[Jewelry making - Article 00138] - Re: [Orchid] Making Mokume Eyeglasses

[Brian Adam]

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>         As for wear, the reason I ask is that I have a pair of glasses
>     that were cheap and I found that it didn't take very long for me to
>     wear through the outside layer and now I get lovely green smudges
>     on the side of my face when I wear them (copper). 

    Painted metal. It always seems to crack or come off in places where
    you least need it to. Whether it's on the family car or your eyeglass
    frames. 

    I have a strong suspicion that many of the trendy frames on offer
    today look nice in the store for one reason - they've been painted
    with something interesting that will come off later on down the line.
    
    As a jeweller (are you a jeweller?) you might be well aware of the
    nature of materials and how quite often in items of jewellery/jewelry
    What You See Is What You Get. WYSIWYG. 

    So if it's 18k on the surface then it's 18k all the way through. 

    However for some reason many areas of modern manufacture rely on
    temporary pleasures and planned obsolescence, and think nothing of a
    painted surface over copper. 'If you're still wearing them after the
    paint wears off, then buy another pair' they might well argue. 

    Try as I might, I can't get into that way of thinking, and I make
    eyeglass frames as another jeweler might make a brooch, or a
    necklace. And if they are bent or mis-shapen in use, I could fix
    them. No way would I paint over the structural material. 

    Just as I would never consider varnishing over mokume-gane to
    somehow retain the look of the as-new layers. I would rather let them
    be, and appreciate how the layers wear differently over the years.
    Like an old worn wooden artifact, I'd love the way it had developed
    into a gracious old-age. 

    But that's me. I'm a sucker for materials. 

>         Finally, thanks for posting the aviator glasses info too! 

    Thanks. They astounded me for their beauty - what I had thought of
    as a 1990s macho icon had shown itself in the 1930s original to be
    quite a delightful almost feminine and organic shaped classic
    sunglass frame. 

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 NEW ZEALAND
www.adam.co.nz

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