Eyeglass Lens Brooch
This project is rated: EASY
Materials needed:
- Eyeglass Lenses
- Art work from decals, clip art, or greeting cards.
- Scissors or craft knife
- Pin back
- Glue, both white and epoxy
- Paint, optional
Do you have some old glasses that you don’t use anymore? You may have wondered what to do with them. Here is a dandy project for turning them into something useful.
You can make attractive brooches or pins such as the ones shown at right. Here’s how.
Project Instructions
- Select an old eyeglass lens and clean it thoroughly.
- Select some suitable artwork. You will need small pictures that will fit your lens. There are several sources for this artwork. Greeting cards often have small flowers or other useable pictures. You can purchase decals or stickers. There is a lot of clip art available; it has the advantage that you can re-size it to fit your lens. You will need a color printer if the artwork is in color.
- Fasten the artwork to the back side of the lens. Decals will adhere to the glass without any glue. Artwork on paper needs to be glued to the lens. Use white glue that will be transparent when dry. It is best to glue your artwork to the lens before you trim it. This has the advantage that you can move the artwork to position it before the glue is dry. Since the lens is concave on the back side, you must press the artwork into this shape and push out any creases that might result.
- Allow adequate time for the glue or decal to dry.
- If you used artwork smaller than your lens, there will probably be some clear space around it. You may leave it that way and when you pin it to a garment, the cloth will show through. Optionally, you can select a paint color for the background that pleases you. The “little chick” pin at right was made with a decal and the background painted with a brass color paint.
- If you have used paint, wait for it to be thoroughly dry.
- Mount a pin back on your lens with glue. You will find pin backs in various sizes at craft stores. Use an epoxy-type glue to fasten the pin back on to the lens. At right, above is a rear view of an attached pin back.
Your brooch is now complete!
To give you some ideas about other artwork, at right are some additional examples. The butterfly is a decal, and so are the letters. You could print a name, comment, slogan, etc. on colored paper and make a pin like the one at right.
Let your imagination loose and create your own variations.
