01/29/2012 - Contact Lens Case Locket

This is my "gift with purchase" project. I seem to have an abundance of contact lens cases that come with contact lens solution and the necklace and charm on the front of the case were "free" gifts my grandmother-in-law received for donating to various causes. She gave them to me because she would have discarded them otherwise. This is fun "locket" and can be used to keep anything from medication to even an extra contact lens.

Reclaimed Material: contact lens case, necklace, charm, wine bottle foil
Other/New Material: none
Tools: metallic paint, box knife, Dremel tool, super glue, drill

How I did it: This project required more heavy duty tool work than my other projects. The first thing I did was take the lids off the contact lens case and used the box knife to cut it in half. Not to state the obvious, but if you try this, please use caution when using any sharp objects. I made sure not to cut too close to the side I was using so that I had enough of a lip to drill a hole to hang the necklace on. I used the Dremel to sand down the sides to make the edges smooth, trying to keep the lip I cut even with the rest, other than the section that I was going to drill. I lightly sanded the back of the case so the paint would stick to the plastic. Once the edges were sanded, I used a tiny (1/16" ?) drill bit to make a hole for the finding (I believe that is the correct term for the little loop that connects the charm to the necklace). Next, I used a silver metallic paint and painted the base of the lens case and the lid. I tried not to get paint on the area where the lid screwed onto the base. After the paint dried, I glued the foil circle from the top of a wine bottle to the lid and then glued the charm on top of the foil. The charm had a little piece sticking off the top to hang it from a necklace, so I was able to easily bend it off with pliers and used the Dremel to smooth the edge. I then used one of the findings from another discarded charm and inserted it into the hole that I drilled in the lens case. I then threaded the necklace chain through the finding and viola, had a lovely waterproof locket. 
 
What I would do differently: If I make this again, I would use a different metallic paint. I think spray paint would look nicer than the paint I used. I also don't think it was really to sand the plastic since it won't be getting heavy duty use and the back looks like it was sanded.