I brought some childhood soft toys back from my parents' house. One of them has eyes that are covered in fine scratches and a couple of small nicks, which makes them look dull and cloudy rather than glossy.
I would rather not replace the eyes, they are original and I would have to cut into the fabric.
What is the right approach for polishing small plastic domes like this, and how do I avoid making it worse?
One more thing to check before starting: whether the cloudiness is on the surface at all.
Some older plastic eyes have a painted backing behind a clear dome, and when that backing degrades the eye looks dull no matter how well you polish the front. A quick test is to wet the surface, if it goes glossy and dark while wet, the problem is the front and polishing will work. If it still looks cloudy, the damage is underneath and no amount of surface work will reach it.
Do the test the first comment suggests before anything else: a drop of water on the surface. If the cloudiness disappears while wet, it is surface scratching and polishing will fix it. If it stays, the plastic has degraded through and no amount of abrasive helps.
Two minutes and it decides whether the rest of the thread applies to you.
Two cautions specific to this being a soft toy rather than a loose part.
Protect the fabric. Abrasive slurry and polish will get into the plush around the eye and it is very hard to get out. Mask the area with tape and a slit card around the eye before you start, and change it when it gets loaded.
Test on the less visible eye first, or on an inconspicuous edge. Plastics vary and some react badly to solvent-based polishes, clouding or crazing that appears minutes later.
Also, work in short sessions and look at the result dry. Wet plastic always looks fixed because the water fills the scratches, which is exactly the illusion that makes people stop too early or keep going too long.
Mask the fabric with tape and work with the toy on its side so slurry runs away from the pile.
There is a shortcut worth knowing about for shallow damage, and a warning that comes with it: a thin coat of clear varnish or clear nail polish fills fine scratches optically and restores gloss without removing any material.
Thinning it slightly gives a smoother, less obviously coated finish. On a decorative item it can look very good.
The warning is that it is not reversible in any easy way, and for something with sentimental or collectable value that matters. Polishing removes material and leaves original surface; coating adds a layer that will yellow eventually and that a future restorer has to strip.
So for a toy you love, polish. For a toy you are patching up for a shelf, the coating is quick and effective.
The technique from car headlight restoration transfers directly and the key is that it is a sequence, not a product: work through progressively finer abrasives and only then polish. Skipping straight to polish on a scratched surface just makes a shiny scratched surface.
On something this small, the finest grades of wet abrasive paper followed by a plastic polish on a cotton bud is the whole toolkit.
And that sequence is why varnish is tempting: it skips the work. It also traps whatever was underneath.
Thermoplastic rather than resin matters because it is softer than you expect. Go gently or you will flat-spot the curve.
@restorer_ruzgar · 4w ago
These are almost certainly moulded thermoplastic rather than cast resin - mass-produced toys use the cheap high-volume process - and that is good news, because thermoplastic polishes beautifully.
The approach is the same one used for scratched watch crystals and headlight lenses: progressive abrasion, from coarse enough to remove the damage down to fine enough to restore gloss.
The two rules that matter: keep it wet, and keep it cool. Friction melts thermoplastic, and a melted spot is much harder to fix than a scratch.
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