The great hot glue saga of January 2026 (or: new eyes for Ivy)
If you've ever bought a doll from Volks before (my very favourite - and the original -resin ball-jointed doll company) you might know that in most cases, their glass eyes are fixed into the head with hot glue. The eyes are absolutely meant to be removable, but I guess this is the most fool-proof way to make sure they don't go anywhere. (To be fair, it does look a bit terrifying when one eye decides to point in a different direction, which can happen when they're fixed in with putty.)
Anyway, Ivy (previously featured in this post, and this one) still had her original eyes up until today. I've removed many a hot glued eye; I just got lazy with hers.
No technique for removing hot glue from inside a doll's head (a fairly enclosed space) is without risk - especially if you don't want to ruin their faceup. I use 99% alcohol in sparing amounts on a cotton bud, holding the head upside-down so that any excess alcohol can't run to the outside of the head through the eye sockets. I rub the alcohol along where the seam of the hot glue meets the resin inside the head, wait a few moments, then gently pry the glue out with tweezers. Often, it pops out in the most satisfying way.
With Ivy, it did not.
I (literally) chipped away at this hot glue at various moments over two days. The glue was stubborn to the point of obstinate. I managed to get the eyes themselves out fairly early in the process, but for a while I wondered if I was going to have to just leave half the glue in there.
But this morning, I had another good go, and I won.
Funnily enough, I'd left the hot glue in Ivy for so long because I didn't think I had eyes big enough for her, as her defaults are 20mm. But when I started trying eyes in her, I found I liked 18mm best.
I'm 90% sure these are Volks HG glass eyes, so nothing special, but I really like the violet-blue against her warm faceup and wig.
She's still wearing the Melody.C Ribbon Rabbit set which she hasn't taken off since June 2024. (Oops. But it looks so good!) The wig is a limited Volks wig, I believe from one of the releases of Ran, that I managed to find on Yahoo! Japan auctions.
