New Pair Of Glasses
Chapin Ratte
Pair makes glasses, with interchangeable toppers that snap on through the wonder of magnets. The glasses come in several different frame shapes (I bought The Wanda) and a few standard colors (mine are Crystal Clear). The fun is in the wide selection of toppers you can add to your glasses to change up your look.
My purpose here was to use my own polymer clay designs on my toppers. Originally, I used polymer itself. I tried several different techniques but they were all insufficient in some way, and eventually I lost patience. Luckily, I have digital repeating patterns of every polymer clay cane design I have made in the past decade or so. (If you want to know how to do this, too, I have a handy tutorial for you.)
The 3D printed blank should have indentations in the back that are just the right size for the magnets I linked to in the supply list. Dab some super glue into the indentations, and drop your magnets in.
TIP: Make sure the magnets are facing the right direction. I usually test the magnets on an existing topper before I add them to a new one, so I know which side of the magnet needs to be facing up.
Paint the Mod Podge glue onto the front of the topper blank, wiping off any excess glue that gets around the edges of the blank. Place the printed cutout on top of the blank, and press it down all over to make sure it adheres to the blank. Again, you may need to wipe off some glue from the edges.
UPDATE: After I shared this post, I got a second pair of glasses from PAIR and had them make my progressive lenses with excellent results. You can read about it HERE. In addition to my Twain frames, I now own the Reese and the Ella.
Love my glasses, got The Finley with progressive lenses and were cheaper than what I typically paid at Walmart. I ordered sun toppers and navy pin dot. So happy that I have now ordered 5 more toppers. No problems with my prescription.
Thank you for this helpful review! Can any optometrist get lenses for any frame? And how does your order work on the pair website; do you order non-prescription lenses initially? I have always worn glasses but never knew ordering lenses and frames separately was an option. That would be especially helpful considering I have a unique and high prescription.
The same has happened to me. I got an email on 3/22 saying my glasses should ship in 5-7 business days. Needless to say, I have yet to receive anything and when they email me back its just more promises they are shipping soon and a coupon code on a future purchase. Why would I purchase something else to just have to wait for over a month for its arrival??
It took me two months to get my glasses. I had the prescription filled at costco because they are progressive and I did not want to risk Pair not getting the prescription right. THe toppers are so thin that I thought they had forgotten them when I opened the package. They do not make the glasses heavier but when you look out on the side, you do feel feel like there is something surrounding you. I think one has to get used to it. The idea is certainly novel. Customer service was excellent. In a few days, I always got a reply and it was clear that they were overwhelmed and having production issues. I did suggest that they not advertise as much until they could ensure timely delivery.
I have become rather addicted to my Pair Eyewear glasses, and that includes making my own DIY Pair Eyewear toppers. When I started doing homemade glasses toppers, I was surprised at how little there is out there in terms of instruction on how to make homemade toppers. It seriously is a craft lovers dream because you can get very creative with it.
This post is an overview of different ways that you can make your own Pair glasses custom eyeglass toppers. It is not a complete tutorial on each method, but should be enough to get many people started. I plan to add some complete tutorials too and I will link to them here when I do so.
Quickly for those not familiar with them, Pair Eyewear (referral link) features glasses with interchangeable magnetic frames for both adults and children. They offer multiple styles of frames and numerous toppers, including limited editions, that you can purchase. The toppers attach with magnets.
Pair can add your prescription to their glasses, and they offer all of the traditional add on features such as transition lenses, blue light blocking, thin lenses, and progressives. I have progressive thin lenses with blue light blocking in the Larkin style, and my prescription was spot on. In fact, I like the quality better than the more expensive glasses that I got at Lenscrafters.
Want to Find Buy/Sell/Trade groups? Here is a link to a search for them on Facebook. There are quite a few! People also post their own creations and tips for crafting in some of these groups, especially in Custom Handcrafted Toppers.
You can seal your DIY topper with a clear protective spray, clear nail polish, UV nail gel finish, UV resin, or a dimensional adhesive such as Diamond Glaze or Modge Podge Dimensional magic. UV resin is the most durable, but requires the most work and equipment. Dimensional adhesives work well as a substitute.
