As I sit here wearing old glasses and staring at the frames I just busted
on the one place I can’t fix them I wonder if I can make myself new frames
from silver wire. I know the lens have to be the right distance apart and
and the right angle for the prescription but I do have the old frame
(halves) and can reconsrtuct the positioning for comparison.
So, anyone have any ideas about making frames for eyeglasses from silver
wire? I’m most comfortable with cold fabrication but I am willing to
entertain all ideas.
Lynn A. Davis
Tephra’s Treasures
Handcrafted Jewelry, Accessories
And Other Fine Treasures
I’ll field this one, fellas. Hi. It’s a pet subject of mine. Actually this
is a great opportunity for you to start makihg a frame - ie remake a frame
for yourself around an existing pair of lenses. You’re right about the
position of the lenses relative to each other, Preserve that. Otherwise the
rest is all to do with comfort on your face.
The optical centre of the lenses MUST sit right over your pupils. How to
find this? It’s a good idea to pop along to a friendly optician and ask
them to mark the optical centres for you. Basicly the point where the
lenses do NO refracting. Establish this, and establish the distance between
the optical dentres - your Pupillary Distance, often written in your
prescription as PD, and shown in mm. Now work on the frames.
Lynn, You can make your own or repair what you have I take in eye frames
from an eyeglass shop down the hall in the mall I work at.I solder them
with easy silver solder using a very hot flame.The eyeglass people remove
the lenses for me as they do not like heat and the nose pads should come
off if the flame is near them.I would throw them in the ultra sonic to
clean all the grunge off of them unless you like the smell of flaming
grunge.You also need to take out screws if you are soldering close to them
as they will tend to wick solder into the threads and your movable hinge
will become unmovable.It usally takes me not more than a couple to three
minutes to solder frames for this I recieve $7.00 CASH. See you later ( Ha
Ha)
J Morley
Coyote Ridge Studio
P.S. Brian Adams stayed with us this spring and he showed me some of his
hand crafted specs they are cool and everywhere we went people queried him
on where he got them.He has a web site and you can get it from the
archives I’am sure.
Does anyone have info on making eyeglass frames? Books of
reference, classes ,etc. Thank you Elise Gad
Hi Elise. I have just returned from teaching eyewear-making classes in
Canada, and I am planning another workshop tour in July 2002 teaching
at Series summer school in Alberta, Toronto possibly, and Metalwerx
<www.metalwerx.com> in Massachusetts. I know of one other jeweller
teaching - Deb Stoner in Portland OR. She just finished teaching at
Mendocino CA.
Meanwhile I can offer at <www.adam.co.nz/workshops/techniques/> a few
technical pointers on making eyeglasses, and I am showing a 14k frame
I’m currently making at http://www.adam.co.nz/backpages.
No books on construction that I know of. I’m thinking of writing one.
Brian
B r i a n A d a m
e y e g l a s s e s j e w e l l e r y
Auckland N E W Z E A L A N D
www.adam.co.nz/workshops/canada2001/ summer in Canada