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Doll glasses from paper clips and wire
Apr. 15th, 2012 08:01 pm
The paper clips I have are the vinyl coated ones that are just a bit over an inch long. They straighten out to about three and a half inches long, which is just long enough to do this style of glasses for Anjeni, who has a 14cm head. For larger dolls you will need a larger clip or a longer piece of wire that is about 20ga in thickness. For an idea of how much wire you will need, measure your doll from the bridge of their nose to behind their ear in a straight line parallel to the side of their head. Double that and add the width of their head across their face, again in a straight line. Add a smidge for shaping the top of the frame, it is better to cut the wire too long than to try to get a too short piece to work.
I straightened the paper clip using my fingers since it's really easy to crack the vinyl if you use pliers. Also be cautious using pliers on anodized clips or craft wire, you can wrap tape around the jaws of the pliers to help cushion them if your fingers aren't strong enough to straighten your clip/wire.
I bent both ends of the straightened clip one inch from the end to make the bows. For larger or smaller dolls this measurement should be the bridge of the nose to the back of ear length, or whatever half the total wire length minus the face width happens to be.
Then I bent the center of the wire at a right angle perpendicular to the bends I made for the bows to make the center of the bridge. The curves for the tops of the "lenses" I made by curving them over the barrel of a Sharpie marker and then flattening out the curve a bit.
There was a lot of fiddling and trying on to get the shape and size right. And more than a few spring loaded escapes. Thankfully the steel center of the clips meant I could retrieve it with a magnet. :D
I used three inches of the 28ga wire to make the bottoms of the "lenses" by making a lark's head knot around the center of the bridge and then wrapping the ends at the corners of the bows. I used the barrel of a pen for a spacer in the lens area so the two lenses would be at least close to the same size.
If I make another pair I will try to take in process photos. The only problem I have with them is the 28ga wire is very soft. It doesn't take much to get the lenses out of shape. Of course it's on a spool jewelry wire, maybe the core of a twist tie would be stiffer....