UV resin and Dimensional adhesives give a nice coated and glossy look to the toppers. If you are a beginner without a UV light, try a dimensional adhesive. If you have a UV light, I like using UV resin the best. Work in a well ventilated area and wear gloves when working with resin!
I own a UV light that is a box because I already owned it for nail art, but many makers like lights that can be set over the toppers. It is worth the extra money for a bit higher power light. Some UV resin wont cure well with a low power one.
Important: Resin can sometime discolor printed paper, especially if you printed your own on an ink jet printer and/or printed onto very porous paper. To avoid that, apply a layer of Modge Podge or spray sealant to your paper before you add the resin. I have been fine using UV resin directly on photo prints, most purchased cardstock prints, and washi tape without problems. When in doubt, do a test on a piece of scrap and see if the resin affects your paper.
The easiest way to make DIY toppers is to use nail polish or paint on a blank. You can buy acrylic or 3D-printed blanks from various sellers on Etsy or in various Facebook Pair Eyewear buy/sell/trade groups. I also link to a few at the end of this post.
Tip for getting the magnets right: Put a set of Pair brand toppers underneath your creation and add a dot of glue or resin to your DIY topper. Drop the magnets onto the glue. They will end up in the correct location with the correct side out!
I love nail polish for this. A great way to get beautiful glitter toppers is to buy a chunky glitter polish or polish topper and apply it to blanks. I like to use a solid base color, let it dry, and then add a glitter topper. If you have a UV light and gel polish, all the better! It will be quicker to make, more durable, and allow you to also use UV resin.
While you can use a template and cut by hand, that is quite time consuming and tedious. If you have a cutting machine, that makes it much easier. You can also sometimes buy precut cardstock from various crafters. I bought some once from here, which also sells 3D Blanks.
Here is a great Etsy shop for all sorts of trusted cut files, including some fun shapes, like cat eyes and such. I have purchased from this shop and been very happy with the files: As You Wish Craft Shop on Etsy.
Here is a Dropbox link for SVG file templates of all of the Pair brand toppers. NOTE! I did not make these files. They came from shared files from this tutorial from another blogger. (A good tutorial on making magnetic sheet toppers) It is important to check the read me files for the dimensions and set that before cutting and also be prepared to have to tinker with the files. For example, I had to change the dimensions for Larkins to 5.24 x 1.56 inches instead of using what is in readme file.
To make paper toppers, find a print that you like on cardstock, paper, or photopaper, and use a template file to cut it. Then you glue it to a blank and finish, or simply finish both sides with resin or dimensional adhesive, adding magnets,. Then you can skip the blank.
One of my favorite ways to make toppers in to use washi tape. I already had quite a collection of washi masking tape when I got my Pair eyeglasses, and sometimes this is the best way to find tiny prints that look good on toppers. You can buy washi tape on places like Etsy and Amazon.
If you do not have a cutting machine, the more tedious way to use tape is to carefully cut and wrap it to a blank. The far easier way though is to lay the tape out on a piece of cardstock, press it firmly and then cut it. From there, attach to a blank and finish as usual.
This type of DIY eyeglass topper requires the use of resin. You can buy molds on Etsy or from creators in the various Facebook Groups. There is also this video on how to make your own molds, but it can be a pretty expensive process. I chose to just buy a couple of molds. Each mold is good for around 30 toppers before it starts wearing out.
With a mold, you can mix glitter, resin ink, objects, dried flowers, etc. with resin and make some pretty spiffy looking toppers. You can also make your own resin blanks this way, but I prefer to buy acrylic or 3d-printed blanks.
For example, you can buy nail stickers or charms and add those to your painted blanks. I love to find an interesting digital paper, have it printed on photo paper, and then add a combination of stickers, charms, paint, rhinestones, glitter etc. to it.
This is where you can get very creative. It also can get expensive as the materials can add up. But if you area already a crafter, you probably have a lot of things that you could get creative with already.
If you are patient, you can get things very cheap on Alliexpress, but expect to wait weeks (or sometimes months) for it to ship from China. Shein is another good source for cheap nail art items with a bit quicker shipping. But I find Amazon to be pretty darn affordable by comparison.
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