The first decision you have to make is whether or not the teddy bear will be used as a toy for a small child. If the answer is "yes", your bear should have plastic safety eyes.
Safety eyes are made of plastic or plexiglass and come with a metal washer that pushes onto the shaft of the eye and does not come back off again. These eyes are recommended for childrenšs toys because, unlike glass eyes, they will not crack and break and the safety washer locks the eye to the fabric so it will not pull out.
There are a couple of minor disadvantages to safety eyes. Once you put your eye in place, you cannot remove it, so choosing the correct placement for your eyes is very important. Safety eyes must also be inserted before your bear is stuffed which makes placement even more difficult to judge.
If your bear is not intended as a toy for a young child, you may venture into the wide variety of beautiful glass eyes in our inventory.
If you visit our webpage you will find a picture gallery of most of the eyes we carry. Choosing a type and color is strictly a personal preference. The most basic eye would be solid black, which comes in either shiny or matted finish in a variety of different qualities. If you are going for the classic old-fashioned look you may want to use our vintage old shoe buttons. Most of our eyes have a colored iris around a round black pupil. Variations include albino eyes with a red pupil, starburst eyes which have a realistic starburst effect in the colored iris, eyes with whites in the corner, eyes with large black off-center pupil and cat or reptile eyes with oval pupils.
Choosing the size and placement of your bear's eyes is a major part of his overall look. Larger eyes and eyes placed far apart make a bear look younger and more cub-like. Smaller eyes and eyes placed closer together gives him an adult, older bear look. Solid black eyes appear larger than eyes with a colored iris and pupil even though they may be the exact same size eyes.
Playing around with the size and placement will give you a variety of different expressions and looks. To aid in this big decision, we carry a wonderful product called Perfect Eye Size Sets. These eyes are pairs of tester eyes in a range of sizes that come in a set. The eyes are mounted on a single straight wire, which allow you to push them through the bearšs head at the eye placement points to see if you like the placement and size you have chosen. You can move these tester eyes around until you are happy with the placement and size and then insert the real eyes.
When you have your eyes chosen and your placement points marked, use an awl to push small holes where your eyes will be inserted. The awl should separate the threads of the fabric, not pierce them. The eyes should never be inserted directly into the seam; always move them to one side or the other to avoid breaking your stitches and splitting the gusset seam open.
Our glass eyes come on a straight wire, a coil, a round loop or a narrow loop. Straight wires must be turned into a coil with a needle nose pliers before inserting.
You will need to have a needle about 1" to 3" longer than the width of the bear's head to insert the eyes. Choose from our selection of needles in a variety of sizes.
Eye floss is used to hold the eyes in place. It is a very strong, wax coated thread that comes in several weights. The thicker floss is used on larger bears and the thinner floss is used on the smaller ones. Some of the heavier weights can be split into strands of lesser weight to be used on smaller bears. Some miniature eyes have a hole drilled in the center like glass beads or onyx beads, and can be inserted using matching upholstery thread.
There are an endless number of teddy bear artists who each swear by a different method of eye insertion. I suggest you try a few methods, ask around and learn some different ways, experiment on your own and you will find the method that you like best. Here are a few to try.
Some artists stitch the eyes together by sewing back and forth through the muzzle coming in and out of each eye. This method pulls eyes in toward each other creating a bridge on the nose.
A common method used is to insert your needle (single threaded with eye floss) at the back of one ear and come out the opposite eyehole. Thread one eye onto the floss and re-insert the needle into the eyehole coming out at the back of the opposite ear, close to the first thread. Tie the two threads together tightly (leaving a slight dimple in the back of the ear) and hide the threads in the head. *
Some artists insert the eyes before closing and jointing the neck. This allows them to hide the threads in the stuffing of the neck opening. The same general idea is used, but the needle is inserted first up through the stuffing in the open neck and comes out one eyehole. The eye is threaded onto the floss and the needle re-inserted into the same eyehole and comes out the open neck again. Tie a double knot with the two threads and cut. The threads will be hidden when the neck is closed.
The method that I use (the one that I swear by!) was taught to me by artist, Sam Blum. I'm also sure I've altered it from the original version. Thread one eye onto the center of a long piece of floss. Thread both ends of the thread onto your needle and push the needle through the eyehole and out the back of the head. Don't pull the eye tight yet. Push the needle back into the same hole you just came out of. Taking another path through the stuffing, come out or very close to the eyehole again. Pull both strands of floss to sink the eye down. Separate the ends of the floss and tie a single knot, letting it slip underneath the eye and pull tight. Leave this eye and repeat the steps to bring the second eye to this same point. Adjust both eyes; making sure they are both evenly sunk into the head. For each eye, tie a second knot letting it slip over the eye; tie one more time, doubling that knot to lock. Hide the threads as explained above. This method allows me to sink the eyes from the front so I can see that they are even. This method also leaves no dimple in the back of the head.