Swan Love Designs: eyes

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Thursday, October 13, 2011

Notes on Customization of Blythe Dolls: EYES: EYE LIDS

This section is on EYELIDS:

Little Big Eyes Dolls: As far as I can see, it is not possible for these dolls to have "sleep eyes" ... i.e., a time where they can appear to have their eyes closed. With these dolls, their eyes are always OPEN. Even when the eye changing button is pushed, there is very little eyelid visible.

Blythe Dolls: I have seen some very, very talented artists paint some awesome designs on these dolls eyelids. I did read that to successfully do this, you must either have an airbrush set-up, or sand down enough of the eyelid to make up for the layer of paint for the design.

I did not attempt this process. I did try to paint my Blybe's eyelids black ... and I thinned out the paint as much as possible, but I just did not like the visible brushstrokes. Perhaps at a later time I could attempt this step, but I believe the experts: You need to do all the steps correctly, or the paint / art / design will "rub" against the eye mech when pull ring is used.

This is my Blybe (Blythe Clone) doll ... I painted her eyelids black ... knowing that this may happen: I do not have an airbrush system ... so I used thin paint ... but the brushstrokes are still visible ... and NOT DESIRABLE ;)

* Disclaimer on ALL of my NOTES: I am not a true customizer. I have only done the few girls that I own, 7 Little Big Eyes, 2 Blybe, and one real Blythe. The caliber and skill and profesionalism that is so evident by the lovely flickr pictures ... well there is no comparison to my extreme amateur attempts. HOWEVER, ALL I really wanted to do was to change them from the hideousness that I saw, into just a teeny bit more beautiful, for my own pleasure and sense of accomplishment. I do not now, or ever, plan to offer my own skills at customization ... the reason for these blog entries is to help the few out there who would like to do just a few little steps, without spending ANOTHER huge amount on their already expensive girls.

Notes on Customization of Blythe Dolls: EYES: EYE LASHES

THIS SECTION will be all about EYE LASHES:

First of all, I HATE the factory lashes. I just don’t like them AT ALL.

I knew right off the bat, they were ALL going …. Real Blythe and Clones alike.

LBE’s lashes came RIGHT OUT, no problem. LBE lashes are BROWN. They are attached BEHIND the eyelid, and not inside a “slit” like real Blythe and Blybe.

LASHES of an LBE Doll: Attached to lid with tiny piece of masking tape

Obviously the eye mech is also completely different on an LBE doll, as it is not controlled with a string and tiny spring, but a massive, huge spring that is connected to a BUTTON on the back of her head. This button also has a sticker attached with the words: PUSH HERE. Not kidding.

So, REPLACE ALL EYELASHES. Sounds easy enough …. But OH NO ! So sorry Cheap Girl, but You bought yourself an ADG as your first Blythe … the one with the eyelashes SUPER-GLUED IN!!!!

After removing the LBE lashes and the Blybe lashes without incident … I tried the real Blythe. NOPE. Not coming out. For anything.

So, what does Cheap (stupid) girl do? Yep, I got out my ACETONE and proceeded to try and get them out with a Q-tip soaked in acetone! Yikes!!! So of course the acetone proceeded to eat up the plastic. For some bizarre reason, maybe perhaps due to all the other sh—I have been through, I could not find myself to CARE! I just thought, oh great, whatever! And truthfully … THE ACETONE DID NOT EVEN WORK !!!!! I ended up with a MANGLED EYE MECH, and never got all the pieces of lashes out, or whatever it is they have in there! THIS all and mainly due to the fact that I could not find ANYWHERE on line, any helpful hints regarding the lashes of The Ashton Drake Galleries BLYTHE dolls!

Not to worry, I told Nenetl (her name) … I will still make you BEAUTIFUL!!! WHO CARES if your eyelids are all mangled? When I get done, no one will even NOTICE !

ORIGINAL eyechips (spokes) and lashes (plastic)

AFTER: Removed stock eyelashes; replaced with 2 pair of lashes for women

SEE! You can hardly tell she has mangled eyelids ... don't look TOO closely ;)

ACTUAL LASHES: WHY pay $5. or more for a pair of “Blythe eyelashes” …. When you can go to the 99 Cent Store and get them there? I purchased 15 pair, because I planned to double-up on them, and to me, one of the smartest thing that this Cheap Girl has found for her Girls !

BLYTHE DOLL; INSTALLING LASHES: Just a bit more difficult ... due to the fact that even though there was a "slit" for installing the lashes, I found this to be too limiting a space for the effect I was going for.

LBE DOLLS; INSTALLING LAHSES: I KNEW that the original stock lashes were installed BEHIND the eyelid, so I applied a TEENY-TINY bit of tacky glue on each lash (eyelash glue DOES NOT STICK to plastic) and of course the lashes are NOT going to stay in a curved position while drying, so I had to use straight pins stuck into her eye ... to anchor each one down with 3 pins at a time for a few minutes, before moving on to the next lash …. X 7 dolls … 2 eyes each …. Deep sigh.

ON Blybe: DUE to the fact that the plastic is SO HARD, and NOT PLIABLE IN THE LEAST, even inserting a pin in each side was not working. And of COURSE I broke one of her eye slits too, because the pin just slipped and chipped the plastic. Again, here’s me: WHAT.EVER.

On ADG BLYTHE: AFTER totally anhiliating the eye mech … (have you ever seen plastic treated with acetone in addition to a person digging into it with a dull exacto tool? ) … I decided to just GLUE THE LASHES ON TOP of the supposed “slit” that was now more like a big trough, but not an empty trough … a trough filled with ? whatever the heck they put in ADG eyelash slots! Could not get that crap out for ANYTHING! So, on top of the slit AREA, I glued one row of lashes. THEN, on top of THAT, I glued ANOTHER ROW of lashes. And if I need to, I will PAINT part of the eye mech BLACK ... sort of like an eyeliner ...to further try and hide any traces of what I have destroyed. Poor, POOR, Blytheeeee !

