Bringing a Beautiful Vintage Frame Back to Life

Replications are a large part of what we do. And each replication is unique as we try to match the character and quirks of each individual frame. This project was especially unique as we were essentially rebuilding the “bones” or acetate pieces of the frame while utilizing the aluminum pieces that were crafted long before I was even born. In theory one may think this makes the job easier as it’s less pieces I have to create. But in all reality this actually creates more of a challenge as we are working in reverse to make sure we can still utilize the aluminum brow pieces, aluminum temples, and most importantly the client’s new prescription lenses that were made for the frame that broke.

The Beginning

The beginning of each replication is similar. We take various measurements and begin our rough sketching. These sketches are meant to give us a direction to dial in our overall shape and general sizing. In the case of this project we were also paying close attention to the existing mounting points for the brow pieces. This frame also had a lot of handwork on the existing acetate so I needed to make sure I kept ample room to take material away as it’s always easier to take off than it is to put back on.

After rough sketching we begin to work on technical drawings that we can use to build our 3D models. This allows us to accurately gauge thicknesses and eventually we 3D print the prototypes until we get to a point that the prototype matches the broken frame and we begin crafting the frames. Vintage frames are unique because the years take their toll and cause acetates to discolor, warp, flake, and roll so you have to use a little bit of imagination when recreating with fresh acetate.

In this particular case, the client had come to love the milky tones and ivory color the frame had taken on over the years and wanted to keep some of that. So we found an ivory plate from Mazzucchelli in Italy that had the look she was going for but was more uniform. Once we received that, the real fun began.

The “Real” Work Begins

The overall designing typically takes a week or so of playing with the shape and thicknesses and then making minor tweaks until we get it spot on. Because we were using existing pieces it was incredibly important to get it right. Everything down to a tenth of a millimeter had to be in place. So after using 3D prints to prototype we took the same 3D models and milled the shape using acetate, this gave us a true direction before we used the color that the client approved. Our typical process sees the frame front and temples go through each process together as a pair but in this case are sole focus was on the front before we even looked at the temple tips. We had to find the correct hinge to match the pantoscopic tilt and rivets we could hide underneath the brow pieces like they had done with the original glasses. And lining up the holes for the aluminum brow pieces was paramount! Most people don’t realize that all glasses have what we call face form. This means there is curvature throughout the front to give a better fit and better optics, so taking that into account while creating the holes was a big challenge as it was all visualization, there was no good way to mark it up before cutting in.

When all was said and done it was a few weeks worth of work and three different fronts were made before we were satisfied with the result.

The amount of handwork that was required by this particular job was unlike any other we had taken on. Outside of a rough 2D cut on our CNC this frame was filed, sanded, drilled, and polished all by hand just to make sure we finished it up how we wanted. Even the temple cores were cored out with a drill press and widened by hand. But overall this project will forever stand out from the rest, it’s always exciting to bring glasses back from the dead but even more so when you are doing it similarly to how they were originally made.

The final beauty. Another thing we didn’t mention, is this frame was built around not only the metal pieces but it had to fit her existing lenses and that in itself is a unique challenge!

Checkout Northwest Frame Repairs Instagram account for a final picture of their incredible client wearing this frame!