One of the things I like to do when getting a new DD is take out the hideous glue used to secure the eyes. So I decided that I would discuss my method of Dollfie Dream eye surgery. For this tutorial we are going to travel back in time to when I adopted the lovely Sakura Matou. Do apologize if some pics are a bit blurry.
First thing I like to do once I get a new daughter in is take a look under the hood and perform a little eye surgery.
This was especially needed for Sakura because I have her Black Transformation set which comes with an extra set of eyes for her. And needless to day Volks’ hot glue doesn’t make changing the eyes easy.
Sakura before her eye surgery. I always take a reference picture so I can see how VOLKS had the eyes. Try to reposition them as close to that as I can. Want to make sure put them back in correctly =P
First step is to remove your dolls head cap. This can be a task sometimes and may require you to use some force or get crafty and use a hair dryer to loosen it up.
There is the enemy…harden hot glue. There are many different techniques for removing this. The most common is to use hair dryer to soften the glue and push the eyes out. Another is to use a couple of drops of lighter fluid, as it will break down the glue.
Since I don’t have lighter fluid, I opted for using this plain enamel thinner I had from model building days. It has the same effect as the lighter fluid. This little bottle could probably do the job on a million plus DDs. Only need a few drops to get results. A few well placed drops around the globs and the glue will come right off.
Use caution though, as the thinner could damage your dolls make-up if you are not careful!!
My method is to dip the blade of an X-Acto knife into the fluid. Then I carefully go around the edges of the glue. The thinner will usually dissolve the glue when in contact. With a few well placed drops, the glue will loosen enough to come out.
If you’re not comfortable using a blade on your doll, can also try cotton swab or maybe even a toothpick. Again, just be careful to not let any of the thinner touch the dolls face.
With Rin and Yoko I pushed out the eyes before removing the hot glue. What I noticed though was they had cracks around the edges of their eyes, which I thought was because of the force needed to push them out of the glue. I didn’t want to take that chance with Sakura, so I removed the glues with the eyes still attached. I then used my x-acto knife coated with thinner to remove glue from the eyes. I did notice that these eyes also have some small cracks, so I think the cause may actually have happened before the eyes were placed in the doll. Since it was only on the edges, I’ll live with it.
Sakura post surgery. Eyes are now held in place with putty, which will make using her Black Transformation set much easier since it comes with her evil eyes >=D
Jon, I think the cracking has to do with the actual use of hot glue to affix the eyes in. Another word for it is “crazing.” The acrylic gets heated up by the hot glue, then it cools. The result? Cracks. I had to replace my Yumiko’s (Yukino-type Image Character) eyes because of this. She got an identical pair to the ones she had coming out of the factory. I don’t think it has to do with taking them out. After hearing what you said about your Sakura I’m pretty convinced it’s from the hot glue.