Urban legends are always popular. So are misconceptions and both these are the case when it comes to the phrase "Lauscha glass eyes".
The popular myth is that Lauscha is a German company that makes high quality glass eyes, especially for dolls. The truth is...
Lauscha is a town in Germany that has a history for making the high quality glass products that have become so recognised and popular. The name of the town has become recognised with the products that it has become famous for.
The town in the east of Germany doesn't only make doll eyes though. The quality craftsmanship is also used for eye replacements in humans as well as a host of other things.
Some 30 small producers often with a handful of skilled craftsmen, have specialised in producing the high quality glass eyes for dolls.
The production of the eyes is a very precise process that cannot be rushed. At the bottom of the scale are the normal doll eyes whose iris is not as time consuming. Next on the scale are the eyes shown below whose details especially in the iris give an extra hint of realism.
The 30 or so producers in Lauscha have around 3 or 4 differing standards or qualities for the eyes, so this means that the amount of ways to make the eyes is very diverse.
To keep the glass eyes looking as realsitic as possible the craftsmen make sure that the iris is made in the same dimensions as a human eye. A human iris is normally about 50% of the whole eye, baby eyes are a little larger and this is what makes the eyes have their real effect.
Each single eye is unique as they are made individually. When the eyes are finished they can be paired together with another eye that is as close as possible to a match. All of this cannot be done by a machine, so the skill of the producer is again called on to make sure the eyes match.
A rule of thumb is that if a producer makes 50 eyes, then only 40 match. These make it into the 1st choice eyes. The other 10, although made of the same materials can have slightly different iris sizes or colours and thus make up the second quality.
We sell only the 1st Quality. Occasionally, we will run a special on all the eyes that we have connected over time, that have slight variations and we list those as seconds.
NOTE:
I searched for the best quality glass eyes on a trip to Lausha, Germany, the glassblowing capitol of Germany. I found an artist there who produced the most realistic eyes, I have ever seen. These solid eyes are hand produced one at a time, taking approximately 15 to 20 minutes for just one eye
Then they are hand sorted to make a matching set. The pupils are deep inside the eye and there is a dark circle around the iris. Together with their rich colors and shine and their natural round shape in both the diameter and the dome, making them very close to a real eye of a human being.
There are several colors and sizes available. Of course we only sell first class quality.
Because the eyes are hand made and individually crafted there may be slight differences in the tone of the eyes and size of the pupils,or iris, just like a real human eyes.