Monday, August 2, 2010

Week 29 of canes - my new sunglasses case


Hi Everyone,

A couple of years ago my husband and I were each able to purchase a pair of Maui Jim prescription sunglasses. They were very pricey but at the time we had decent benefits where my husband had worked. Every time I put them on I still do a sigh of "aaahhhh". The vision is crisp and the colour of the lenses is just perfect for me. I'm hoping that my vision doesn't change too much so that I'll be able to enjoy them for a longer time yet.

Anyhow, they come with a fairly sturdy glass case made out of metal and covered in a vinyl type coating. The vinyl coating on my husband's glass case started to peel off and our eye glass store kindly provided us with another one. But when I looked at my husband's case, I realized that I could cover it with clay (of course, because what else does one do?).

The colours of my skirt cane weren't really lending them to the large bottle that I wanted to cover so I thought I would use them on the sunglass case. The canes and colours seemed suited to it since I associate the turquoises with sun destinations and sunglasses go with sun.

Anyhow, here's my new sunglass case. I like it and husband is impressed.

I baked it in stages. The inside both sides went in first and I did a full bake (not really intentionally). Then I did the top and baked enough to cure. Then the bottom and everything got a full bake.

If I were really keen I'd finish the inside edges, but I'm afraid of making it too thick and not having it close properly. The inside pieces started to pull away during one of the bakings but stabilized and haven't pulled any further.

I dusted the outside with cornstarch to make it feel nice so I wouldn't have to do any sanding. It's given it a softer look than the inside. I may do some buffing or I may just let it be but I think I might have been overly generous with the cornstarch and it's a bit hazy.

The sunglasses come with a little lens cleaner pouch that you put the glasses into prior to putting in the case. In my other case I didn't worry about it since it's felted on the inside. In this one I'll make sure I use the pouch since I don't want the lenses rubbing against the hard clay. I probably could have felted the inside but I've never done that before.

It is heavy, so for now it'll stay in my car rather than be carried in my purse. That will be an interesting weathering experience to see how the clay handles lows of -40C to highs of +40C.

It's pretty and I'm giving myself bragging rights on this one.

Cheers,

Sandy

2 comments:

Fiona said...

Looks good! Such a lovely vivid blue.

2 Good Claymates said...

Very nice! I have several eyeglass cases that are similar I've been holding on to cover "some day". They are in my box of other things I have stashed to cover! lol! Love how yours turned out!