Be careful though it’s easy to go to far and slice through
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Yeah that’s the part that scares me Lol!
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It’s really not that hard but you just have to make sure you don’t cut into the bridge of the nose etc 
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Lol, oh thanks! That makes me feel a ton better!
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If you cut the back of the eye socket…cut an X. It closes back and keeps the eye in place. I prefer the flat back oval one size up and inserted from the front. You only have to warm the head a couple of minutes.
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Can the eye socket be warmed with a hair dryer since I don’t bake? Also, how and where do you apply glue and what kind do you use?
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Yes you can use a hairdryer to heat up the inside of the head. I use Crafters Pick glue. It adheres to the vinyl and and won’t pull away. I put it inside the head covering the entire eye socket.
I buy mine from Walmart.
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So you warm the socket, put glue in from the inside and then insert eye from the front or the inside? I did mention I had several questions 
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I buy the BB acrylic but I also like Eyeco polyglass. I usually purchase those from Dolls by Sandy.
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Not exactly. I cut the eye socket X on the inside if the head. I insert the eye from the back or the front if I use flat back oval eyes. Once eyes are where I want them I squeeze glue all over the back of the socket.
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That will keep the eyes from shifting?
Do you have any pics I can look at?
I usually put a chunk of makeup sponge in behind the eye flap, then put glue all over the back of the eye. The sponge pushes the eye towards the front of the socket, and then the glue helps hold it where you want it
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I like to use the flat back german glass eyes from Dolls By Sandie. My favorite color from them so far is “Blue”. I use the same technique as @Mommarobin for setting/positioning the eyes. 
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I have found it helpful to build up an eye stash over time. Glass eyes are the most realistic, but there are some acrylic that are pretty good on realism too. It’s good to have different sizes and shapes, flat back, full round, oval. Different kits take different eye shapes and it’s hard to know which will work best until you try them. For me I would buy a pair of eyes, realize they didn’t work so I’d end up ordering a different shape or size, and repeat that process a few times… I buy eyes from lots of different places. It’s more fun to build a kit stash over time, but from a practical standpoint it’s best to build up an eye stash and hair stash (if you root hair) first.
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Yes I root all of my babies, and I always order way hair more than I need so I have enough to root several heads with each color. I only asked advice on size so I didn’t have to order 20 pairs of eyes to get the correct ones as shipping right now is slow, and that’s only going to get worse as we get closer to the holidays. I guess I’m confused on how the manufacturers don’t know the exact eye size/shape for each kit?
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