Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Eye Glasses - Tutorial


Remember this picture from a couple of days ago?
I was showing off the vintage eye glasses I made.
Well here is the tutorial I promised.
Please excuse any blurry pictures.
My helper was not trained in this field. =)

What you will need

Wire- a bit about it:
I used *20 & 22 gauge.
(18 was too hard to work with, 24 might be fine)
I would just experiment with whatever you have on hand.
* the bigger the number, the smaller the wire.
I used both a black wire, and the silver wire in this post.
The kind that comes on larger rolls is best. no kinks.
Wire cutters
pliers
a round object
the size you want your lenses to be.
I used a bottle of nail polish.
a 2 oz bottle of acrylic paint is a good size too.

For the size glasses I made, I cut a 2' piece of wire.


Fold it in the middle to make the nose piece.
Eyepiece.

To make the eyepiece hold the center of the wire in your left hand.
Take the bottle in your right hand,
and place it just to the right of the center with the
wire going over the top of the bottle.
Holding the wire down on the bottle with your right thumb,
roll the wire around the bottle once,
and go past where you started.
close up below.
Do this on both sides.

You should end up with something similar to this.

A bit of work to do on these.
To shape up that left left piece,
just put the bottle back in and pull wire tighter.

Earpieces
You want to make sure they come to about
the same spot on both sides.
Now, with your hand or pliers,
bend each side so it goes back.
You want to gently, but firmly hold on to
your lenses while doing this, lest you bend
your new glasses out of shape. =)
This bending can be done at the top, or middle of the frames.
I ended up liking the middle the best.


Time to cut off extra wire.
Normally, glasses ear pieces are about as long
as the glasses are wide, so use wire
cutters to get rid of any extra now.

Ear pieces can be done several different ways,
just like regular glasses are different.
If you want a curved ear piece, just
fold it around your bottle like you did the frames.

Or you can just leave them straight out the back,
maybe curving them just slightly with your fingers.
(no picture)
Or, this is the newest one:
Fold the ear pieces back so it looks like they are folded up.
Just like we do with our own.
The other thing to be aware of, especially if you
are laying them down like they are in the picture below,

is that your frames need to be even with the nose piece.
You do not want the to rock when you set them down.
Did that make sense?

Tweaking your glasses:

Your glasses will probably have a bit of a gap between the wires.

To fix this, gently push the back wire
slightly through the frames to the front.
Then push them back.
Doing this will usually put them in pretty close.

And here are your glasses!!
They will take some practice to get them just so,
but a very inexpensive and fun project to do.

Now, where did I put my glasses?
Oh, there they are.
Here is another pair.


Can you find them in this picutre?

yep. one of my bears is wearing them.
I even made a pair for my granddaughters doll.

In case you are wondering how I got started doing these,
here is the story.

As always, if you do anything up from my tutorials, or
ideas you see here, please let me know.
I would love to how them off to my friends.

Blessings
barbara jean

I am signing up with some of the wonderful parties on my side bar.
Hope you will go check them out.


19 comments:

Dorthe said...

Dear Barbara Jean,
Thanks for this sweet tutorial, the glasses looks real old, and lovely, and I love how you used them with your old books, and the nest--a wonderfull vignet.
Hugs,Dorthe

Linecas have said...

What a nice idea. I have a old bear, well infact it is my very own from when I was very little.I have thought of fixing him up a bit but never gotten around to it. A easy but clever idea.
Have a wonderful day my friend.
Lineca

Picture Photo Frames said...

Great collection. I find 6th no. picture is very cool. And set-up that as a background screen. I really wonder how you manage such great collation. Bookmarked.

Deanna said...

Thanks for the tutorial! I think they are just darling!

Deanna :D

Shay said...

The glasses look so real--What a great tutorial! I am going to try this one and make a pair to sit on a stack of old books. Thanks, Shay

Karen B. said...

Hi Baraba Jean,

how neat are you glasses!!!!I love them and thank you for sharing!
Hugs
Karen B. ~ Todolwen

Anonymous said...

Barb, how cute this is! You can do so much with this idea. Thank you for sharing.
Blessings, Diane

Yayin said...

Han quedado muy las gafas,me gusta mucho el tutorial,gracias por compartirlo.
Felicidades por sus trabajos.
Besos - Rosa

Queenie's Vintage Finds said...

These glasses are precious...thanks for the tutorial Barbara Jean :)
Big hugs,
Queenie

Sonya Badgley said...

Hi Barb!
Thanks for the tutorial! I'm going to have to try that!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Hugs,
sonya

Marie Lost Bird Studio said...

Hi Barb,
thank you so much for the tutorial!!Well, you make it look so easy - is it? I'll give it a try.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Hugs,
Marie

Desirée-ScrapDees said...

this is really nice, thanks for the tutoral!

Patricia @ 9th and Denver said...

Great tutorial on the eye glasses.

They turned out great and you can use them for so many things.
I like both models
open ear piece and closed--and they're adorable on Mr. Ted E. Bear!

Vintage Linen Treasures said...

So CUTE and so easy! You are so very talented and sweet to share with us. Thank you!!
Patricia :o)

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful tutorial! Thank you so much for sharing.

Agnes said...

I saw the glasses and i was in love !
Because of a cat who is very ill (and in a pets hospital now) i couldnot find the rest or clamness (how do you call that...i was too nervous?) ...to make it.
Today i gave it a try and i made three different glasses.
Thank you so very much for this tutorial.
Love Agnes

МамаФиалка said...

thanks!

Unknown said...

Thank you very much!it's a great idea.ciao,Elena

Unknown said...

Looking foraeye glasses tutorial,I found yours...I'm going to try...i'll lik your post in my blog