I wanted to talk about these eyes for the longest time since I really like them and this is the second time I buy from them.
Captured in Glass are handmade glass eyes for dolls. They are located in China and they accept custom orders for an extra fee. They have a Den of Angels sales page and a website.
These eyes are from my first order, you can see how nice they look in pictures.
I have to start mentioning that I’m no expert in eyes since I haven’t handled many types. I have some silicone ones from SOOM, but they get dirty so easily that I try to avoid using them. I’ve never seen urethane eyes in person and they look stunning in photos, but I’m at a point where I can’t justify so much money just for eyes, so glass are a really good option.
HOW TO ORDER
The easiest way is to just order them through Den of Angels, but you can also order via email (their contact info is on their website). Both times I bought from them I sent a list of eyes, sizes and dome type as a private message in the forum. Doll eyes replies with the total price plus shipping and Paypal address. You send the money through Paypal and in the comments field you write your DoA user name and eyes list (or that’s what I did anyways). It takes about 2 weeks for your eyes to be ready.
The last order I made I got my Supia Rosy’s eyes size all messed up and I contacted the seller to see if there was anything they could do. Since 2 weeks already passed the eyes were already in the postal service, but they did try to see if they could retrieve the package, which was not possible in the end. This was totally my fault since I sent the wrong size information in my order list.
They reply PMs really fast usually, I only had one PM that didn’t get an answer, but it was probably because my english was pretty much a fail at that point (the more I try to explain something the worst my english gets lol).
ABOUT THE PRODUCTS
Since they are handmade, it’s totally normal to find imperfections or differences in 2 eyes of the same pair, but this is normal for all handmade glass eyes and it’s really not a big deal to me.
The colors are really nice and vibrant and most colors look really close to their website pictures. The only ones that I have that are not that close to their sales pictures are the ET35 ones, since I see them like a light violet in their site, but they are more on the pink side in person.
I ordered custom eyes this time, 3 pairs are 14mm. eyes with an iris of a 12mm. eyes and 2 of them are 12mm. in size with an iris of a 11mm. eye. The eyes came exactly like that.
Besides choosing color and size, you can choose dome type between normal and low, and the shape of the back of the eye: flat or with handle. All my CiG eyes are low dome and flat.
Eyes on the left are 14mm. standard ones. On the right, custom eyes (14mm. eyes with iris of 12mm. eyes)
14mm. standard eyes and 12mm. with 11mm. eyes iris size.
SHIPPING TIMES
The eyes took around 2 weeks and a half to be ready and they were shipped right away. Airmail from China to Chile has always been slow and it took several weeks for the eyes to get here, but I was never worried since CiG offers tracking number and even though they don’t pay for insurance, they take all responsibility for any problems in transit. I ordered at the end of August and I got them this week.
Colors from my previous order. I didn’t keep the codes.
Both times I’ve ordered I got eye putty and eyelashes as gift (this last order I got A LOT of eye putty). The eye putty is yellow (I’m not sure what kind it is) and the eyelashes sent were long strips of black and white hairs (sepparately).
CONCLUSION
Again, and old photo. I didn’t keep record of the color code for these.
I’m really in love with glass eyes. Captured in glass eyes are not only affordable, but they look really nice both in person and in pictures. I’ll probably purchase a new pair for Hana in the future, since I didn’t get the right size this time (totally my fault).
Related links:
Captured in Glass website
Den of Angel’s sales post
Den of Angels Cig User gallery (very useful)
CiG are very good for their price and it’s good to know they offer custom iris sizes! It seems they havd also switched to flatbacks. I made an order from them years ago and back then the eyes had studs in the back. The problem I had with them was that the domes were a bit too high, especially in my 12mm pair. But from your pictures it looks like they have fixed that too. 🙂 Which is very good since I have a harder time justifying urethanes when the eye size is small, as the brilliance of urethane doesn’t really show up that much like with larger eyes.
You can choose flat back or rounded with a handle and normal or low dome. I added that information in the review, somehow I managed to skip it. I really like glass eyes, they are very nice alternative for those costly urethanes. Some day I might give in and buy urethane, I guess I’ll need a doll with bigger eyes then lol
Currently only one of my dolls is wearing glass eyes (because they are pupiless), all the others are urethanes. With wide open eyes (like my OE Byggs and Ai) even 14mm urethanes look marvellous, but the very pretty effect comes with my 18mm eyes on my big girls. :3 If I hadn’t had such bad luck finding fitting cheaper eyes for my Dia, I wouldn’t have ordered urethanes for him, but they were my only option to get the exact look I wanted. Urethanes are costly, but at least they allow as wide range of iris patterns/colours as acrylics/silicones, but with much better quality.
That is a really nice review! Loved all the eyes, but I can’t wait to see Kitty in them :3 Also, as Fyrd sais, sometimes high-domes can be a pain, but this ones seem to have a pretty low one.
Thanks so much for doing the review :3
Kitty will be my doom. With the next order I’ll be having 3 pairs of Y33 eyes around in different sizes XD! You can also choose normal dome, which is higher than these ones. I still prefer low dome since all my dolls use small eyes and high dome doesn’t look good. Thanks for commenting!
I love CiG eyes too ^^ Only 4 of my dolls don’t have them! And they are so so so good for custom orders 🙂 I asked for eyes that look like a certain anime character ^^ And they are perfect 😀 I won’t go anywhere else for glass ^^ They are lovly people 🙂
That’s cool! I also am happy with their service so I would’t go anywhere else for eyes :)!! Thanks for your comment!
i am very excited to be recommended by all of you ,
i will show my best to all of you!
thank you very very much from my heart!
the world is wonderful because of full friendship between us!
I’m glad you liked the review, your eyes are amazing 😀
Ah~ I’m glad I found this review. I’ve been wanting to buy from CIG for some time now. Their eyes look amazing and they come in a good price too! >u<
I’m happy to see you find it useful :D! CiG eyes are really nice~