# Has anyone had any luck with putting rhinestones on lanyards?



## BlingItOn (May 29, 2008)

Just curious if anyone has had any luck with heat pressing rhinestones to neck or wrist lanyards?

If so what kind of lanyard material was it?


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## lifestar (Mar 18, 2007)

Yes, we have done both polyester and nylon.... no problems.


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## katruax (Sep 30, 2010)

BlingItOn said:


> Just curious if anyone has had any luck with heat pressing rhinestones to neck or wrist lanyards?
> 
> If so what kind of lanyard material was it?


Yes but sourcing a wide lanyard is not easy... I think at minimum you need 1" wide and those are hard to come by... With 1" wide you will need to use ss6 if you want to have at least a 2 stone wide letter...

Kevin


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## lovesher2boys (Sep 22, 2008)

I've done it, no problem. 
I tried using a hand iron when my heat press was acting up and those lanyards all had stones fall off. So you definitely need the higher heat and pressure of a heat press to do them. 
They were the nylon lanyards. Wide enough to get three rows of SS10 stones on each strap.
I got them in LA in the toy district, of all places for less than $1 each. Blank, all black and with a little clip and badge holder attached. 
It was one of those sidewalk store type of places. Legit, still there every time I go, but I don't think it's a place you could call to place an order with.


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## katruax (Sep 30, 2010)

I've been sourcing these for some time now... It's not easy finding wide lanyards...

Everywhere I looked companies are getting them overseas... I even looked at just buying the parts and rolls of straps and make them myself...

Shipping from overseas is not cheap and that is what really kills you...

To me if you are going to do a lanyard it really needs to be a quality one... I bought one at a Yankees game for like $15.00 but it's a decent quality... There are a lot of cheap lanyards... Even this Yankee one has the cheap hardware...

I found a place overseas that will match any PMS color can do any length too... To have them delivered to my door... About $1.50 each but they are quality... They will have a break away buckle at the neck a release buckle at the bottom and each lanyard will have a quality snap hook and a cell phone hook with release button....

I'm looking forward to getting them in and will post some pictures once I get some made...

Kevin


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## BlingItOn (May 29, 2008)

lifestar said:


> Yes, we have done both polyester and nylon.... no problems.


I came across the polyester webbing for lanyards but it seem to have a coating on it and felt similar to the nylon material. I was worried that the rhinestones would not stay stuck. It's interesting that you had good results with the nylon material too because I thought rhinestones and nylon were not a good combination.

What was your pressing time and temperature on both materials?


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## BlingItOn (May 29, 2008)

katruax said:


> I've been sourcing these for some time now... It's not easy finding wide lanyards...
> 
> Everywhere I looked companies are getting them overseas... I even looked at just buying the parts and rolls of straps and make them myself...
> 
> ...


What kind of material are these made from? How wide is the strap?

Ideally I think a 1" strap would work best for rhinestones. With that thickness you can use a "3/4 letter and still be able to use the 3mm rhinestone. Anything smaller that 1" would probably force you to use the 2mm rhinestone instead.


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## katruax (Sep 30, 2010)

BlingItOn said:


> What kind of material are these made from? How wide is the strap?
> 
> Ideally I think a 1" strap would work best for rhinestones. With that thickness you can use a "3/4 letter and still be able to use the 3mm rhinestone. Anything smaller that 1" would probably force you to use the 2mm rhinestone instead.


It's a 1" Polyester strap... Like I said they are areally hard to find... They actually make a 1" cotton which would probably adhere the best but they are kind of scratchy on the neck.

Can you recommend a good font?

Kevin


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## BlingItOn (May 29, 2008)

katruax said:


> Can you recommend a good font?


For letters under an 1" tall I usually like to use an all upper case Arial font. It's easy to read and the all caps gives the illusion of looking bolder even with smaller letters.

