If you’re cosplaying a character like Clark Kent, you can get away with wearing simple wire frames with the lenses removed or your actual prescription glasses. Other characters – especially in the anime realm – have glasses that don’t look like anything you can pick up at a store. Evo Cosplay recently made a pair of red glasses for a One Piece Donquixote Doflamingo costume and documented the process. His instructions can be applied to any glasses of a weird shape and color.
Evo gathered materials such as safety goggles, a face mask, 3mm tinted acrylic, a Dremel, and a hack saw (complete material list at the tutorial). Here’s how he curved the lenses:
5. Curving the lenses: ***Please wear suitable face masks (gloves are optional but recommended) and work in well ventilated area ~Plastic fumes are dangerous!***
-Grab your freshly cut pieces (I hope you made more than 2) from before and heat them up to about 200 degrees over the cast. Be careful as to not surpass this heat as the acrylic will tends to bubble and burn.
– You’ll see when the plastic is ready to cast when it starts to dip within the centre becoming Malleable/soft.
-Once Soft carefully and quickly place the lens on top of the positive mould and press the tow moulds together
-Leave to dry for a couple of minutes in the mould (you can use hairbands or elastic to secure the two moulds together whilst you make the other lens).
-Release from mould and check curvature, its most likely not going to be perfect so re-heat the areas of warping (acrylic is a thermo plastic so when reheated it will return to its original shape regardless of what shape it was in previously).
– I believe I cut and shaped about 5 lenses in total before I got them how I wanted them.
Read the full tutorial at DeviantArt.