# Nebie Question about Equipment for Rhinestone Transfers



## Terri1225 (Apr 8, 2011)

Hi, I've been reading through the threads and need advice. I am in the process of starting a new business venture offering rhinestone designs. I have done transfers by hand before for family and friends but ready to take it to the next level. I am so confused on the right equipment to buy that will not break my pockets. If this business does well I will upgrade to the GX24 but for now I want economical equipment so here is what I was thinking of:

US Cutter M series cutter or GCC Expert 24
WinPCS Sign Pro 2010
Professional Digital 15x15 Heat Press from Sunie.com
This will bring my investment to under $1000 depending on the cutter. What do you guys think? I am starting out doing rhinestone but I also want to get into the vinyl heat transfers.
Any help and/or advice would be greatly appreciated.


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

Hi, Terri!
Welcome to the forum!

I started out with a really cheap cutter and quickly upgraded to a GCC Bengal. From what I know about the Expert 24, you will be happy with it. 
I also started out with the 15x15 heat press from Sunie and quickly upgraded to the 16x24 and am now wanting to upgrade to an auto open press. 
I also tried WPC and it will work for you just fine. There is a learning curve but there are a lot of resources out there to help you.
I'm a bit of a gadget junkie so I've tried a bunch of the different software out there.
It sounds like you've done your homework, and with a budget of under $1000, the equipment you've listed will be just fine for you and once you're raking in profits, you can always upgrade later. I don't regret making the buying choices I made at first because they allowed me to get my feet off the ground!
I hope this helps!

Stephanie


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## Terri1225 (Apr 8, 2011)

Thanks Divine Bling for the great advic. In your opinion wiuld it be better for me to go with the US Cutter cutter which is only $219 just to start off opposed to the GCC model which is $460? Would you suggest another software to use? Which do you use?


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## Terri1225 (Apr 8, 2011)

Thanks Divine Bling for the great advice. In your opinion will it make more sense to purchase the US Cutter brand cutter which is only $219 ir better to go go with the $460 GCC brand? Also do you suggest a different software other than WC Sign Pro?


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

Terri1225 said:


> Thanks Divine Bling for the great advic. In your opinion wiuld it be better for me to go with the US Cutter cutter which is only $219 just to start off opposed to the GCC model which is $460? Would you suggest another software to use? Which do you use?


In my opinion, the GCC cutter is your best bet. You'll get great service and it's a good cutter.
I have several rhinestone softwares, including WPC, but I personally use Bling !t Pro for all of my designing.


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## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

Let me see....starting out...I would sure skip Bling It Pro...it is not a bad program BUT at $999 it is a bit pricey for the startup kit...and the winPCsign pro is under $300... and to round out software I am familiar with, there is the DAS system at about $1400 or so without any cutter...huuuummm let me think about this..if I was trying to stay at around $1000 or so to start...which should one choose


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## Krystle1981 (Oct 1, 2010)

charles95405 said:


> Let me see....starting out...I would sure skip Bling It Pro...it is not a bad program BUT at $999 it is a bit pricey for the startup kit.


That is a little pricey for start up kit but I think it's well worth it. WinPC is a good program but like Stephanie said...it's definitely got a learning curve. I started with funtime 2010 in October last year but quickly upgraded to WinPC when I got a bigger cutter in December. I just recently purchased the Bling !t software and it's so much easier to navigate. I'm really happy with it. The rhinestone fonts are really fun and easy to work with. It saves so much time.


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## bc57 (May 10, 2011)

New here and to stoning, bought winpcsignpro, now i'm thinking about the blingit software. Looking for a software just for stoning and looks like blingit might be the one, already have corel for my signs and t-shirts. Do you think blingit is easier and better just for stoning?


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

bc57 said:


> New here and to stoning, bought winpcsignpro, now i'm thinking about the blingit software. Looking for a software just for stoning and looks like blingit might be the one, already have corel for my signs and t-shirts. Do you think blingit is easier and better just for stoning?


Yes, Bling !t is much easier to use just for stoning. Just to name one feature, you can change spacing and fill type on the fly. Which means that if you click to stone something with a certain spacing or stone size in WPC and decide you don't like the spacing or stone size, you have to click the undo button, change the spacing in the little box, and click Apply again.
With Bling !t, you select your stone size and spacing and if you don't like it or want to see what it will look like with the spacing more or less, you just click a little arrow up or down and it changes it right there as you're watching. No undo and redo. Also, you can change the fill type on the fly in the same way. 
It's a very powerful rhinestone software and it has dramatically decreased my design time since I switched.
Also, it comes with 30 type-able fonts that are already stoned for you. Meaning that you just type them out and select what stone size you want and it's done. What used to take me half an hour to an hour to design a simple word now takes me less than 2 minutes. And it comes with 250 pre-stoned clip arts. 
Please let me know if you have any other questions!

Stephanie


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## bc57 (May 10, 2011)

Can you import your clipart in this software and use it. I thought i had read that they have a blingit pro that does this but not sure. Is there a demo that you can download and try??


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

bc57 said:


> Can you import your clipart in this software and use it. I thought i had read that they have a blingit pro that does this but not sure. Is there a demo that you can download and try??



Let me check into that for you...


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

bc57 said:


> Can you import your clipart in this software and use it. I thought i had read that they have a blingit pro that does this but not sure. Is there a demo that you can download and try??


Bling !t Pro definitely does stone your vectorized clip art. I was checking into whether you can download a trial version.

You need a dongle to use Bling !t, but we offer a 30 day money back guarantee if you want to try it out. You can watch the tutorial videos at Tutorials to see how it works.


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## gerryppg (Jan 29, 2010)

DivineBling said:


> Bling !t Pro definitely does stone your vectorized clip art. I was checking into whether you can download a trial version.
> 
> You need a dongle to use Bling !t, but we offer a 30 day money back guarantee if you want to try it out. You can watch the tutorial videos at Tutorials to see how it works.


 Hey Stephanie it's Carrie with Prosperi-Tee Industries. Gerry & I just today tried the Bling It and our first attempt came out backwards..lol we didn't mirror it...anyhow, is there a difference between our program and Bling It Pro? Have a Happy 4th!!!


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

gerryppg said:


> Hey Stephanie it's Carrie with Prosperi-Tee Industries. Gerry & I just today tried the Bling It and our first attempt came out backwards..lol we didn't mirror it...anyhow, is there a difference between our program and Bling It Pro? Have a Happy 4th!!!


Hi Carrie!

I don't know why it would have come out backwards! Did you cut a template with your cutter? It was backwards? That's so weird.

What you have is the same thing as Bling !t Pro. I think they used to just have Bling !t which didn't come with the type-able fonts or clip art. But the program is exactly the same.


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## gerryppg (Jan 29, 2010)

DivineBling said:


> Hi Carrie!
> 
> I don't know why it would have come out backwards! Did you cut a template with your cutter? It was backwards? That's so weird.
> 
> What you have is the same thing as Bling !t Pro. I think they used to just have Bling !t which didn't come with the type-able fonts or clip art. But the program is exactly the same.


 Gerry says he thinks he clicked on "mirror" twice!?!? It worked though, just backwards. We're going to play with it some more and will definately call you if we get stuck. Gerry broke the blade holder so we ordered a new one. Practice Practice!!!


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