Difference between glass and acrylic eyes?

Glass eyes catch the light better and look far more realistic.

 

This is a hard question to answer, since this varies with each company. Generally, acrylic eyes look more gel and dewy (fuzzy?), while glass/urethane eyes have startling clariity. But that's not always true. Acrylic eyes usually don't have as much depth as glass eyes, but that's not always true either. But the pattern and details on acrylic eyes are not availible in glass eyes, due to how they are made.

Glass eyes may have threading, but threading doesn't always look as realistic as the printed backs of some acrylic eyes. Yet not always! And... and so on. You'll just have to compare eyes, since every company makes them pretty different.

It's a personal opinion, really. Here are some photos of a glass eye (Volks Goldenrod) and an acrylic eye (Kon'd).









On the catching light thing... Those goldenrods were really bad at catching light, and it was really frustrating to photograph them so that they would not look like dark orbs. But these pair of cheap acrylics...



... glowed. Not literally, but they caught light so easily that it was kind of freaky. So it all depends!

The cheaper price is due to how acrylics are all plastic and glass is, well... glass.

 

Here is an older 2-page thread about glass versus acrylic:

http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44088

And here is glass versus silicone:

http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75801

Silicone eyes can be very nice. Eyeco and Masterpiece soft glass are probably the least expensive silicone eyes.

Here is a BJD eye database - index is on the right:
http://www.silent-r.com/eyes/

Also you can look in the BJD database and BJDopedia threads and search for eyes to help find threads where people show their dolls and list what eyes they are wearing.

This is Eyeco soft glass (silicone) in Lousiana Iris:


Carolyn

 

My personal opinion in the matter of eyes is, that whenever there is a glass eye available in the color I want, I prefer to buy those instead of acrylic ones no matter how cheap the latter may be, as the shine and depth is so different in a glass eye.

 

SafrinDoll has a really nice selection, and they take their own pictures too. That's always a plus. Other than that, you'll probably just have to shop aorund among many sites.

 

Note that quality varies in glass eyes too. Some inexpensive glass eyes are not hand-formed or blown - they appears to be decals behind glass. An example would be the inexpensive solid glass ovals at Kemper - they have the nice gloss of glass eyes but I think the iris is a decal inside. They look quite nice but are mostly dark colors and do not have any unusual colors. Howver, if you are looking for dark eyes, they may be a good option.

Some mid-priced glass eyes are handmade but are poorly matched (iris size, pupil shape and size). The more expensive glass eyes are typically well-matched but can have variations in between sets in iris and pupil size.

Carolyn

 

I have purchased Acrylic off Parabox and they are very nice, they have a good range of colours and are cheap enough that you can get a few and play about

 

I mostly use Masterpiece polymer/acrylic and they look very realistic. They only come in 24 "natural colors", the same come in their glass eyes and you can order custom colors. softglasseyes.com

 

I have bought three sets from lovelyplatform on eBay, in glass--they are not cheap and they look hand made, with slight swirls and variations, but I love the weight and feel of them, and I know I won't scratch them like acrylics. I have also found Yvonne Sze to be a nice seller (she adds a personal note and a little bag for the eyes) and that makes me feel like a valued customer. They are not super cheap, though, I think they come to 15.99 a pair with shipping. The acrylics I bought just didn't do much for me or the dolls I have.