# A word of caution for wanting to work with rhinestone templates



## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

START SMALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Low stone counts, low complexity. 

I am a newbie and i made the mistake of doing a complicated logo (one color) from jump and holy friggin crap can it take for ever to fill the template and have ALL THE STONE RIGHT SIDE UP. i think the template has like 500 stones (dont know the exact stone count because the person that created ignored me every time i asked them what the stone count was) its a 7 by 7 design and goodness i get most of the stones right way up and then i get it or whatever adn stones turn over of come out of place took me probably 20-30 minutes to get everything set. and even using the edger brush all the stone may not go down right side up and keeping messing with it can screw up other stones. I finally used some fine scissors to tun over the stragglers. Relying on the brush drove me bonkers. But i attribute it to 1) being my first time 2) having to place soooooooooooo many stones.

Also...PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. i have done 3 shirt and i am damn near out of stones *LOL* but only bought 2400.

regadless of my complaining i am having a ball  just wanted to say to the those like me starting out start small, because starting complicated with alot of stones you could drive you self crazy *LOL*


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## lizziemaxine (Nov 14, 2007)

Thanks for posting your experience.
I will keep it in mind when I finally do get a chance to make my own templates.


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## IslandGirl (Feb 17, 2009)

Thank you for sharing your experience 
My Falcon template cutter will be here tomorrow. I already have a request to do a band logo which is fairly complicated, with a high stone count. I told them it would be a while before I could do it figuring I would need to get some practice time in before trying to tackle it. My 7 year old has put in a request for a Hello Kitty, so I think that will be my first try.

I sell crystals, so I have about 3000 gross of machine cut on hand and just ordered about 4000 gross of Korean stones  I will have plenty to play with. I am officially broke though. LOL

Couple of questions, do you happen to know what type of template material your stencil was made of? I am wondering if it was a hard board with the holes drilled or the soft template material? It looks so easy on the demos I've seen. The stones just magically fall into the holes right side up.


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## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

Hey lizzie! 

Yeah i just wanted to let people know my experience. Sometimes in here people can be too flowery and complimenting about the process and dont say what issues they ran into. And then the ones that do say the negative are sooooooooooooooooo negative you just want to turn the channel before reading the whole thing. 

I hope i didnt come across as the second. 

One thing i forgot to mention is that i am using 3mm stones and i use the sharp end of the scissors to poke the stone over.



lizziemaxine said:


> Thanks for posting your experience.
> I will keep it in mind when I finally do get a chance to make my own templates.


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## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

IslandGirl said:


> It looks so easy on the demos I've seen. The stones just magically fall into the holes right side up.


soft template material with the rubber. yeah i saw the same demos then you have 475 stones all nice and pretty and 25 sitting there laughing at you, then you brush over and different ones change place on who is now flipped over and whose not. it was a puuuuuuure comedy. after about an hour of messing with it i went and looked for something small and sharp... once i found the scissors that made thing MUCH faster and nicer. No more cursing *L*

so i would say that the vast majority of the stones if your using consistent pressure will lay right side up. just those stragglers with drive you bonkers. i tried forever to try to do it liek in the videos.... once i played with it i realized one major thing...NO ONE ZOOMED IN TO SHOW YOU ALL STONES WERE FLIPPED OVER 

but it works well definately needs practice. took me a bit to realized you had to put firm pressure in a circular motion (for me) for everything to go predominately right side up.

kinda look at it like weeding vinyl. (if you have done it before) you will always have the majority that weeds nice and easy then the stragler you have to go in and manually dance with 

overall its a good experience. 

Oh and cut the sticky tape the exact size of your template. go low and slow!!. I have had a few stones fly off while pulling the tapeoff.

when i can afford the software to do my own templates i will make sure to make my templates with like an inch or 2 inch border around it to make it easy to pull up. My template has NO boder at all like a quarter inch on one side and maybe half an inch on the other.

having the designs go to the exact edge of the template is a pain in the ***.