In my ACS software, which is pretty much the same as your Klick-N-Kut, I use a single line font called TRANSOM for my Arial font letters. Since it is a true single line font it makes it a snap to apply the circles to the lettering. 

I think I am going to run out to Joann Fabrics today and see what material they have and do some testing.


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## katruax (Sep 30, 2010)

Let me know what you come up with at JoAnns... I wouldn't think they would carry stuff for making lanyards?... But it would be cool if they did...

Kevin


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## BlingItOn (May 29, 2008)

Well I did find 1" cotton and polyester lanyard material at Joanns and Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby was cheaper than Joanns for both materials. Cotton material was $1.29/yd at Hobby Lobby and $2.49/yd. at Joanns....Polyester material was $.99/yd. at Hobby Lobby and $1.79/yd. at Joanns. The cotton material was actually on sale so I only paid $.88/yd. 

I couldn't find the findings at either place to make a neck lanyard so I decided to make a 6" long keychain with a 1" split ring on one end and a swivel hook on the other.

I pressed rhinestones (325 degrees for 12 sec.) on both sides of each material. After a couple of days of having them hang from my daughter's back pack the keychain made from the polyester material started loosing rhinestones. I could easily pick the rhinestones off with my finger nails. The cotton material is still going strong.

I was hoping the polyester material would hold the rhinestones because I think it would work the best for a neck lanyard....but if the rhinestones pop off that esily I wouldn't take the chance to sell them to any customers.

I'm making a batch of keychains now to give away as birthday favors for my daughter's friends this weekend. I'll post some pictures when they are done.


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## Fenrir (Mar 13, 2012)

Don't forget to look for coupons for both Joann and Hobby Lobby. HL usually has them on the website, Joann you need to sign up for since they use unique codes on each one. This week Joann had a 50% coupon. HL usually doesn't go over 40%.


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## BlingItOn (May 29, 2008)

Yes you are right about the coupons...but they usually only apply to regular priced merchandise. When I paid $.88/yd at Hobby Lobby for the cotton material I think that was at 30% off. A 40% coupon would bring it down to about $.77/yd.

Overall I paid about $2.20 to make these.

Here's a picture of the finished key chains...I think they turned out great and hope the 16 yr olds will like them too.


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## katruax (Sep 30, 2010)

So the ends are sewn with the attachments?... Did you buy the attachments at Hobby Lobby too?

Kevin


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## BlingItOn (May 29, 2008)

katruax said:


> So the ends are sewn with the attachments?... Did you buy the attachments at Hobby Lobby too?
> 
> Kevin


The 1" split rings I purchased at Hobby Lobby. The package had 24 rings for $2.99. Joanns sells the swivel hooks but only in packages of (2) and there weren't enough packages for how many I needed so I purchased them from www.usalanyards.com

Yes I did sew both ends and then put fray check on the exposed ends to keep them from fraying.


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## hi-nrg-joe (Jul 19, 2008)

BlingItOn said:


> Here's a picture of the finished key chains...I think they turned out great and hope the 16 yr olds will like them too.


Do you mind if I ask what you are selling them for?


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## BlingItOn (May 29, 2008)

The key chains that I made were for give away gifts for my daughter's 16th birthday party (which were a big hit). Creating the personalized names were a bit time consuming as well as assembling them. I'm still debating whether or not to offer them as an item on my website so I have not come up with a price as of yet.


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## gabenick2 (Nov 23, 2010)

Was wondering if the lanyards that were made are holding up. I have an order for 100 and was thinking about doing the polyester, has anyone had problems with the rhinestones falling off?


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## BlingItOn (May 29, 2008)

gabenick2 said:


> Was wondering if the lanyards that were made are holding up. I have an order for 100 and was thinking about doing the polyester, has anyone had problems with the rhinestones falling off?


I did not have any luck with the rhinestones staying on the polyester material as I mentioned in my previous post. The lanyard keychains I made from the cotton material are still holding up well.


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