Prices vs. Quality for glass/urethane eyes.

Low dome, for sure. If they stick up too much, the eyes will need to be too far away, given how narrow his eyes are. If that makes sense.

 

Welcome to DoA! If you haven't already found it, I recommend VinylFaerie's "BJD_WTF" for everyone who's new to this hobby. There is a link in this thread: http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117527

I have owned many glass eyes, and they do not break easily. Don't worry! Most of the glass eyes are solid, not hollow, and even when they fall on the floor, they simply roll instead of breaking. I have even dropped a few hollow vintage glass doll eyes without any damage. Glass eyes may scratch if you drop them on a rough surface, but on carpet or even clean indoor wood floors there really isn't much danger (if any).

I own Mystic urethane eyes that were made in 2004, and they have not yellowed at all. Don't worry about that, either. Unless you leave urethane eyes in a place where they will be exposed to light, good urethane eyes will last as long as you want them to last. (The same is true of your doll! )

The Periwinkle is a beautiful color! Unfortunately, Ethereal Angels Eye Candies are no longer made under that name. The replacement brand, Gumdrops, is sold only occasionally, and there are very long waiting times for the eyes to be made after the preorder periods. Mystic and ED eyes are also sold by preorder, and again there are long waiting times because the eyes are made to order. Two other lines of urethane eyes (also made to order with a waiting time) are Everpurple and Dollshe:
http://www.everpurple.com/ehome.htm
http://dollstown.com/zboard/view.ph...&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=879

If you want to have the eyes soon, it may help to know that the only eyes on your list that are easily available, and kept in stock by sellers, are these:
Dollzone
Luts
Volks HG
Hand Glass Craft

Yes, there are higher-quality glass eyes, such as those from the Japanese eye makers Silver and Hitomiya. Silver has just opened an English-language webshop: http://glasseyesilver.hide-yoshi.net/ However, I would recommend buying a more affordable pair of eyes--or a few pairs!--so that you can learn what pupil size and color you really like for your Tender Zen. It is disappointing to spend $50-$75 for one pair of eyes, only to realize that they aren't quite right for a doll.

Finally, when you have met the requirements for DoA Marketplace access, you will find many, many pairs of eyes for sale there. You will be able to post eyes for sale there, too, if you buy some that you don't want to keep.

 

Glad to help!

By the way . . . the pink icon that you put on your post actually means "romance between two girl BJDS." You may want to read more of the FAQs before using the post icons.

 

Urethanes will scratch more easily than glass... but really, unless you have some freak accident or are just very rough with things, this shouldn't matter.

Eyes are tough. Sometimes you just need to try a lot of them to see. They can look different in your doll and in the lighting conditions you usually prefer. And some colors and shades or threading or pupil sizes are just impossible to find in one form or another. I prefer urethanes, since I like the details/threading in them, but color matters a lot to me and sometimes I'll even go with a cheaper acrylic just because I can't find the right shade anywhere else. And with half-closed eyes, you're not going to be seeing a lot of the eye to begin with--so quality and material starts to matter a bit less than what actually looks good and what you can actually SEE in the half-closed eyes! For instance, there is less light getting in, so eyes MAY look a bit darker in color in a doll with half-closed eyes. Or a more subtle color might not be noticed as much as something more bold or obvious. It depends on what you're going for... But I know that I can barely tell what eyes I have in my dreaming/half-closed eyes doll! So if you're not trying to be super subtle and realistic, then you might have to over-emphasize the color or the size of pupil to get it to read the way you want...

Unless you're taking super-close-up photos, it might not matter a whole lot what kind of eyes you've got in a half-closed eyed doll--so that might make things simpler!

--oh--and don't worry about making a few weird mistakes here on DoA. It's a busy forum with LOTS of stuff going on. I've been here for years and still get things wrong! Just try and read most of the FAQs and Rules and stuff and do Searches for stuff and things will work out.

 

Seconding this! DOT's Tender sculpts) have very shallow eye sockets, and I've discovered that high-dome glass and urethane eyes tend to fit poorly into their eyewells. My DoT Tender E-an has Masterpiece silicone eyes that are low-dome and squishy, so they fit better into the eyewells.

They don't have quite the vibrance and depth of glass or urethane, but they fit much more nicely and give her a better overall look.

As a general rule, I am very much in love with Everpurple's Urethane eyes.

 

Yeah! I would go for low-dome softglass, for this little guy's narrow sockets. Eyeco is an American company that's easy to shop from, they make some awesomely realistic colors, including a whole lot of blues... and their eyes have have nice low domes. The Ultra line of softglass is about $35/pair; the Platinum line is cheaper (better for experimenting ^^).

 

I would actually get 14mm low dome silicone. My friend has a Tender Yen and 16mm eyes seem to be all iris in him. So she got some 14mm low dome silicone eyes from Soom and they fit the eye socket well and have enough reflectivity to be visible through the smaller opening.

