Though Little Ted doesn’t have a birth certificate, we understand Jack was given Little Ted when he was born, which makes Little Ted about 37 years old.
Like many bears and non-bears alike, needing glasses becomes much more common when you get into your 30s, and this was no exception for Jack’s childhood teddy bear. Having been carefully stored in an attic for quite a few years, now that Little Ted was out the attic and living his best life in Falmouth, it was clear he was going to require some glasses. Good thing Little Ted’s owner handmakes cool frames, then.
Unlike the hardened denim sunglasses we make by hand in our workshop in Cornwall (and normally for people), Jack knew that Little Ted’s glasses were going to have to be very different.
For starters, Little Ted’s ears sit atop his head (very cute). His facial features, including his triangular nose, have been stitched on to his face, and his face is quite flat, which means there were no clear anchor points for a pair of our regular frames to sit. The size of our regular frames were also a more obvious hindrance. So, a unique design was the only way forward.
To begin working out the design of Little Ted’s new specs, Jack first recreated the bear’s face on the computer. By drawing Little Ted on the computer, Jack was able to play around with different frame shapes and styles. He could work out the mechanics of how the glasses would be positioned on his face, calculate the correct dimensions, and figure out all the little details.
Once he was happy with the design, Jack began the making process. He cut out pieces of hardened denim using a CNC machine, whilst Little Ted watched on. Next came the sanding of the frames and the arms, which Jack did using a rotary tool. Being much smaller than our normal collection of frames, Jack had to watch his fingers sanding Little Ted’s frame.
Just like we do with every pair of Mosevic’s sunglasses, Jack then went through a number of handmaking steps with the frames, including polishing and shaping the frame, and texturising all the brass details. He hammered in pieces of brass to the top of the frame, to strengthen the glasses and help keep their shape. The hinges, rather than being either side of the frame, were fixed to the top of the frame, and hinged the frames up and down (cool). This had the added bonus of displaying the Mosevic zig zag rather nicely. Finally, tiny lenses were fitted, and they were ready for Little Ted to rock.
And rock them he did.
In case you missed it, here’s a video Jack posted on Mosevic’s social media, which follows the making process of Little Ted’s custom frames.
Until next week-ish.