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Winkle BearsI live in South Africa and I have started to import eyes from the UK as that seems to be the only place where eyes are made. The exchange rate makes these eyes very expensive to South Africans and therefore these beautiful eyes are limited to customers who can afford expensive eyes.
I wish to promote bear making to all types and classes of people.. rich and poor and wish to create a 'want' for teddy bears where there is none. At the moment I am trying to get into the orphanages around Johannesburg and give free teddy bear making lessons. Hopefully new talent will emerge and the magic of bear making will spread. 
I would like to start manufacturing glass eyes on a small scale (for now) at a lower cost than those imported.
This will create and export market where bear makers overseas can also obtain eyes at lower costs thus benefitting many others as well as the local RSA market.
I have a basic and very limited understanding of how one can make teddy bear glass eyes... Does anyone have this knowledge wrt the process used that they are willing to impart with me?
The net does not seem to be much help.
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)We visited the Lesch (sp?) eye factory in Germany. The larger eyes—5 mm and up—were machined, both plastic and glass. I found this fascinating - as that frustrated indusrial engineer I mentioned yesterday. I LV assembly lines and machines that make things work.
But more fascinating was the very small room at the back where the 1 - 4 mm were made by hand. 4 to 6 workers sat at high benches - I'm remembering about 5 or 6 of these bencjes. It must get awfully hot in there in the summer, though the room was all windows on 2 or 3 sides. The workers worked for short time periods between breaks (less than an hour) because of eye strain of watching the amount of molten glass deposited and staring into the blue gas jet flame.. Each one had a gas jet in front of them. If I rememberr correctly the eye on one end of the wire was made by one person and the wires were set an a small rack to cool slightly before the 'partner' worker made the eye on the other end.
Besides the fact that the hand-deposited amount of each bead is impossible to match every time, even by the same person, this might help explain why they eyes are all different sizes and you need to purchase a bundle in order to make your own matches.
These were the eyes on the ends of the 4" long wires, not the individually looped ones. Picking up the wire in one hand and holding the glass rod in the other (they were working on all-black the day we visited), the glass was held in the flame just long enough to soften it. It was tthen applied to the end of the wire where a tiny blob would become the eye. They were twirled slightly to form a ball and set on the rack to cool. This took about 5 - 10 seconds. On the 1 and 2 mm sizes the blob was left as a round ball.
On the 3 & 4 mm sizes the molten glass was twirled in half-circle holes in a metal plate; these then made perfect half spheres or the slightly flattened half domes that we like in the shoe button style, depending upon which shaped hole they used in the small metal plate.
I will say that I had one bad experience there. We were able to place orders there and take with us some of the merchandise, with the rest to follow by mail. My only experience with eyes had been with the 16" strings of 2 & 3 mm onyx beads. I ordered 500 pairs each of 2, 3 & 4mm because the prices were so good - I'm remembering them as less than half retail. We'd also been told to count our eyes to make sure we got what we ordered.
It was a very long process (worse/longer than fabric buying at Schulte) as one older lady took the orders individually and went into the inventory to get them and bring them back to the showroom before doing the next person's order.
Being unfamiliar with the look of 500 pairs on wires, It wasn't until I actually counted them a few days later that I found I'd rec'd only half of my 2 mm. I never said anything to the tour leader as I thought the rest would come in the mail with my 3 & 4 mm. When they arrived a few months later - no 2 mm. I was disappointed in that such a large company that produces a wonderful product would do something like that. It'd apparently happened in the past as we were warned to count our purchases before leaving.....
I guess this also proves a business point about customers telling 10 ppl about a good experience with a company... and 100 of a bad experience.
Winkle BearsWow thanks... that helps me loads... :clap:
i thought i would need s kiln to melt the glass. (maybe on a larger scale later)
I did see the Lesch site and saw a picture where a man was sitting in front of the blow torch so your discription has helped alot.
I also knew that there has to be some sort of half circle things that they put the pupil into... i just did not know what it was made out of and whether they would melt the glass for the iris first (now i see they melt it onto the pupil first.)
You have been a great help!!! 
Winkle BearsI still have to do alot of research and the metal mould might cost a bit...
so maybe i was a bit over eager. But i will look into it none the less.
Sorry to hear about the eys miscount... i seem to have had similar experiences here in RSA with washers for my joints. They weigh the washers and a certain weight is supposed to be a certain amount of washers.
The nuts and bolts always seem to have minimal differences but the washers are half of what they should be... also from a reputable dealer.
Kinda irritating when you thing you are obtaining goods at discount prices but they give you half. I know that feeling. But i also learnt my lesson... count it while you are there! :doh:
I visited your site... you are very talented. I tried my hand at needle felting (australian merino wool)
Not again... i have not got enough patience for that. Plus RSA does not have a market where one can sell needle felted arts and one can receive the correct and well deserved money for it. So well done. They are great.
I specifically like the polar bears with their cubs (on BAO, i think)
