I was waiting for just the right opportunity to add eye change instruction for a Ruby Red doll and a siblie created the perfect opportunity.

I purchased a Ruby Red Siblie Kelsey doll that I had seen on Mercari for a while desperately needing an eye change for her very spooky pink eyes. Possibly a defect, as I don't think someone intentionally changed her eyes to this color. I've seen defective eyes originally brown that have turned pink due to a defect, and brown eyes would be fitting for this little girl so that might be a good guess. Changing eyes on her was very simple as she's front loading similar to a Wellie Wisher and so it was just a matter of heating up her vinyl to see what we were working with.

I find that the blow drying method is the best method for front loading eyes and for tiny heads. It's fast, easy, and after you are done all the fear is gone of eye changes. Having never owned a Siblie before, I had no idea what these eyes were going to look like or what shape they were going to be coming out so I just dived right in.

I used the blow dryer about an inch from her face and on the hot setting, stayed there for about 5 minutes. On larger dolls I usually go about 10 minutes but her head was so small the vinyl went soft rather quickly. I used our Eye Tool to scoop the eyes out at the corners (the rainbow tool you see below) to dig in at the corner of the sockets and lift the eye up to get it out. Here's what came out, they are half-dome eyes which means they are not solid on the back but rather a half circle, plastic or acrylic, and completely round where the iris takes up most of the eye and there is very little white around it.

This is definitely a preference to have large iris's in dolls but I find I go more proportionate when it comes to the iris size on my dolls as larger ones make dolls almost look alien with huge pupils. I have a lot of eye sizes on hand, and I found that a 10mm eye with a 7mm iris was the size I was looking for. The eyes I had were oval instead of the round acrylic ones I took out, but I do find that oval often fits the sockets as that's the actual shape of eyes. The eyes I chose were a grey-purple because I was really loving her purple streaks in her hair and often like to pair unusual eyes with dark skinned dolls as I find it makes them look even more unique and exotic.

Choosing the eyes took some time, so I did have to go back and reheat the head with my blow dryer when I was ready to put the eyes in. Once the vinyl was soft I turned the eyes in at an angle and just pushed them into the sockets. There wasn't any room to move around, so no adjustment was needed once they popped in. You do have to push hard so it looks like you are squishing her head flat, but it's all part of the process.

And then she is done! The glass eyes make her look much more high end and are proportionate to her face, so I was quite pleased with how she looked after. Probably the quickest eye job I've had to do as it took a total of 10 minutes to do it. The oval shape did not impact anything at all, went in quick. Her vinyl hardened back to normal within 10 minutes, so she was back to her normal self.

A quick note: For those who are used to BJD dolls, even though these dolls are articulated, they are an economic fashion doll bjd type that is articulated and strung, but you'll find that they are rather stiff and you can't get the knees to stay bent at a full angle or the arms. You have to consider the price point they are at when comparing them and take into account that they are intended as a children's doll in their market.

For reference a Ruby Red Siblie measures about 11" tall and has a 7" head. Our 7-8" wigs fit the Siblie head perfectly. I am sure I will be using a lot of her in the future for modeling.