Thinking about something, can I pick your brains?

I’m thinking about making eyes- soft glass possibly. They can look very realistic, plus have some give so they can fit in weird sockets. I know lots of people are happy with acrylic eyes, but I’m not. To me, the eyes make or break the doll.

I’m painting another Saskia, which is how this even came up. Her eyes are driving me insane. Went looking for glass eyes and the colors I like are out of stock in 20mm like everywhere. Nice German glass eyes are super expensive. Is it me or have the prices gone up? Went to a couple of soft glass eye sites and still didn’t 100% find what I wanted.

Anyway, all of the above made me think about this. Like anything else like, this will involve a good chunk of investment, which means that I’d need to sell some to make my $$ back. That being said, what do you think? Good idea, bad, waste of time? I’d really like to hear your honest thoughts on this.

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Good idea- do it! I’ve thought about making eyes as well, but too many things on my plate. I looked into resin- but after researching I worry that it would yellow over time. Have you looked into the process of creating soft glass eyes?

I think that if you got the technique down and were able to make enough, the investment would pay for itself. That is what happened for me with my mohair. This is a niche market, and a very supportive one at that – that people are always buying supplies for. I’ll buy some from you :blush:

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Oh- one piece of advice for you to consider. As you start playing with it, even if you haven’t decided to actually make it a business, keep all your receipts! I started out with mohair just for fun, and now that it has become a real business I have to go back and gather all of that info so I can make a case to the tax man. Hoping not to have to pay in this year since I probably only broke even (if that) after investment. But alas…My recordkeeping has not been up to par…

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Funny that you were the first who replied, @Rainbowbabies. You crossed my mind right after I posted this. :slight_smile:

I have been looking into it for a while because I think I see a hole in the market. Well made, realistic soft glass eyes would solve many problems, including the one I’m having with Saskia at the moment!

Maybe you are right. I should just pull the trigger and get the supplies as I’m reasonably sure that I will be able to produce a solid product… I have such a habit of analyzing and reanalyzing everything!

Thanks for your input. You are also on my list to buy from… I’ll be needing dark hair soon and wanted to give it a try. :blush:

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I have never heard of soft glass eyes but would love to try some. I would buy from you.

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Someone on this form makes their own eyes but I can not for the life of me remember who it is, lol! Hopefully they will chime in. But I think that is a great idea. I thought about if too but did not find enough info fast enough.

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Yes, there’s definitely a hole in the market! Good ole’ supply and demand will work in your favor :wink:

I hope to process more hair soon, but not sure what the next week or two will look like. I’ll post on the forum when I have some ready :goat:

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Really good soft eyes would be great. I used some of those that EYECO makes and they were so easy to fit. BUT I found that those I put into one of our fairies went all weird cloudy after only a year or so.

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Sounds like a great idea. Ive only been reborning for less than a year and Ive already had issues with eyes. I also tried to buy the full price (out of the lower priced ones), flat back, glass eyes on Puppen Truamland today and it would have cost me 30 euro…the shipping is 11 so not worth it unless I buy a lot of things like when I buy all my filling materials. I live in France btw and shipping is still quite high. I see that France Secrist sells them as well so I may get them there because I have a Saskia on the way.

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It would be nice to have our own supplier!

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That’s good to know, @ludmila. I will certainly incorporate that into my research. Those are the type of eyes that I’m talking about… The equipment to produce them would be expensive, but I am willing to make the investment in supplies and whatever training is necessary to make a superior product… Hopefully I can figure out how to do it in a cost effective way.

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Right, @AnnieSokay!! All of the alternative doll makers may be especially happy. Since I’d be making them by hand, purple eyes with green iris shouldn’t be a problem. :joy:

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For sure! I get so frustrated looking for alternative eyes.

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If you decide to take on this venture i would buy eyes off of you!! I really like the soft glass eyes from Eyeco but they dont have the color i really want. I also would love eyes that have the bluish sclara (whites of the eyes) i also like the color part of the eyes to fill most of the eye so that once in place only a small amount of the sclara is showing

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You can go to the Eyeco website…they have soft glass eyes and they are lovely and not too expensive but they dont have the color that really want.

Last time I used soft glass eyes they were a dust magnet, and I had to wash them with a q-tip any time I wanted to cuddle or photograph her.

That is pretty much the only thing I don’t like about them.
Have you found that to be the case also?

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Definitely, @Emmy! I have a plan for that… I think. Have to finish up these customs and experiment. :grin:

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Sounds interesting! I never thought of a soft glass eye. I would love to try your product. Go for it. Seems you already have customers.

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Thank you to everyone who replied here. You all have given me the confidence that I needed to move forward with additional research. I feel better about investing all of this $$$$$$ into equipment and supplies. :smile:

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Good luck you should go for it !