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## rhinestoneshirts (Mar 15, 2008)

I initially ran into problems, especially with multi size. I tried not get irritated and after two weeks I became an expert. I will give you a word of caution too. My big problem is static. If you go to put the tape on too slow static pulls them right out of the holes and messes the whole design up. Instead of scissors, try a fine pair of tweezers for next time. Easier to flip with tweezers.


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## andywt (Mar 9, 2009)

I just today coughed up the cash for a roland gx-24 with r-wear software from xpres here in the uk. Going to their place next Friday to collect, told me to be there the whole day for training -- nice people!!!
Tried the system at a sign show a few weeks back and first go managed to fill the template with all the stones the right way up ( hope it stays that easy ).
Will post my finding in a week or so.


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## miamirhinestone (Mar 10, 2009)

I know the feeling of it not working for you. I see those machines making those templates at the show's and the person making the transfers is usually very experienced at doing so that is why he or she is showing the machine. I have a different style template it's called shake and make system you literally shake the template back and forth in a tupperware and 95% or more land shinny side up. The best way I figured on turning over the stones is with a dental pick you could get one at any Pharmacy or Auto Parts store and they wotk great. Now for the static just pass the transfer paper by your computer monitor or TV or even on your own shirt it removes most of the static Good Luck


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## IslandGirl (Feb 17, 2009)

All these tips are great. Keep them coming!


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## DTFuqua (Jun 26, 2008)

agensop said:


> START SMALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> Low stone counts, low complexity.
> 
> ...


 How long did it take you? My experience has all been placing each individual stone on the sticky paper one at a time. I made one butterfly for my wife that took 4 1/2 hours.  Now that was fun. One problem I have heard people with templates has been because of cheep rhinestones. That has been my problem with making templates. ( I found out a lot later) I had noticed that the glue wasn't consistent and some of the stones didn't have a flat top while most of them did. A good quality stone product may have made some of my early experiments a little better and allowed me to continue with template making. All a moot point now as I haven even plugged up my heat press for a couple of months now. But my wife still loves the flashy shirts I made her and maybe I'll make her some more to just use up the cheap stones I have instead of giving them away to kids. Good luck.
Terry


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## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

first one an hour or so

second and hour and a half because i had major problem with stones not flipping over 

third was like 45 minutes. this is the one i used the scissor tip on because i was so damn frustrated with the second one. i am convinced when i buy more stones (almost out dont want to risk trying another one until i know i have enough) i can get down to about 20 30 minutes now that i am figuring out the technique.


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## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

another word of caution...all rhinestones are not created equal..for Chinese...forget them..they are cheap but you lose a lot because of either no glue...or too much glue and malformed...good Korean stones are really great and uniform..and of course swarzowski...BUT....from ss6 to ss16....Korean stones are slightly bigger than swarzowski ie...an ss10 Swarzowski is 2.7-2.8 and a Korean ss10 is 3.0 go to Swarovski Rhinestone Heart Swarovski Rhinestone Flat Back Acrylic Rhinestones and look at his explanation you will find it at
Rhinestone Sample Card and Rhinestone Sizes
I keep this list by my computer to remind me to check which stones I am using or making a template for


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## LushLoveTshirts (May 28, 2009)

Nice tips, im thinking of going into this market, 
Start small so i dont fall as much lol


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## bob emb (Apr 5, 2007)

It seems like you guys are a little fristrated when you have big stone counts and multi colors. "If it takes 4.5 hours to complete it aint worth it".

We are using the CAMMS machine we set 150-170 stones per minute depending on the size of the stone. We posted some pixs of multi size multo color designs early this week.

The post is SANDY JO HEAR ARE THE MULTI COLOR DESIGNS, if any one would like to take a look. If anyone need help just contact at the below email address.

Regards to All,

Bob


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## DTFuqua (Jun 26, 2008)

bob emb said:


> It seems like you guys are a little fristrated when you have big stone counts and multi colors. "If it takes 4.5 hours to complete it aint worth it".
> 
> Bob


Tell me about it. Thats why my wife and grand daughter are the only ones wearing shirts with rhinestones that I made.


