KiraKira's glass cabochon eyechips

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KiraKira's glass cabochon eyechips - Printable Version

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KiraKira's glass cabochon eyechips - KiraKira - 02-08-2012

What can I say except that I like to mess around with doll eyes? As far as stock eyechips go, I really like the foiled ones--my favorite stock eyechips are the ones from Hash, Horizon and Chill. Pretty! I don't really go for the ones that are overly painted and look really...plastic & fake. Those don't do anything for me.

And with all the money I've spent on glass cabochon eyes from various sellers on etsy, I figured I'd just bite the bullet and try to throw together some of my own. They turned out OK...although there are still some issues that I haven't completely worked through.

Here are the things I used...
*silicon based glue; I used E-6000
*12mm glass cabochons
*eye designs from google images search, printed out on photo paper
*1/2-inch circle punch cutter

Finding the right glue was probably the trickiest part for me. It obviously needed to dry clear and have the ability to stick to glass. I tried Elmer's glue, since it does dry clear, but in making the eyes, it dried kind of hazy...giving the eyes a dull, cloudy, cataract-look. Not the look I wanted. And the glue wasn't effective in sticking the photo paper to the glass--it peeled right off. My next attempts involved Duco Cement and Crafter's Goop, but those also didn't work too well in sticking the eye designs to the glass cabochon. I finally went with E-6000, which is oozey, and sticky but also really noxious. So if you use E-6000, be sure it's outdoors or somewhere with a lot of ventilation.

For paper choices...I went with photos printed out at Costco. It's easily accessible, won't break the bank, and the colors wouldn't smear like when I tried making eyes using my own inkjet printer--wet glue plus inkjet printer ink equals a smeary mess.

Here are the eye designs all cut out with the help of my 1/2" circle punch cutter. You could definitely cut the eyes out using scissors, but the circle punch cutter makes it faster and easier.

I put down a piece of waxed paper because I didn't want to get the E-6000 on my table. Squeeze out a little blob of E-6000 silicon based adhesive on to the waxed paper. It's really sticky and gets all over the place. You'll need a small tool to spread the E-6000 on your glass cabochon--I was hoping for an orange stick for pushing back fingernail cuticles, or maybe a toothpick. I couldn't find either of those readily in my home, so I just used a drinking straw. Low tech tools, yay!

Then you just dip your tool (toothpick, straw, orange stick, etc) into the puddle of E-6000 and spread a thin layer on the flat surface of the glass cabochon and press it down onto the eye design. Alternately, you could spread the adhesive onto the photo paper eye and then stick it onto the cabochon, whichever method works for you. It helps to have a wet paper-towel around so you can clear off the glue from your fingers...

This photo shows the paper design on the left and the same eye design with the cabochon stuck to it. Notice that the glass cabochon is domed in the middle, and as such, it causes a magnifying effect. It makes the pupil look larger.

Here are the ones I made yesterday...the glue needs about 72 hours to cure fully.

Sometimes the glue doesn't dry well. I am not sure what causes this problem exactly, but sometimes you will get air bubbles in the dried glue. I don't know if you can see the tiny air bubbles in the photo, but they are definitely noticeable in person, and it's not attractive.

In addition, sometimes, you may just be unlucky and get a bad batch of cabochons with the air bubbles inside the glass. Nothing you can do there but use another cab.

But here are the eyes in some of my dolls:
Tekka-Maki

Koto

Hiroki

Tifa

Taiyo & Cloud

Hinata

Group shot of the dolls and their new eyes

RE: KiraKira's glass cabochon eyechips - Ziane - 02-08-2012

WOW !!!! Thank you so much !!! this is so usefull and I love the result, maybe Ill try it in the future <333

RE: KiraKira's glass cabochon eyechips - Lilcurly - 02-08-2012

Wow, they look awesome! Can they still blink with those in?

RE: KiraKira's glass cabochon eyechips - KiraKira - 02-08-2012

(02-08-2012, 09:25 AM)Lilcurly Wrote: Wow, they look awesome! Can they still blink with those in?

Yes. I'll upload a blink-photo when I get home. smile

I think that the cabochons are not as high domed as the plastic safety eyes, so the blinking function & side-to-side movement of the eye mechanism is retained.

