posted
Ever since I switched to daily disposable contacts a few years ago, I’ve been thinking that there should be something to do with the used ones. I considered putting a drop of liquid food color on them before letting them dry out and using them for fish scales on a collage, but how often do you have to make fish collages? (Well, since I’m sometimes in charge of crafty things for kids at church, maybe more often than you’d think.)
But there have to be some other possible uses. Plus, there’s the cases they come in. Little teardrop shaped reservoirs in hard plastic. With a hole at one end you could hang them by. They must be good for something, too.
So here’s your challenge – let’s see how many uses we can come up with for these suckers. It’s fun, it’s creative, and it’s environmentally friendly!
Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
I don't know... something that has been in contact with any moist part of someone's body kind of squicks me out. Given that I don't typically stock craft items that my children can't eat...
I mean, I'm not implying you are unclean or anything. Even if they were mine, I wouldn't feel too keen about it. Maybe I was just scarred by that time I showed my aunt a truly impressive flake of earwax I had retrieved from the auditory meatus and she recoiled in disgust.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Okay, how about the cases, though? They have been in contact with nothing but my fingers. And those were washed well before handling.
Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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cases: bead caddies for active projects (have to be active because you don't have a way of closing them back up for storage)
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Well, I'm beading a small section at a time, usually only one or maybe two colors. So I'd put a small quantity of beads into a container and keep that close to my stitching. That way if I dump it over (or should I say WHEN?), I don't make such a big mess!
In reality, though, what I'm doing on one project that has lots of beads throughout is to string the beads onto a really odd color of floss and tie a slipknot into the end. Then when I need a bead, I can just undo the slipknot, catch a bead onto my needle, and redo the slipknot if I'm done with that color. And the floss is thick enough (I'm using 3 plies for this) that the beads don't just slide off on their own. For this project, it was worth taking the time to string the beads.... 7 different colors and lots of each!
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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when I bead with seed beads I keep them in capped containers that hold about 10 grams of beads. That's about the perfect size, I think, but the floss sounds like a really good idea. And it might push me over the edge of breaking for a bead stringer.
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Forgot to mention this earlier.... With the beads strung on floss like I do, it's really easy to keep the strings of beads attached to the margin of my fabric so I don't have to go digging for my big bead caddy when I'm working. =) I hate breaking the rhythm of an extended bead attachment session with having to dip into a hive cubbie to grab one single bead at a time.
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
To add my two cents... You could make a very interesting collage by dying them different colors and treating it as a mosaic. It would be an awful lot of work, but it could turn out really neat looking, I think. They have such a cool texture!
Posts: 25 | Registered: May 2004
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posted
Neat question. Being a contact user myself, I've wondered the same thing.
Try this: poke a hole in the center of the dried lens (or you could poke the hole and then let it dry) and string the lens as a bead on a necklace or bracelet. I bet they'd make really interesting beads, either in large groups together, or as bead-caps or separaters. You could also dye them as you suggested. Hmmmm. I may try this myself.
Oh, and regarding being squicked out, there are lots of beads and other ornamentation that are made from dried biological material. (Bone beads, scales, nails, etc.) Not that I expect this fact will change anyone's mind. I guess I have a higher squick factor.
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Rivka – I can’t. I have a tendency toward eye infections, and get lots of “matter” in my eyes from allergies, which is why my eye doctor switched me to daily disposables.
Which have been great, btw. Haven’t had an eye infection in three years!
I like the dye ‘em different colors and make a mosaic and the necklace idea.
Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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How hard do the lenses become when they're dry, and how delicate?
I've been looking for appropriately-sized materials to use as the "scales" for costume armor. Specifically, the [i]gethre[/] mail from Garth Nix's Abhorsen series. Here's a picture of the Abhorsen (Third Book) Cover.
I imagine used contact lenses, if not folded or anything, wouldn't be too hard to sew in overlapping rows onto a shirt....and then spray-paint silver. Ooh, even better would be to paint them all black before sewing them onto the shirt, and then spray lightly with silver, so that when the wearer moves, it shows the darker parts more....
It's one of my current projects, actually. No way I can get it done by this Halloween, but one of these years I'll do it.
Posts: 54 | Registered: Sep 2004
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You could very easilly use the lense containers as a mold of some kind. Maybe put a small hole in one of them, fasten them together somehow and inject liquified plastic or something into them. Then let it dry and voila, instant plastic tear-drops. Of course you'd probably have to sand off all the excess whatever and polish em up some. But that would still be cool Posts: 3003 | Registered: Oct 2004
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I don't know about all of you, but my old lenses, when dry, were super fragile. I had fun shattering them.... Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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In my experience, the lenses become fairly brittle, but you could probably stitch them OK. The biggest obstacle to that would be that they tend to wrinkle around the edges. You'd have to put them on a mold (the lens case would probably make a good one).
All in all, though, it sounds like you'd need an awful lot of them to make a costume like you describe.
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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Yeah, brittle when dry doesn't sound too promising. Perhaps the cases would work after trimming them. My housemate's contact lens cases are less teardrop-shaped and more rounded, so it might work.
You know, in my dreams.
Posts: 54 | Registered: Sep 2004
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