Dolls where no eyes seem to fit right?

I have dolls like this too! Have you tried low arc/low dome eyes? They're flatter so you have some leeway when adjusting. You could also try silicone (soft) eyes.

 

I've got a head that can't take any dome at all, and some where they eyes won't sit properly if there is any putty between the eye and the doll. I ordered custom no-dome eyes from ashuradark for the former; and use massive amounts of putty wrapped around the back of the eye to press on all sides for the latter, so they'll be held secure without anything between them. If your doll is like the latter, then I'd say extra eyelashes could be the problem, but I think the dome is the more likely culprit. Try for wider base with whatever iris size you want, and no dome; sometimes severe gapping is both the dome and the eye being more rounded that the socket.

 

I’ve had this issue with a lot of my dolls too- especially my Souldoll girls for some reason. I used to be a big fan of glass eyes, but have lately taken to switching them out with handmade resin eyes from Etsy and the like, and they fit like a charm ❤️ they’re considerably pricier, but look much more realistic than glass eyes in my opinion

 

I absolutely love Eyeco silicone eyes for dolls like this. They're pretty flat and a bit squishy, so they tend to work well in most sculpts and it's what the majority of my dolls have. They fit much better than the old Soom silicone eyes with the high dome irises, and the irises tend to be just a bit smaller than standard, so they have a little more realism too.

Another option I've had work well for them are glass oval shaped eyes. Dollmore has a decent variety of options.

 

I'd definitely suggest making your own if you feel you can take that on! It's been a gamechanger for me (a lot of my dolls have the same issue yours does) and I do very low domes with the resin, which helps a lot to make it fit to the eye! If you make the bases with clay, you can constantly check to make sure they are flush against the eyes before baking/letting air dry which helps a lot!

 

I, too, have some stubborn dolls with gapping eyes. I refuse to switch out of glass mostly so low-dome is hard to find, but if you're ok with a small-iris look, those tend to fill the eye wells better as the iris doesn't get in the way that much. Another glass option would be those oval reborn eyes that are kind of flatter.

If you want to go the mod route, bewelling eyes from the inside with a round sanding tool can help eyes fit in better - sometimes fitting in eyes hasn't been properly accommodated in the sculpting stage It looks like there is still a lot of hot glue in the eye wells, too, maybe removing that makes a difference as well.

I also found Souldoll's acrylic eyes work really well for such cases - they have somehow hidden the dome inside of the eye so it's rather flat on the top but still creates a lot of depth inside the eye - they're a bit like "follow me" eyes and quite fun to have but of course acrylic doesn't look as shiny as glass.

 

I have a few recommendations:
1. Take a hairdryer to the inside of that head, heat up and remove all of that hot glue. Then try fitting your eyes again.
2. As others recommended, try a low dome or flat eye (acrylic eyes are usually flatter, too).
3. Eye beveler to the inside of the eye, if you are willing to lightly mod the head. (Like this for a Dremel too, or like this to bevel by hand).

 

I have a few dolls with eyewells that drive me nuts so I can sympathise.

As others have said maybe remove the lashes first if you suspect they may be the issue, process of elimination, then try eyes or better still something round of similar size such as a glass marble or bead. If that doesn’t sit right then you know the problem is the way the eyewell was sculpted.

I have an old style Pukifee Pong faceplate and the eyewells in that are awful, not even a round glass bead sits completely flush and eyes of the correct size gape. I bought eye bevellers to try and rectify it but I’ve misplaced them

 

Something else you can try is pink silicone earplugs instead of putty. If the gap is small, the pink looks like part of the eye socket.

 

I'll second this. Oval eyes often work much better than full spheres in eye wells that are too open or flat, they sit closer to the opening and there is less on a gap in the corners. Even with high-ish domes they often fit better than low dome full spheres in dolls with this problem.
And, personal opinion but, I find many of those Dollmore eyes to be much more detailed and realistically colored and patterned than most hand made "resin" eyes. And since it's glass, they won't scratch, yellow or react to the putty with time and so the pretty much will look the same forever. And they are very reasonably prized too.

 

Some really great suggestions here in this thread! I don't have this problem on as grand a scale, but my little Lati White has gapping around his eyes. I thought about getting him some nice new ones custom made, so knowing that a low dome and a less hemisphere shape might help is good intel.

I never thought of this - my mother uses clear silicone earplugs because my dad snores loud enough you can faintly hear it from outside if the window is open, I didn't know it comes in pink! I'll have to give this a shot too.

Oh no... Pong is one of my favourite fairyland sculpts, I've been thinking of getting one to shell another fairy. Do you happen to know if the newer ones still do it?

 

Honestly my dear I don’t know. I hope that they sorted it when they updated them. I remember a few people remarking eyes didn’t fit properly in the old faceplate so maybe they were made aware of it. Pong’s still adorable though

 

I also have a Prince Claude with his original eyes glued in (got him in the Best Selection in late 2023) and there's no obvious gapping with his defaults. What a mystery...

 

I can at least vouch for Antina and similar almond shaped doll eyes. My Minifee Mirwen wears Antina eyes.

 

It really isn't that hard to do honestly! There are a lot of tutorials out there online and a lot of the time, the hardest part is pouring the resin just right!