Modifying eyes?

After looking through the forums and not finding anything about it I figured I could go ahead and start a new topic So yesterday I finally got the eyes I bought from Yahoo Japan through Celga. Here is a picture of the eyes from the auction:

 

Customddeyes auction picture by sakura_chan15, on Flickr

 

The top layer over the eyes looks very smooth. Now here is the picture I took of the ones I got:

 

customddeyes by sakura_chan15, on Flickr

 

The first thing I noticed was that the top layer over both eyes is very rough (in look and touch) which can be seen in the picture. Is there any way I can smooth the eyes without damaging them? I would love to be able to make them smoother looking, but I have no idea how to go about it if it's possible. I figured if anyone would know it would be you lovely people here on the forums Should any of you have any ideas feel free to throw them my way! Thank you

Well, some time ago I polished acrylic eyes using nail polish set for acrylic nails (kind of nail file).

Acrylic transparent gloss paint or spray would be my another try.

When you used the acrylic nail file on the eyes how did they turn out? I thought that at first, but thought that by using something like that I might only make the surface even rougher.

 

Have never had any experience with acrylic transparent gloss paint... Might have to save that as a last resort sort of thing & read up on it before attempting such a thing

 

Thanks for the advice Kumi

One eyeball had a small air-bubble on its lens and this bubble cracked.

So I had to polish it and it turned out well, the lens is almost round again and only a tiny bit flatter.

I used very fine file at first (I think nr 3 of 4), and then the 4th polishing file - something like leather.

 

Tamiya X-22 Clear Gloss is widely used in faceupping to make the lips gloss, for example.

Not sure how well it will work, but my first thought was sanding as well. You can get super-fine sandpapers at auto shops that will create a glossy surface. However, you will have to start with some rougher ones and work your way up. Hobby shops and craft stores sell packs of sandpapers for models, not too expensive at all. I think it's worth a try if the surface is hard and rough.

If the surface feels soft or somewhat plastic-y, I'd try adding the x-22 gloss on top.

@Kumi: Mmm that sounds like it wouldn't be too bad to do. Do you happen to have the brand name of the set of files you used?

@Jadepixel: I also thought sanding it would work too! Another person over twitter also suggested using sandpaper to try and smooth it out. Would it not come out well if I only used one type of grit size on it? Also what size do you think I should start & stop with? Thanks for all the help

 

I'm definitely taking both these ideas into consideration. I might wait for my 06-head to actually arrive and see how the eyes look in the head. Though I'm sure just seeing the rough patches will annoy me o_o;;;

It was something cheap and generic, I picked it up at local supermarket...

It was something cheap and generic, I picked it up at local supermarket...

Ah okay gotcha! I'll look around the supermarket next time for a set

I think the set of hobby sandpaper that I got starts with 200 and goes up to 1500, lower number meaning coarser paper. You can start in the middle, like 500 or so, and work your way up to finer grade paper. At the end if there are still ridges, start a bit lower and work up again. If the ridges are already pretty large, it would be best to start with a hobby file and level the surface a bit. That's how I did my DD head mods, anyway.

I sugest that you go from 500 to 1000 sandpaper. Always wetting the eyes in the process.

 

In the end, to remove the scratches and give an nice smooth and shine surface, I would polish it using a wet and soft cloth with whitening toothpaste.

There are 2000 grit sandpapers too if you really want to smooth it out.

Wow, I was gonna buy a pair of eyes from that seller for my next head... but now I'm having second thoughts. Too bad there's not much you can do when you get an inferior product via an auction agent though.

@Saluli & Juu-Yuki: All of this information is really helpful! I think I really will try to use the sandpaper on these eyes when the time comes

 

@Waha: Oh I know, it was really disappointing to see how rough they were when I pulled them out of the package. And yup you can't do anything about a defective product when using a middleman, it would be so much trouble o_o;; They are still lovely, they just need to be sanded down (which hopefully goes well). Should this not work I think I'll get a pair of eyes from Twin-Snow :3

Thank you for posting this. I had thought about purchasing eyes from this seller, and wavered because the actual eyes were so much lighter than the prototype pics. But now I'm just going to save my money (Cohullent's are better anyway!!).

 

I also didn't know that you could sand clear/transparent resin. I know that a lot of BJD companies won't sand the seams off of dolls with transparent resin parts, so I assumed it wasn't possible. Now I'll have to experiment.

 

Btw, if you're going to sand resin, PLEASE wear protective gear. Resin dust is killer on your lungs, even in small amounts.