RE: KiraKira's glass cabochon eyechips - ByronicHeroine - 02-08-2012

I was just thinking...I wish I knew how to make eye chips. This is great! Thank you so much for sharing.

RE: KiraKira's glass cabochon eyechips - kitten-squid - 02-08-2012

This is a great tutorial, and the finished eyes look just lovely! Thank you for putting this up!

RE: KiraKira's glass cabochon eyechips - trillian - 02-08-2012

I do this too! I use jewelry glue which dries faster and is designed for this kind of thing. I can't point you to a brand though, mine came with a photo necklace kit I bought from an etsy seller who puts them together herself and I can't remember who it was.

RE: KiraKira's glass cabochon eyechips - KiraKira - 02-08-2012

(02-08-2012, 12:55 PM)trillian Wrote: I do this too! I use jewelry glue which dries faster and is designed for this kind of thing. I can't point you to a brand though, mine came with a photo necklace kit I bought from an etsy seller who puts them together herself and I can't remember who it was.

Hmmm...jewelry glue, huh? I better go hit up the craft store again. smile

Thanks so much for the tip. It's wonderful to share information like this...

grin

RE: KiraKira's glass cabochon eyechips - ByronicHeroine - 02-08-2012

If you don't mind, I was wondering what size cabochon you used, and maybe where you got them. I know you said the quality was a little meh, but I'd love to look for some. You know, because I need another craft to do aside from the knitting, embroidery, sewing and wig making...

RE: KiraKira's glass cabochon eyechips - KiraKira - 02-08-2012

I don't mind at all! The size is 12mm and I bought them on etsy.

These etsy sellers are based in China (I purchased mine from the first link)

http://www.etsy.com/listing/89425289/20pcs-round-clear-glass-cabochon-12mm?ref=sr_gallery_1&sref=&ga_search_submit=&ga_search_query=cabochon+12mm&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade

http://www.etsy.com/listing/82788240/25pcs-12mm-transparent-clear-glass?ref=sr_gallery_9&sref=&ga_search_submit=&ga_search_query=cabochon+12mm&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade

Here's an etsy seller in the USA...looks like there's a free shipping offer going on...
http://www.etsy.com/listing/82053508/50-pcs-clear-transparent-glass-cabochons?ga_search_query=12mm%2Bcabochon&ga_search_type=user_shop_ttt_id_6490135

Hope that helped! smile

RE: KiraKira's glass cabochon eyechips - lilbrokenragdoll - 02-08-2012

Not only are these eye chips wonderful, but it was wonderfully generous of you to make this tutorial and share your knowledge so freely. Not everybody does that!

Thank you so much for sharing this! yay

RE: KiraKira's glass cabochon eyechips - sceimhiuil - 02-09-2012

Wow, fantastic! I just ordered some cabochons! Thanks, Kira!

RE: KiraKira's glass cabochon eyechips - KiraKira - 02-09-2012

(02-08-2012, 04:39 PM)lilbrokenragdoll Wrote: Not only are these eye chips wonderful, but it was wonderfully generous of you to make this tutorial and share your knowledge so freely. Not everybody does that!

Thank you so much for sharing this!

I have been brought up to share what I know, and so even though it may not be a whole lot, you all are welcome to it! If it helps even one other person, then posting this was worth it.

smile

And I got my second order of cabochons in the mail yesterday...they don't appear to have any air bubbles in them, so maybe I just got a bad batch the first time. I hope that is what it was.

RE: KiraKira's glass cabochon eyechips - KiraKira - 02-10-2012

(02-08-2012, 09:25 AM)Lilcurly Wrote: Wow, they look awesome! Can they still blink with those in?

Hiroki wanted to show you that his eye mech works fine with cabochon chips. smile

RE: KiraKira's glass cabochon eyechips - Lilcurly - 02-10-2012

(02-10-2012, 04:04 PM)KiraKira Wrote:
(02-08-2012, 09:25 AM)Lilcurly Wrote: Wow, they look awesome! Can they still blink with those in?

Hiroki wanted to show you that his eye mech works fine with cabochon chips.

awesome, thank you smile

I ordered some too :p I've wanted to do custom chips for ages, but never been sure of how to go about it. I have photoshop on my laptop too so I'm going to try editing some of them with little hearts etc.

Thank you for posting this smile