Volks SD13 Elizabeth - eye comparison and try-on

13th February 2024

I was lucky enough to win the recent lottery sale for Volks's SD13 Elizabeth. She's a really gorgeous doll with a very changeable sculpt and a lot of potential.

My Elizabeth arrived yesterday, and I had time to do a quick unboxing and dress-up.

Red-haired female resin ball-jointed doll wearing an elaborate purple dress with cream drapery.

These dolls are intended to be customised (if the owner wants to), and I always find that eye size and placement make a huge difference to the doll's expression. Elizabeth comes with 18mmHG glass eyes from Volks in the colour "Cadet Blue with Black line". For my taste, they're too big, and when I examined my doll I could see gaps at the sides of the eyes when you look from certain angles.

I removed the eyes and noticed that they do seem on the large size of 18mm (though eye size is not an exact science, especially with handmade glass eyes). The irises are 11-12mm which is larger than any other 18mm eyes I own. And also, they have very high domes - again, higher than others I own, which likely is the main cause of the gapping.

Below is a comparison with two other sets of glass eyes. From left to right: 18mm Zoukeimura eyes from the Full Choice System (colour "Thin green", circa 2004), 18mm HG Glass eyes from the SDGr Lucia Antique Stylist release (colour "Tea Rose with Black line"), and Elizabeth's eyes.

Three sets of glass eyes. The left pair are shallow with deep domes, the middle pair deep but with shallow domes, and the right pair deep with high domes

Eye comparisons

18mm Zoukeimura eyes from the Full Choice System (colour "Thin green", circa 2004):

Female ball-jointed doll head with one pale green glass eye inserted.

18mm HG Glass eyes from the SDGr Lucia Antique Stylist release (colour "Tea Rose with Black line"):

Female ball-jointed doll head with one brown glass eye inserted.

16mm HG glass eyes from the SD17 Maximilian release (colour "Cadet Blue with Black line"):

Female ball-jointed doll head with one blue-grey glass eye inserted.

16mm glass eyes (origin unknown):

Female ball-jointed doll head with one blue glass eye inserted.

18mm Zoukeimura glass eyes (colour unknown; circa 2021):

Female ball-jointed doll head with one dark grey glass eye inserted.

Conclusion

I thought the 16mm eyes would be the best fit, but there's a tiny bit of gapping on the sides. My low-profile, low-dome Zoukeimura eyes are definitely the best fit.

In general, I feel a small-iris 18mm, which I don't have here, would be the best choice, but 16mm would also work.