Craftsicles: Sad to Sparkling Sunglasses

I’ve been meaning to do a lot more with my time than schoolwork and professional-related activities, and now that my break has finally begun I can do just that! This summer will hopefully be one of crafts, DIY, repurposing, and other fun things that I’ve been wanting to do with my creative energy.

Sunglasses that I left at my friend’s house almost a year ago just resurfaced last week… appearing that they went through a war. After I saw the chipped paint, I knew that I wouldn’t wear them in their current condition. It was time for my first repurposing of the summer.

pink sunglasses before repurpose, chipping paint — My “before” sunglasses… You can see a little bit of the paint/finish gone along the edges and on the bridge. Seeya!

The first thing I had to do with this dusty demon was give it a little bath.

After they dried off, I picked my (sparkly) poison to give them a brand new finish. The bigger and more concentrated the glitter, the less noticeable the chipped paint would be. Go big or go home, right?

sunglasses and glitter nail polish — I believe I got that bottle of silver glitter nail polish at a Forever 21 in NYC. Sunglasses, get prepared for a fabulous makeover. I’d be excited to see the end results coming up, if I were you!

brown bunny rabbit in new jersey — A bunny visitor came to my porch to see if I could indeed revive my specs

The rest of this crafty adventure is pretty self explanatory. Basically, I used the nail polish as paint to coat all of the visible surface area. I had to dip the brush in the bottle constantly to reload the polish, in order to keep the applied glitter concentration consistent. After making sure that I didn’t miss any obvious places, I am happy to say that this diva-licious result is my final creation:

sparkly pink ray ban sunglasses — To the left!

Aren’t they insane?! I love the way they turned out. Tux, my 14-year-old border collie mix, agrees!

black border collie dog wearing ray ban sunglasses — My sunglasses in action. He’s such a good little model! (after treat bribes were established, as you can see in the lens reflection)

Something that I didn’t foresee was the effect the nail polish would have on the existing paint. Strangely enough, it made it the pink finish pucker and wrinkle. I don’t mind though. I think it looks kinda cool in a way, and is barely noticeable.

sparkly pink nail polish effect on paint — See? Not so bad. It does concern me that we put this stuff on our nails yet it has this effect on other surfaces! Yikes.

Anyway, I am very excited to wear them out and about! What do you guys think? Have you refashioned sunglasses before or used nail polish to revive something damaged? Please share in the comments!

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Kelsey

3 thoughts on “Craftsicles: Sad to Sparkling Sunglasses”

Great new look for Tux. 🙂 I’ve used clear nail polish to prevent ends from fraying and to make paper print outs of Star Trek badges look faux metallic for a costume party. I’ve also used colored nail polish to paint over air-dry clay flowers that i used as paper weights.

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Kelsey BaRoss says:

January 18, 2014 at 12:28 pm

Thanks, Tux agrees! Well… at least for that second before he batted the sunglasses off his head. Yes, clear nail polish is so useful! Those are good tips to use it for. I, too, use it to stop ends from fraying. Also, when I tie off ends in a sewing project, I dab the knot with clear polish to keep it from coming undone in the future. Or, if I don’t have my needle threader on me, I’ll coat the end of a stubborn thread with a bloop of clear polish and then wipe it off to form a hardened point that will be easier to put through the eye of a needle. Thanks so much for sharing!

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1. sgsy says:
  
  January 19, 2014 at 10:44 pm
  
  Ooh that’s a great tip for threading needles. I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you!
  
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