Purging Eyes
So if you're into BJDs you probably already know that more than one doll means eyes coming out your ears! Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but not totally. See, each doll comes with eyes, no matter where you get it from. In fact, I've only had one doll come without eyes in all my time of buying BJDs.
In most cases a BJD owner will want to change the eyes the doll came with. No matter what eyes they came with, those eyes will probably not be what was envisioned for the doll, so the eyes have to be switched out for what was envisioned. In the case of some dolls, that takes one try. In the case of a doll like my Xavier, it takes multiple tries.
Xavier came with brown eyes already installed. The problem was his character didn't call for brown eyes, and they were a little on the small side so I dug through my ever-expanding stash and found something else temporarily.
Of all the eyes I had to try these strange yellow ones looked best, and so he wore them for a time.
Then I got him the ones I really wanted: Candy Kitten's Emporium Moonrise Kingdom. The color of these from her photos looked like the hues of underwater rock formations. They truly depicted the ocean floor. I loved them in her photos, but on Xavier they looked extremely flat. They had no depth, no dimension, and I'm still not sure they were in straight. They had to go.
Since I was searching for eyes for some other dolls, I decided to see if the company I was buying from had anything that might suit Xavier better. I ordered some that looked like a shimmery, sandy gray.
These look much better on him than the last pair. I hope I like them enough to keep them. So far it seems to be a yes.
I wonder if maybe Candy Kitten's eyes look better in female dolls? All her dolls on her store appear to be female, and the eyes my sister bought look great in Cheyenne. Then again, it could also be the color I got. I don't know, I just know they turned out to be not my cup of tea. Bummer.
Then there was Thomas. When I got him he came with plain brown eyes. Later I decided to get a sapphire blue for his mom and thought they'd look nice in him as well. After all, he's the most like her, but the blue eyes didn't really suit him. He's got a far too wide-eyed appearance and the blue made it look even bigger. The brightness of the blue caused him to appear sort of like a deer in the headlights...
So I recently decided to switch his eyes back to brown.
I think he photographs nicer in the brown than the blue, and they suit him better. Sure he doesn't match his mom now, but that's okay. None of the other kids look exactly like their parents either.
Another doll with eye issues was Blaine. He came with brown eyes that were too small because he has such elongated eye holes. I switched them out for some really pale blue ones that practically disappeared in his light skin tone, but otherwise didn't look that bad...
However, in order for him to be "right" he had to have very dark brown eyes, and on this particular doll they would need to have whites big enough to fill the holes and not leave gaps. I thought this would mean getting a bigger size with a small iris, but there weren't any of those in the right color. Then I stumbled across a set that were the right color, right size, but with an oval shape.
I took a chance and bought them. They fit great, and they look really good in him, for which I am very grateful.
With the purchase of every new doll, I go on a hunt for the perfect pair of eyes. The doll's eyes are the window to the doll's soul and I prefer really nice window dressing, so I hunt for reasonably priced eyes that will fit the exact look I'm wanting. It's a tedious chore, and in some cases it's harder than others. Like in the case of my new Doll Chateau Lillian Unicorn.
She came with what my sister terms "soul-sucking" black eyes. They are literally just black, with the tiniest hint of bright teal eye putty popping out around the edges. Ew! So I need to find her proper eyes, but what will fit? DC says 14mm, which is laughable after you see this doll in real life. No way on earth are 14s fitting in that itty-bitty head. So what? 12s? 10s? I read somewhere else 10s were a good size, but I want to be sure and not buy two sets of the same eyes in different sizes. (Word to the wise, buy flat backed eyes for a doll this size, I learned that the hard way.)
The trouble with this unicorn is she is literally all strung together. Even her horn is strung on through her head. So that means you have to do a touch of un-stringing to get her head off. Yeah... Not looking forward to that, but it's got to be done, so sometime this weekend, it's on the list.
There are a few dolls I have gotten that I haven't changed out the eyes on. Brick, for one.
His eyes were a big draw for me. Well, those, and his handsome face. When I saw him on eBay I knew I wanted him, and his eyes were a part of that. Getting another Limhwa Mono wouldn't have been the same because he wouldn't have had those eyes.
Simon also got to keep his original electric blue eyes. Somehow they just go with his personality and "unique" face-up.
Like my new unicorn, Horace is another doll who still has original eyes that I question. They're not bad eyes, they're just really, really bright. Almost too bright for him.
I keep considering maybe a murky olive green might suit him better.
Okay, saying it out loud made me think maybe I could give it a try in Microsoft Paint. I did this once before with Thomas, so trying it with Horace was no big deal. I just took a color like what I want for him and brushed it over his current eyes in the photo with the watercolor setting. I kind of like the green ones better. Hmm, I might have to think about that. Sigh...
But while I was considering buying new eyes, I decided it was time to consider getting rid of old eyes. For every doll whose eyes get swapped out there is a leftover pair. Sometimes a swap doesn't work out and another pair gets ordered, in which case there's then two leftover pairs. It's become a vicious cycle, so I purged out the eyes I didn't want. I kept less than five pairs and I've listed all the rest up for sale.
So if you're considering new eyes for a new doll, and you might be looking for some nice eyes for cheap, pop on over and give my listing a glance. Who knows what you might find?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/202183954752?var=&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649
In any case, I wish you all the luck in the world with the never-ending eye battle.
