# My very own eyeglasses I've been wearing glasses since Kindergarten. If you take an average lifespan of a year or two for a pair[^1] of glasses (body growing, eyes changing, frames breaking, tastes evolving), I've probably had 30-40 pairs of glasses in my lifetime. And every single one of those pairs of glasses was designed for a generic everyman with an economically-viable-distribution-from-the-mean range of dimensions for the human head. Meaning, at the end of the day, they never exactly fit. Sure, you can buy a reasonably good fit, and then bend the temples to try and get them to work, but it's never perfect. The other thing that has always surprised me is the ratio of time spent picking out a frame to the time spent wearing that frame. After the eye exam, there's this five minute wander around the optical shop trying to choose the frame I want, and – always – settling for the least worst they have on display. And then I wear those glasses for about 12,000 hours after. So I have set out on a quest to make my own glasses: the exact style I want, and fit precisely to the dimensions of my head. I've been collecting photos of glasses for a while now as inspiration, and I've always liked this one in particular: ![[glasses-chuck-close-by-christopher-anderson.jpeg]] ↑ My crop of a photo of Chuck Close, photographed by [Christopher Anderson](https://www.christopherandersonphoto.com/ABOUT/1)/Magnum for the New York Times I'm not hoping to reproduce those glasses exactly, but the overall feel is right in line with what I want: Round, smaller lenses. Subtle nose bridge. Simple, unadorned temple. And, in particular, I want to create a hook around the back of the ear that will keep them from slipping forward. I've started 3D printing variations on this theme to refine the design: ![[glasses-bespoke-01.jpg]] ↑ First print. For some reason, my printer was being very weird, but it's a start. ![[glasses-bespoke-02.jpg]] ↑ Second print. Print came out better, but the nose bridge makes them sit too high on my face. ![[glasses-bespoke-03.jpg]] ↑ Third print. Moved the bridge into the third dimension and gave it a little arc. Much better fit. What's next? - Refining the overall shape - Creating the temples - Figuring out a good way to interface the temples to the glasses. I'm thinking about not making them hinged, because I almost never take my glasses off except to sleep, and that'll remove a good bit of complexity from the design. - Evaluating other materials besides PLA. I'll probably stick with black, though. - Purchasing custom lenses from my optometrist - Sanding down the final print and perhaps painting them to a deep glossy black In the meanwhile, I'm still wearing my [[rayban stories|Ray-Ban Meta]] glasses, which I love. [^1]: Why are they called "pairs"? Because they used to sell monocles (a lens for a single eye) in matching sets. ∎