Notes on Customization of Blythe Dolls: EYES: EYE CHIPS

THIS SECTION will be about the EYE CHIPS themselves:

* Disclaimer on ALL of my NOTES: I am not a true customizer. I have only done the few girls that I own, 7 Little Big Eyes, 2 Blybe, and one real Blythe. The caliber and skill and profesionalism that is so evident by the lovely flickr pictures ... well there is no comparison to my extreme amateur attempts. HOWEVER, ALL I really wanted to do was to change them from the hideousness that I saw, into just a teeny bit more beautiful, for my own pleasure and sense of accomplishment. I do not now, or ever, plan to offer my own skills at customization ... the reason for these blog entries is to help the few out there who would like to do just a few little steps, without spending ANOTHER huge amount on their already expensive girls.

So any of the steps I used, are explained here, JUST FOR FUN :)

EYE CHIPS for Blythe and Blythe - Like/Type Clones:

First of all, let me say, I LOVE all those beautiful, sparking, fantastic colored eye chips out there! And the ones that look like REAL EYEBALLS? Well, those are AMAZING!!! The artists that can hand paint a chip to make it look like a real eye … just fantastic.

Here is my problem: I AM POOR. Well, not exactly, but I AM in debt, and on a budget! So, spending $4.-$5. for ONE PAIR of chips …. Times 10 dolls that I have … times they each have 4 pair …. Would be MINIMUM EXPENSE OF $ 200. JUST for the cheap-o looking ones that I don’t even like all that much, because I have a problem with the “spokes”. Okay, so that is just me … please don’t be offended if you prefer those, we all have our individual preferences J OH, and if I were to purchase the hand-painted, realistic looking ones, for $20. a pair …. Times 10 dollies …. Times 4 each … $80. per doll, x 10 …. $800. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Really ???????

So, what is the CHEAP GIRL do? I already knew there was NO WAY I was keeping those hideous eye chips the way they are ….

STOCK EYE CHIPS on ADG (Ashton Drake Galleries) BLYTHE DOLL: AZTEC ARRIVAL

STOCK EYE CHIPS for Blybe / CCE "Clone" doll

STOCK EYE CHIPS for LITTLE BIG EYES (LBE) Dolls

MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE STOCK EYE CHIPS THAT CAME WITH EACH DOLL TYPE:

Blybe type clones: The CCE dolls chips were SO cheap looking, even compared to the “Blybe” Basaak clone, it was not funny. (the very first one I tried to take out, but ONLY after I had put the poor girl in the hospital and knew she was a gonner … broke in half right off the bat with the gluestick method.) The Blybe clone’s eyes were “so so” and very similar to the Real Blythe’s … EXCEPT that the pupil is MUCH smaller, just MAGNIFYING that “deer in the headlights” that I can’t deal with. JUST can not.

LBE: A domed piece of plastic, in a dull boring color, with absolutely NO life, NO spark, even SPOKES would be better than these chips. They are dull, lifeless and just not acceptable. I think the blank eye socket painted with a Sharpie marker would be better than these chips (!) I took them ALL out of all the 7 LBE dolls, soaked them in rubbing alcohol per the Pucci tutorial, let them soak overnight and brushed them all clean. I put one pair BACK into my “guinea pig” and added FOIL (again, here, as the Cheap Girl … I used some old Christmas wrapping paper from circa 2001 … ), added more BLACK to the pupil, and took a comparison shot next to another LBE, and there is some improvement.

STOCK EYE CHIPS ON LBE DOLLS: LEFT; Stock RIGHT; Cleaned and added FOIL and enhanced pupil

SO, after I purchased too many of these dolls, I knew I had to do "something" ... so LET THE RESEARCH BEGIN!

Started searching on etsy, ebay, and all over the internet ... and saw some AMAZING ones on flickr ... and my reaction was:

“WOW ! Those hand-painted eye chips look SO cool! … but ... $20.00 for one pair? Oh geez ..."

And like the thrifty little resourseful person that I have always been ... began to wonder ... HOW did THEY learn to do this? I searched until my brain was fried and my fingers were numb ... but for the life of me, I could not discover ANYWHERE where there was even a tutorial, a "how-to", a class I could join ... NOTHING! This still has the ability to perplex me, to this day ... I mean, HOW DID THEY learn how???

That is when I had to realize that I was either going to have to fork over BIG BUCKS, or think of another solution to changing my girls' eye chips ... knowing FULL WELL that I had not the materials, nor the resources or equipment, much less the TALENT for painting what I saw as some more beautiful than life-like eyechips I had seen...

But whatever I could come up with, seriously couldn’t be much worse than the hideous spokes of the Blythe~Blybe or the dull and boring of the LBE …..

SO…… I began MAKING EYE CHIPS!

I know, I know …. How very ridiculous. And if you look closely, they are very amateur …. But… it was either that, or SPEND $800. for what I REALLY wanted !

HERE are some of the methods I used:

I took the stock eye chips and PAINTED RIGHT OVER THEM! I also figured, heck, if I didn’t like them, I could just remove the paint with alcohol, and nothing would be lost (except for my time and frustration, of course). Then, I even took SEWING BUTTONS out of my “bag of tricks” already on hand for my crochet creations, and PAINTED ON TOP OF THOSE, and topped with varnish! And again, ad naseum, if thought to myself .... if I had this idea, I am sure TONS of people have had this idea ! so I know I am not original in my “cheap-ness” J