Automatic eyes

Question: A months weeks back (12/28/2011) you mentioned automatic/balanced eyes on your blog. Are there and printed directions for such a thing? Jim
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From Mr. D: I do not know of any plans showing how to build the "automatic" eyes. I just made mine up by trial and error using a suspended pendulum type weight to move the eyes side to side as the head is tilted. I actually prefer eyes that have a control on the headpost. With a control, the operator can control the speed and amount of eye movement. And there are times when you want the eyes to move while the head remains motionless. None of this is possible with automatic eyes which simply swing full left and right as the head is moved side to side. The only reason I decided to use this feature on the figure you saw was the smaller size of the doll. The working space inside the body was very limited. On a couple occasions in past years I have also installed this feature on figures owned by ventriloquists with severely arthritic hands or limited mobility for other reasons. For situations such as that, the automatic eyes are an asset, so I don't want to sound too negative - the automatic eyes do have their place.