Patience and Persistence = SUCCESS
How to make a necklace by repurposing glass lenses from old eyeglasses.
Were you beginning to wonder what I was up to? Thanks for being so patient with me, but I knew I was close to coming up with a hip and trendy idea that stemmed from an old time craft.
I couldn’t give up. I just ran out of time. Today, I finally got the necklace I was working on to come out right.
I simply wanted to re-purpose a few pairs of eyeglasses to make a few pieces of eye glass jewelry.
I wanted to re-live a craft I did when I was a kid in Girl Scouts. I remember when my troop made our mothers pins for Mother’s Day out of old eyeglasses, scraps of decorative paper, glue, and a pin back. Prest-O Change-O a pretty pin for our moms.
Total time to complete was half an hour, so when I decided to make a necklace using the same technique, I thought it wouldn’t take too long.
I was wrong!!!
The problem all stemmed from the glue. It just wasn’t making a permanent bond, I tried 6 glues and Mod Podge too.
I was perplexed to say the least until it dawned on me as I was standing over the sink washing my 8th failure off the lens – that I realized what was wrong. When I was a kid, eyeglasses were made of glass.
Today they are made of lightweight plastic with a variety of coatings. I needed to get some plastic glue which I found at Lowe’s. Today I had success. Patience and Persistence = Success. I love how they turned out.
If you don’t have any glasses you can buy a pair of readers at the Dollar Store. The less curve/concave to the lens the better.
supplies needed:
- A pair of Eyeglasses
- Loctite Stik n’ Seal Ultra Glue (Lowes)
- Printed out Monogram or Letter printed on regular printer paper
- Nail or tiny scissors
- Dremel drill and fine bit
- Jump ring, Necklace chain or Leather, Pearl and or Beads, End pin
I used my computer to make a monogram in a size that would fit the lens I had.
But you can use a book with decorative letters for a unique look.
Snap the lens out of the glasses. One pair was easy to get out, the other I had to use scissors to snip the frame to get the lens out.
Cut out monogram a little bit larger than the lens.
This is the glue that finally worked for me, but do a test first on your paper and printer ink to make sure the glue doesn’t bleed through the paper. Also make sure that once the paper is dry that it is bonded to the lens.
Place a generous dab of glue on to the side of the lens that would be closet to your face and then rub it over the entire area . Make sure you don’t miss any spots.
Center the monogram face down onto the glue and gently burnish the back with your finger to smooth and removing all air bubbles. Be careful not to pull the paper. Let dry for a few hours.
Using a Dremel drill, drill a hole in the center top of the lens. Trim the excess paper using a pair of small scissors.
The letter on this lens was one of my failures. When it dried the paper came off when I picked it up..
Thread a jump ring through the hole and then hang on a few strands of leather.
To seal the back , the best way I found was to spray a light coat of spray adhesive on a piece of felt. Attach to the back and then trim. I tried using self-laminiating paper but that was too stiff and didn’t follow the curve of the lens.
Or, you can add the jump ring and add a pearl dangle and then string onto a silver ball chain. See my post about making dangles, here.
For a trip down memory lane, I had to make a pin. To update the look, I photocopied a vintage hankie and used that behind the lens.
I then drilled 3 holes along the bottom to hang 3 decorative dangles.
Hot glue a pin back to the back.
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