Hello, My name is Charlie.
When I was 18 I managed to damage my right eye. Had a prosthetic for about a year but found I preferred to wear a patch.
Started making my own patches because the ones at the store were not something I wanted to wear.
I was thinking "If I'm to wear an eye patch, it ought to be sweet looking!" My first eye patch was carved from a piece of walnut wood. It was real basic but it worked. I lost that one and had to make another, then another... each one got a little "sweeter".
A few people noticed my patches and asked if I could make one for them. In 2010 Sweet Eye Patches was born! Now I proudly make patches for folks around the world.
For 8 years I made mostly custom pieces. Primarily made of fine woods. The shape you see in these patches was created by shaping and carving wood.
The first "Drive" patch was built.
In 2019 the patches became a big hit. In two months time there were more orders than the last 10 years total.
Big success right?! Not quite. Life had other plans.
The reality is I'm just a guy that makes handmade patches. I'm not a big company. So, inevitably my lack of manufacturing knowledge became really... really obvious. My ability wasn't there when I needed to make the same high quality patches, but in large quantities, and quickly.
For the next four years I went through some hard times. That feeling of deep failure that you get when you feel you've failed more than just yourself. You feel like you failed your community. Not to mention the one great thing you tried to do was now, no longer.
One fateful day though, I got to reading emails that were sent to me. They were telling me the stories of how I've helped. How the eye patches I make have even changed peoples lives.
With this renewed feeling I decided one loss wasn't going to keep me from making something I truly was good at - making eye patches that people would actually enjoy wearing.
My mission now is to make the sweetest patches available while keeping them affordable, or even free if I can.
Thank you for your interest.
I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Most sincerely,
Charlie
This is me. Humble beginnings in 2010 making the first Sweet eye patches. (yes, we used cameras back then. lol Still had a flip phone.)
2016 just after we moved. The shop has grown. My son was 2.
Dad by day... then, in the dark of night, an eye patch maker! ;)
Now my kids help in the shop (when they want to ha!)
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