Handmade toys are in great demand among both children and adults. Masters and craftswomen put their soul into the characters created, so every detail is important. They say that the eyes are the mirror of the soul. This correct remark can equally be attributed to dolls or toys. How to make eyes with your own hands, this article will help to figure it out. Properly selected eyes will give the product the right mood and character. Therefore, considerable time is devoted to their selection.
Pros of creating a peephole yourself
The hardware world is rich in its variety of ready-made elements for new creations: spouts, eyes, cilia, mustache. But all these products are focused on mass factory production. Undoubtedly, in such an assortment you can pick up the necessary details. But self-made eyes for toys are cardinally unique.
The important advantages of your self-made will be the following:
- any material. You do not need to be attached to finished products, imagination and creativity will help make the toy unforgettable;
- the desired shape, because in stores the eyes are usually round or oval. But no one forbids the doll to make eyes in the shape of hearts;
- suitable color, which is also presented in a rather meager assortment (yellow, blue, green, brown or black). Rarely different from the standard color of the iris.
Choose material for future eyes
In fact, the main assistant in this matter is your unlimited imagination. After all, the material can be anything (or something that can be glued well). The main nuance is that the eyes turn out to be durable, and not torn after a day. More stringent quality requirements apply to children's toys: well glued or sewn, safe, not fragile. If you are considering a doll or a toy that will stand on a shelf for beauty, then there will already be a wider choice.
For an auxiliary impulse, your thoughts can list the most popular and used materials for the eyes of toys (it’s not difficult to make them yourself):
- glass (transparent cabochons as a basis);
- epoxy resin cabochons as an alternative to glass;
- wooden elements (buttons, blanks of the desired shape and size);
- eyes made of wool;
- leather or felt patterns;
- bound eyes;
- beads;
- nuts (great for steampunk or robot style);
- plastic or polymer clay.
Classics of the genre
The most familiar and common are glass eyes for toys. Do-it-yourselfers can be created in minutes
For the manufacture you will need three types of components:
- glass cabochons of the right size and shape,
- base for fastening to a toy,
- materials to color the eyes.
To connect the eye together you will need glue. Usually experienced needlewomen recommend Crystal, superglue for shoes, a glue gun. This is depending on personal preferences. The set of other tools will depend on the selected materials.
The fastener is convenient to make from the base of earrings-studs. It’s easy to stick to the eye on one side and it’s easy to make a comfortable loop on the other side. As another option, you can offer a ready-made eye to stick to a toy or sew on.
And finally, there was a choice of material or materials to give color to the eyes. In this case, the creator's irrepressible imagination comes into play again. The easiest way is to print a picture and cut it out. It should be borne in mind that when washing the paper may be damaged. The second option is to draw the iris and pupil on the flat side of the cabochon. To do this, you can use paints (acrylic, oil, you can try gouache or any sufficiently thick paint), nail polishes (according to reviews, saturated colors are obtained), markers, felt-tip pens. In general, everything you can draw.
Having prepared all the necessary tools, we begin to use our glue to collect glass eyes for toys with our own hands. There are a great many ways to create them.
Similarly, instead of glass cabochons, their epoxy version can be used. One of the advantages of this material is that the mold can be made independently. That is, you will no longer be bound to size, shape or bulge.
A distinctive feature of this type of eye (made of glass or resin) is the volume of the part and natural highlights. The doll or toy will be as if with a lively look.
For those who are for the environment
In the era of the pursuit of natural materials, wooden buttons or wood blanks of the desired shape and size (found in shops for creativity and needlework) are an excellent option for the eye. Add painting with paints, felt-tip pens (again at your discretion, use everything that draws). For better protection against external factors, cover with a protective varnish. And the new toy looks at the outside world with wooden eyes. You can make many details for wooden toys with your own hands: nose, brooches, buttons. When combining two or more elements, your creation will look harmonious and complete.
Tools required:
- buttons or blanks from wood,
- paints or felt-tip pens,
- varnish for fixing the picture,
- a needle with a thread (if the eyes will be sewn),
- glue (if the eyes will stick).
Felt, leather. What will you add more?
To make a DIY eyelet for toys from similar materials you will need:
- scissors, best manicure, as the details must be done carefully and usually small in size,
- glue,
- pieces of leather or felt of the desired colors (in the absence of multi-colored, you can use paints).
You need to cut out three details for each eye: the sclera (the largest circle or oval, this is the white of the eye), the iris (medium-sized detail), the pupil (the smallest circle, usually black, but this is your unique toy, so can experiment).
The next step will be gluing layers of your workpieces in a single design. Then connect already with the toy.
It should be noted that it is necessary to glue very carefully, especially the edges of the patterns. So that in the future the eyes do not mess up, glue the circles around the perimeter well.
In addition to leather or felt, you can use any dense fabric. The patterns connected in three layers give the eyes a convex shape that looks voluminous and quite natural.
Button eyes
After all, they are often called that. And not in vain. Indeed, a variety of decorated buttons, buttons, and beads act as an eye.
For example, the beads are perfectly connected with round-headed pins. The metal needle at the end is rounded, holding the two parts together. At first it may seem absurd to connect two balls together, but in practice it looks very original.
Buttons for giving resemblance to the eye can be painted with paints, glued rhinestones.
Such ideas are also relevant, so do not refuse to make eyes for toys with your own hands.
Get hooks, knitting needles, threads
Knitted toys deserve special attention. Eyes for them can be made in several ways.
First, knit volumetric balls to size, stick pupils from another material on them or embroider in a contrasting color.
Secondly, the flat drawings of the eye are separately crocheted, then they are attached to the toy (again, they are either glued or sewn). This option is convenient in that an eye is made of multi-colored threads immediately. If a ready-made circuit is used, then the main thing to remember is to make the parts symmetrical.
Thirdly, you can use the technique of embroidery with a cross or stitch. It will turn out to achieve amazing results if you use multi-colored threads.
In this way, do-it-yourself eyes are created for knitted toys. A good option is that the same material is involved in the work - threads. Therefore, the creation will look holistically.
They are alive
We are talking about pupils that can move if the toy is shaken. There are ways to make them yourself, so as not to engage in searches in stores.
To do this, you need the following materials and tools:
- empty blister packs of pills (do not forget to wash them with medicines),
- as a pupil of beads, pea halves (everything will depend on the right size),
- glue,
- scissors,
- paper or cardboard for the main background of the eye (optionally white),
- paints.
The first step is to paint the pupil black (or necessary) and give time to dry.
From the empty packaging of the tablets, we cut off two sections into which we place the colored pupils.
Gently paste cardboard or paper onto the background.
Now it remains only to carefully trim the finished eyes with scissors and stick to the toy.
Everything is ready, you can shake your doll, its pupils will mischievously jump at a pace.