~SilverStar-Burst
In most cases a BJD owner will want to change the eyes the doll came with. No matter what eyes they came with, those eyes will probably not be what was envisioned for the doll, so the eyes have to be switched out for what was envisioned. In the case of some dolls, that takes one try. In the case of a doll like my Xavier, it takes multiple tries.
Xavier came with brown eyes already installed. The problem was his character didn't call for brown eyes, and they were a little on the small side so I dug through my ever-expanding stash and found something else temporarily.
Of all the eyes I had to try these strange yellow ones looked best, and so he wore them for a time.
Then I got him the ones I really wanted: Candy Kitten's Emporium Moonrise Kingdom. The color of these from her photos looked like the hues of underwater rock formations. They truly depicted the ocean floor. I loved them in her photos, but on Xavier they looked extremely flat. They had no depth, no dimension, and I'm still not sure they were in straight. They had to go.
Since I was searching for eyes for some other dolls, I decided to see if the company I was buying from had anything that might suit Xavier better. I ordered some that looked like a shimmery, sandy gray.
These look much better on him than the last pair. I hope I like them enough to keep them. So far it seems to be a yes.
I wonder if maybe Candy Kitten's eyes look better in female dolls? All her dolls on her store appear to be female, and the eyes my sister bought look great in Cheyenne. Then again, it could also be the color I got. I don't know, I just know they turned out to be not my cup of tea. Bummer.
Then there was Thomas. When I got him he came with plain brown eyes. Later I decided to get a sapphire blue for his mom and thought they'd look nice in him as well. After all, he's the most like her, but the blue eyes didn't really suit him. He's got a far too wide-eyed appearance and the blue made it look even bigger. The brightness of the blue caused him to appear sort of like a deer in the headlights...
So I recently decided to switch his eyes back to brown.
I think he photographs nicer in the brown than the blue, and they suit him better. Sure he doesn't match his mom now, but that's okay. None of the other kids look exactly like their parents either.
Another doll with eye issues was Blaine. He came with brown eyes that were too small because he has such elongated eye holes. I switched them out for some really pale blue ones that practically disappeared in his light skin tone, but otherwise didn't look that bad...
However, in order for him to be "right" he had to have very dark brown eyes, and on this particular doll they would need to have whites big enough to fill the holes and not leave gaps. I thought this would mean getting a bigger size with a small iris, but there weren't any of those in the right color. Then I stumbled across a set that were the right color, right size, but with an oval shape.
I took a chance and bought them. They fit great, and they look really good in him, for which I am very grateful.
With the purchase of every new doll, I go on a hunt for the perfect pair of eyes. The doll's eyes are the window to the doll's soul and I prefer really nice window dressing, so I hunt for reasonably priced eyes that will fit the exact look I'm wanting. It's a tedious chore, and in some cases it's harder than others. Like in the case of my new Doll Chateau Lillian Unicorn.
She came with what my sister terms "soul-sucking" black eyes. They are literally just black, with the tiniest hint of bright teal eye putty popping out around the edges. Ew! So I need to find her proper eyes, but what will fit? DC says 14mm, which is laughable after you see this doll in real life. No way on earth are 14s fitting in that itty-bitty head. So what? 12s? 10s? I read somewhere else 10s were a good size, but I want to be sure and not buy two sets of the same eyes in different sizes. (Word to the wise, buy flat backed eyes for a doll this size, I learned that the hard way.)
The trouble with this unicorn is she is literally all strung together. Even her horn is strung on through her head. So that means you have to do a touch of un-stringing to get her head off. Yeah... Not looking forward to that, but it's got to be done, so sometime this weekend, it's on the list.
There are a few dolls I have gotten that I haven't changed out the eyes on. Brick, for one.
His eyes were a big draw for me. Well, those, and his handsome face. When I saw him on eBay I knew I wanted him, and his eyes were a part of that. Getting another Limhwa Mono wouldn't have been the same because he wouldn't have had those eyes.
Simon also got to keep his original electric blue eyes. Somehow they just go with his personality and "unique" face-up.
Like my new unicorn, Horace is another doll who still has original eyes that I question. They're not bad eyes, they're just really, really bright. Almost too bright for him.
I keep considering maybe a murky olive green might suit him better.
Okay, saying it out loud made me think maybe I could give it a try in Microsoft Paint. I did this once before with Thomas, so trying it with Horace was no big deal. I just took a color like what I want for him and brushed it over his current eyes in the photo with the watercolor setting. I kind of like the green ones better. Hmm, I might have to think about that. Sigh...
But while I was considering buying new eyes, I decided it was time to consider getting rid of old eyes. For every doll whose eyes get swapped out there is a leftover pair. Sometimes a swap doesn't work out and another pair gets ordered, in which case there's then two leftover pairs. It's become a vicious cycle, so I purged out the eyes I didn't want. I kept less than five pairs and I've listed all the rest up for sale.
So if you're considering new eyes for a new doll, and you might be looking for some nice eyes for cheap, pop on over and give my listing a glance. Who knows what you might find?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/202183954752?var=&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649
In any case, I wish you all the luck in the world with the never-ending eye battle.
~SilverStar-Burst
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