Also regarding your question about flat back eyes, that is really a matter of personal preference. Round backed eyes often have a stem that comes off the back. It makes it easier to aim the iris, but sometimes it gets hit by the S-hook and your dolls eyes go wooglie. Flat backs are a little harder to position, but they stay in place better.

 

Umpteenth-ing this. I've got a Kirill, and he's just as tender-eyed as Zen -- and high-dome eyes gap like you would NOT believe. He wears 14mm Soom Luciferin silicone eyes; they squish in very nicely and don't gap at all. That said, though, I eventually plan on switching him out for a pair of 14mm low-dome Mystic urethane eyes.

In general, Mystics win my undying adoration and loyalty as far as eyes go. Two of my boys wear them now and the other two will eventually also get them.

 

This may be a bit dodgy, but try some thrift stores for old porcelain dolls. Some are poorly made and mass produced, but have very nice glass eyes. I went and found a set of three that someone had modded very poorly, with very nice wigs, poor glue, terrible plastic headcaps and lovely glass eyes that fit my 60cm.

 

1. What type of eyes should I get for Tender Zen? Flat back, low dome or normal dome? Tender/Dreaming eyed dolls tend to fit low dome, flat back eyes best.

2. How easy for glass eyes to break?
Not easy at all, with normal handling! Occasionally a stem can be sharp, or hollow type eyes can arrive broken if someone sends them wrapped only in bubblewrap, but common sense goes a long way! They would chip or scratch if you dropped them on concrete or something, but most people are more careful than that!

3. I want to see more detail/nicer threading blue glass eyes. If you know any other brands, please let me know. It's kind of true that the glass eyes don't seem to have the realism of Urethanes. Captured in Glass has some threaded types in lots of shades, natural and otherwise. Global makes generic "Glass Realistic" flat back eyes that are available from any of the standard doll supply companies such as Global, Kemper and Dollspart. Both companies are affordable. Ginarolo offers upscale glass eyes made in Germany, but these are still cheaper than Urethanes.

4. How long does it take for Urethane eyes to go yellow? It depends on how much light they get. I have an early Dollstown girl that arrived with yellowed Urethanes. They were only slightly yellowed, but you could tell. I'm not gaga over urethanes, I don't like the high price, or the long wait. I admit the yellowing thing does disturb me a bit, too.

5. It is very hard to decide on which eyes to buy just by looking at the companies' photos. Some eyes look almost the same on the photos but their prices are very different. Should I choose eyes based on the price? If you can attend a meetup in your area, check out all the dolls' eyes and ask questions. Things can look different in 3D from 2D! It's also true that some eyes are handmade and there's a lot of variation in size and colors. It can be a bit of a crapshoot. If I were you and could afford it, I'd just order several different types and see what works! You can re-sell the ones that don't, though you may not get back exactly what you paid. Try to buy secondhand in the Marketplace when you're eligible!

Raven

 

I love browsing these threads. Seems that I learn something new every day!

 

I personally love urethane eyes. They track wonderfully and are extremely vibrant.

I would test out sizes first... that way you can make sure you achieve the look you are aiming for. In addition to EA Gumdrops, Mystics and Everpurple, other companies that produce urethane eyes are Enchanted Doll, Dollshe, Doll Flower, Droprops.

Congrats on your T.Zen! Feel free to stop by the DOC thread if you have questions or want to discuss your boy!

http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=210048

 

As a quick note, occasionally there are Hand Craft Glass orders so you can get them up to 40% cheaper: they're gorgeous glass eyes, really nice colours Here' the light blus D400's:

 

You will probably find that a lot of detail and threading in a dreaming eyed doll will get lost, so it may not be worth the extra cost. Having a number of dreaming/tender eyed dolls myself, I really like low domed glass eyes for them. If you get a good colour that catches the light well, you will still be able to see them. I tend to aim for more of a "glow" coming from dreaming eyes, rather than realism. Makes photographing them easier.
Looking at the eyes you've listed, I would say the Dollzone, Luts and Hands Glass craft eyes would probably work the best. Hands eyes are really beautiful in person, and worth the cost. As Gantaeno said, you can get in on a group order and get 40% off, or ginarolo sells them in her marketplace thread.

I've never had urethane eyes before (currently waiting on my first few pairs actually), as I tend to find the colours and quality I want in glass are fine. I'm not much of a fan of silicone eyes, I find them hard to position (they're a bit sticky), and they do attract dirt easier. That said, they do fit well into the eye sockets because of their softness.

Hoped that helped!

 

I do think the urethane eyes I have are a little "glowier" than the glass ones... but that's only if light can get in there. I have them in my sleepy-eyed doll and they don't catch much light, and her eyes are a little more open than Tender Zen's (plus she's a larger size doll so the eyeholes are scaled up as well). I'd probably go for low-dome glass next time, it's what all my other dolls wear (Ginarolo's eyes if you're curious- I really like the ones I have), and the added cost of urethane is probbaly better spent on an open-eyed doll where you can see the full effect better, IMO.