After someone posted pictures of Glatzki eyes on DOA I went ahead and ordered eyes from Glatzki. They arrived on Friday after quick order processing but fairly long shipping time. The eyes came in small bags with a label in a padded envelope. As you can see they have stems, but they’re easy to cut off if you don’t want them.
Glatzki eyes are plastic doll eyes manufactured by a Belorussian company called Glatzki/Live eyes. They offer a huge selection of natural looking styles and colors in various size combinations, animal eyes and fantasy eyes.
Shop website Glatzki.by
You can choose language and currency in the top left corner. Unfortunately paypal doesn’t operate in Belarus, and you need a credit card to pay your order. They speak perfect English and answer emails quickly. If you order more than one pair I recommend to print the shopping cart overview for later reference. Even though you get an order confirmation, the cart (or wish list) is the only way to see pictures and measurements listed together. In case you need to see what is what later this would be a way to have a list of sizes with pictures.
Picking the size you want is really easy: On the detail page of your selected color two drop down menus show available size options. The first one (Iris size) offers large, medium and small. The three pictures below the menu show the size difference. Once you’ve selected large, medium or small the second drop down (white/iris) shows the size combinations. As you can see, the eyeball size and iris size combination varies depending on the choice you made in the first drop down.
I ordered different sizes, most of them 8mm/3.2mm (small). Which seemed to be the more realistic choice for FID. My reference size was Glib oval glass eyes, but unfortunately the measurements listed for those are incorrect. Glib eyes are listed as 6mm (height)/8mm (width) and 3mm iris size. The iris size is definitely larger than 3mm, 4mm seems to be more likely.
These are various eyes in a comparison overview, unfortunately the light wasn’t that good. The pupil size is not listed, I just added a slightly photoshopped row to show the difference in pupil sizes. The Glatzki medium size is actually closer to the Glib Iris size. However, the smaller size still looks more natural worn by dolls with smaller eye openings.
Medium eyes look slightly oval depending on angle thanks to the dome height
As you can see in the eye brand comparison picture above, the domes of Glatzki eyes are different. The iris is printed on a flat back, and the high dome is creating a larger distance between iris print and surface. On the plus side this makes the eyes look bright and luminous. Even in the smaller scale with 3.2 mm Iris size the colors are quite beautiful, even if you don’t see that much of the details.
But the distance makes them not the best choice for FID eye sockets. Maybe they are perfect for dolls with different eye sockets, but worn by FIDs there are some side effects that made me decide not to use them after all. They are so affordable that it isn’t a great loss, but I am still a bit disappointed because I really love the colors.
First of all the high dome makes it very difficult to photograph them in a way where the eyelids don’t throw a shadow in the top half. The light isn’t reflected in the same way by both eyes if the face is turned, so the eyes look as if they were positioned wrong. There’s also a dark shadow in the eye corners, and they tend to give the doll a slightly eerie look, because the distance between surface and iris is quite visible. I am not a fan of this look, and after I took some pictures I decided to order more Glib real glass.
But this is just my personal preference, and if you don’t photograph your dolls that often and look for affordable eyes in many different colors, Glatzki eyes are certainly a good source.
This is my FID Claude wearing Glatzki small 8mm/3.2mm eyes, and you can see how the light reflects differently when the head is turned or the light source is positioned at one side. The last three pictures show the same eye position in different angles of the head. If the head is turned upwards, they give him a starry look.
Wow, Mia, thanks for the review! This is very helpful. The small iris definitely gives Claude an eerie look–having seen these photos I would choose medium. Of course, when you don't know how they're going to look it's difficult to make a choice, especially for dolls with narrow eye sockets. I'm having trouble positioning some SafrinDoll eyes in a Creature Doll. I thought the sculpt was to blame, but now I wonder if I might be experiencing a case of light not reflecting the same way in both eyes.
The eerie look is actually caused by the distance between iris print and surface. Those 2mm make the print look as if it was in a different position depending on the angle, kind of like those paintings of bearded old men who are looking at you from every angle- if you know which ones I mean. I am a bit angry with myself for not ordering more medium, but the medium sized iris looks a bit oval as a result of the before mentioned iris-surface distance (you can see it in the two-faces picture if you look closely). I am used to eyeco silicone, maybe that's why I have problems with the look. But my Raccoon girls are shipping :D. Maybe they look better with their eye sockets.
Thank you for this reivew!! For someone like me (always having doll-eye issues) this is such a great post! And these eyes look really awesome :O
Glad it was helpful 🙂
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