Glasses Case Project

Personalized glasses case

My previous black glasses case hinge broke, and my wife picked up a free case at Target, in red. Our one friend suggested personalizing with with a Sharpie®, and that gave me an idea. Drawing upon some letterboxing knowledge, I knew I could transfer laser prints with heat and with 100% acetone [nail polish remover] onto different materials. Since heat wasn’t an option, I was pretty sure the acetone method would work. I took a scan of a photo of me from August 1965 and converted it to pure black and white with a cutline filter. Because the acetone fumes are pretty nasty, I waited for a day that was decent outside. Yesterday was my day. I wrapped the laser print paper around the case, held it in place, then dipped Q-tips into the acetone. I applied a little pressure when rubbing the Q-tips on the back of the laser print, and was careful not to get any acetone on me. It worked perfectly, and the toner is not sticky at all. The only thing I would do different would be to not go back over an area that was previously rubbed — parts of the images got just a little smeary looking.

Amanda Rebuck Howerter

My mother passed along a book that was my maternal great-grandmother’s . 

She would have been about 12 years old when she signed this.

A great ampersand from the back cover.

Although this photo was taken in 1942, this is how I remember her.  She was about 63, and sitting on the front porch of her home in Pitman, PA.

Amanda with my great-grandfather George Monroe Howerter in 1942.

My great-grandmother Howerter passed away in 1965. She would have been about 86 at the time. My only memory of her was when she was on her death bed. I would have been 3 at the time. I remember going upstairs into her bedroom with my mother and Amanda was in a very large bed. She seemed tired, but was very happy to see me. I was wearing this Ratfink ring and was probably fiddling with it. She called me over to her bedside and asked to see it. I tried to explain to her what it was, and I recall that though she didn't really understand what I was saying -- I was 3 and probably didn't speak very clearly or make any sense -- she listened intently, smiled, and said something to the effect that she was so glad that I shared my special ring with her.

Today, though the ring part is long gone missing, the Ratfink holds a special place in my typecase display.

More ampersands can be found here.

Official Green Hornet Agent

Sometime after 1964, I became a Green Hornet Agent. I apparently had to sign the back of the badge for it to be official. Even though the badge is 4" across, it still wasn’t big enough for my signature at the time, so I had to add the S above the M and the E.