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Googly eyes, or wiggle eyes, are small plastic crafting items used to imitate 
The plastic shells come in a variety of sizes ranging from diameters of to over . The inner disks come in a variety of colors including pink, blue, yellow, red and green. Googly eyes are used for a variety of arts and crafts projects including
They were prominently used in the Weepul promotional toys, invented in the 1970s by Tom Blundell, an executive of the toy company BIPO, who stuck googly eyes to a small pom-pom out of boredom. The inventor claimed that 400 million were sold between 1971 and 2012. Similar toys have appeared since then, like the "Wuppies", a toy which was popular in the Netherlands in the 1980s, and the "Pirilampo Mágico" ("Magic Firefly"), a popular toy sold annually in Portugal since 1987 as a fundraising product for CERCI, a co-op specialized in helping the mentally disabled. Recent iterations of this toy have replaced its googly eyes and pom-pom appearance for one made fully in plastic.
Beginning in the 2000s, a trend called "eyebombing" emerged of sticking googly eyes to objects in the urban environment. The inspiration for the movement has been claimed by French artist Do Benracassa, in his 1980s project "''Ça Vous Regarde''". It was then developed by two unnamed Danish artists, and a group called the Googly Eyes Foundation emerged to spread the phenomenon.
The
Googly eyes, or wiggle eyes, are small plastic crafting items used to imitate eyeball
Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide living organisms with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response functions that are independent of vision. Eyes detect light and con ...
s. Googly eyes traditionally are composed of a white plastic or card backing covered by a clear, hard-plastic shell, encapsulating a black plastic disk. The combination of a black circle over a white disk mimics the appearance of the sclera and pupil
The pupil is a black hole located in the center of the Iris (anatomy), iris of the Human eye, eye that allows light to strike the retina.Cassin, B. and Solomon, S. (1990) ''Dictionary of Eye Terminology''. Gainesville, Florida: Triad Publishing ...
of the eye to humorous effect. The inner black disk is allowed to move freely within the larger clear plastic shell, which makes the eyes appear to move when the googly eyes are tilted or shaken.
The plastic shells come in a variety of sizes ranging from diameters of to over . The inner disks come in a variety of colors including pink, blue, yellow, red and green. Googly eyes are used for a variety of arts and crafts projects including pipe cleaner
A pipe cleaner or chenille stem is a type of brush originally intended for removing moisture and residue from smoking pipes. They can also be used for any application that calls for cleaning out small bores or tight places. Special pipe cleaner ...
farm animals, silly sock puppets, mischievous pranks, and other creations. Googly eyes may also be attached to inanimate objects in order to give the objects a "silly" or "cute" appearance. This use often personifies the objects for a humorous effect, or to make an object less threatening and more appealing.
History
The name "googly eyes" may refer back to the early 20th century comic stripBarney Google and Snuffy Smith
''Barney Google and Snuffy Smith'', originally ''Take Barney Google, F'rinstance'', is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Billy DeBeck. Since its debut on June 17, 1919, the strip has gained a large international readership, appearin ...
, in which Barney Google had characteristically exaggerated eyes that inspired a hit 1923 song "Barney Google (with the Goo-Goo-Googly Eyes)".
They were prominently used in the Weepul promotional toys, invented in the 1970s by Tom Blundell, an executive of the toy company BIPO, who stuck googly eyes to a small pom-pom out of boredom. The inventor claimed that 400 million were sold between 1971 and 2012. Similar toys have appeared since then, like the "Wuppies", a toy which was popular in the Netherlands in the 1980s, and the "Pirilampo Mágico" ("Magic Firefly"), a popular toy sold annually in Portugal since 1987 as a fundraising product for CERCI, a co-op specialized in helping the mentally disabled. Recent iterations of this toy have replaced its googly eyes and pom-pom appearance for one made fully in plastic.
Beginning in the 2000s, a trend called "eyebombing" emerged of sticking googly eyes to objects in the urban environment. The inspiration for the movement has been claimed by French artist Do Benracassa, in his 1980s project "''Ça Vous Regarde''". It was then developed by two unnamed Danish artists, and a group called the Googly Eyes Foundation emerged to spread the phenomenon.
The Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
recognises a pair of googly eyes measuring in diameter made in 2019 as the largest ever.
In popular culture
Googly eyes are featured in the 2022 film '' Everything Everywhere All at Once'' and its promotional materials.See also
* Googly eyed doll *OOglies
''OOglies'' is a stop-motion animated children's television series produced by BBC Scotland for CBBC. The show involves short humorous sketches with household items and food, virtually all of which have googly eyes stuck on, hence the show's tit ...
* Pareidolia
Pareidolia (; ) is the tendency for perception to impose a meaningful interpretation on a nebulous stimulus, usually visual, so that one sees an object, pattern, or meaning where there is none.
Common examples are perceived images of animals, ...
, tendency to see faces in inanimate objects, among other perceptions
References
{{Reflist Craft materials Novelty items