Manga Eyes for Amigurumi Practice

Bonnie introduced me to "fiona mcdonald" and "ByHooksand Hand"... their dolls are just so inspiring!! Check them out for more pretty thingies :)

Oh btw : There is a tutorial on "ByHooksandHand" on Manga Eyes and Lovely Spirit Dolls!!

Which is what inspired me to try out "Manga Eyes" but... i dont know what satin is exactly and what are the tools used by "ByHookandHand". So instead of painting on with acrylic and ink, i chosed the easy way out... Drumroll... Tadaaah!! "TSHIRT TRANSFER PAPER"!!! 

Incase you dont know what im talking about (Since this is also my first time using it) : WiseGeek Explains it.

There are few Brands out there :

- Epson Tshirt Transfer Paper

- HP Tshirt Transfer Paper

- Forever Tshirt Transfer Paper  

- Showay Tshirt Transfer Paper

- Tesco Tshirt Transfer Paper  

 Anyway, I was thinking to try printing this below on the "TShirt Transfer Paper" with color printer ever since Bonnie suggested some alternative eye's for the amigurumi. So here im sharing the whole hour spent on photoshoping the eyes... and some just that were taken from the net since its just so cute the way it is :s )

Update : Disney Princess Eye Set and Mickey Minnie too... Missing Few Princess Eye's Though... (Snow White and Ariel are among the one's i havent do yet)

The one i print compact into A4 size page is below...

From Bottom Left upwards (Tiana, Snow White, Ariel, ArielBubbleEye?, Aurora, Belle1,  Belle2, Cinderella, Pocahontas, Mulan, Jasmin) The rest is Mixed up... Just to pack all eyes on a page. Note : Please do stretch the eye vertically if you want that large bubbly eye effect like Tiana, since for some weird reason my mom and the ladies here loved the big tiana eye which i accidentally stretched b4 printing. (decided to leave it such as it looks so sweet)

You design your own pair of eyes too, 

- once you draw a pair of eyes (MAKE SURE THE LIDS are BLACK and CORNEA WHITE)

- The Pupils in Grey or Half Toned Color

- Duplicate the Layers in Photoshop... and move the eye to somewhere you can see it.

- In Layer "Blending Options" (right click the layer of the duplicate eye) >> color overlay >> choose the color you want the pupils to be and change the blend mode to HUE.

- There, duplicate as many pair of eyes you want and change the colors. 

Ha Simple :P Or you could just download the one above.

After Printing, Cut it up and iron on another small patch of fabric and glue it on. im a little scared to try it on the amigurumi made of acrylic yarn directly... WHAT IF IT MELT?! err does acrylic yarn melt or shrink? Oh, IRON on before stuffing in the amigurumi ... I have no pictures for those yet though.But if anyone tried it with acrylic yarn, please send some "confidence" this way :D

UPDATE :

I wanted to place the usual back buttons like the baby dragon's eye, since it fit perfectly for the new large size ami i made. But instead i decided to try out with the printed jasmin like eye (suppose to be tiana, the printer didnt have much ink to give a darker color print on it) Oh i usually poke the hook into the eye area just to get a rough measurement of the eye placed, sometimes a yarn for marking the spot are placed until i decided on the eye. when sewing on, i would remove it and work on 1 thread 2 buttons to give a dent at the eye area.

Anyway, here i've already printed, cut down and iron on an old piece of white cloth that dont look white enough. (The Above picture is to compare which is better, my heart said the button looks good but i went on with my mind just for the testing some new things.)

There, after Iron on, i dabbed "nail polish varnish" on the eye to give that shine look, (Glad the nail polish is tinted pink it pops the eye out! Left it to dry overnight. Few hours would do but i did this at night. So in the morning i glued them on and left it aside again! so the glue dries off. Noticed few white fabric at the corner, didnt like the stick on effect, so i used a permanent black pen to "dab" lightly the corners. (Careful, over dabbing it will smudge the eye like i nearly did at one of the eye. you can see the over darkened eyelid at the bottom of the pupils.(Not much noticeable since i've cut that part off :P)

So now ive played with "eyes" and still chose the back button and beads eye as my fav, glue varnish and more sticky stuff is slow and takes utmost patience!

 Thank you for reading, if you have any suggestions on eye and Hair (The Dreadful part of amigurumi) please do share, im almost lost to an extent of quitting human style amigurumis since none of the "male" hair do's are "fun" to do. (Dont think will be posting any hair tips till i actually have enough yarn/ thread to waste on hairs... Just dont have the heart to NOT CROCHET the hair... heart vs mind)