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## plan b (Feb 21, 2007)

Like Charles said you have to tweak the template for the stones you are using, after you do that the template way goes a lot faster than what you guy's are reporting here.


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## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

trust me, if i had the money right now for r-wear i would buy it and try my hand at making the design over again. *LOL* my thing it i didnt do the template it was done for me with pretty much no say on how it went. dont get me wrong its a nice design they did. just a few issues with doing it at first and how it came out. like not having enough of a border for me to get a good flush connection with the tape. i would have put an inch or 2 all around the design. but it wasnt my call. so now i know i am trying to save up to do my own becaue i definately see the benefit on having it in house now. i can tweek and make different designs an test multiple way of filling to see what i like better. hell i would have done a few different things now that i see how it came out to cut down on the complexity probably. Maybe even using bigger stones to cut down on the count and complexity when filling. hell if i would know the stone count i probably would have asked what it looked like with half the stones or bigger stones.

but lets call it as lesson learned  i am not trying to sound like i dont like the template. I love it cause its my logo  just now knowing what i do now i would have probably refined its creation more than i was able too. 

the person did a great job. just dont know if i would have done it the same way if had to do over again. 



plan b said:


> Like Charles said you have to tweak the template for the stones you are using, after you do that the template way goes a lot faster than what you guy's are reporting here.


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## Kleverrr1 (May 2, 2007)

I use a x-acto knife to flip my stones and for static I use a damp cloth with a drop of soap, water removes static.


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

When making templates, it is better to not leave to much rubber on the sides, as that is where the hotfix tape adheres too, and when pulling up, it pops the stones off,,,
When doing your template
Over lap the hot fix tape by 1 inche on to the table, so you are sticking to the table,, before lifting up on your hot fix tape, unstick it from the table, 
and slowely roll the hot fix tape off..
hope this helps..
sandy Jo


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

Chris, Thanks for the soap and water trick, sounds great.
sandy jo


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

Oh yeah, always keep weeding tools handy, to flip the stones, Harbor freight offers a set of probe tools for a great price,, they work great, for flipping those stubborn stones,, if you see any stones with excess glue or misformed toss them aside, so you can get your stones out easily.
I totally agree, If this is your first design, start with a once color one size template with very few stones to it, untill you get in your groove.
Once you have it, you are there.
sandy Jo


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## IBXpressions (Mar 6, 2009)

Wow! I know what you mean. I started out doing designs that were strictly rhinestones, and it not only took me a long time but my rhinestone supply would disappear before my eyes much faster then I thought. It is all about practice, practice practice, but the more you do it, the better you get! Good luck!


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

I also wanted to point out, filled designs are awesome, and beautiful and bring the highest dollar when selling, 
but they are the hardest to make, when doing a rhinestone transfer with a filled design, you have got to have some other transfer work under your belt, or else you will be popping stones off right and left,, not to mention how many stones will go into a design,
a normal design for me i would say has 200-300 stone count, a filled design has between 500-1500 stones,, 
as beautiful as they are ,they are very tricky.
Practice practice practice, each one you will improve. But if you start to complex you will be frustrated and lose the desire to try these.
Sandy jo


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## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

yeah *points up* what she said *LOL*


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## adoptivemom1 (Jun 14, 2009)

Found a great tool today in the jewelry/crafts aisle at good ole Wal-mart today (but I've seen them at craft stores too) ... it's metal, has a little shovel on one end (to use with sead beads), and a long tweezer on the other end. Works great for picking the rhinestones from templates that flip over, and can still shovel the fine stones onto the template...and it was super cheap!!


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## adoptivemom1 (Jun 14, 2009)

Ok, guys. 1:08 a.m. and I'm getting frustrated! Finally tweaked my cutter/program to get the template right. My new little tool works great for getting the stones in the template. However, I can't get the tape to stick to all the stone! Bought the good Korean stones, so they're pretty uniform. Bought the tape with the white backing that is made for doing this. Tried the damp cloth with the drop of water as suggested above..... still leaving half my stones when I pull off the tape. Help! Any suggestions?!


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

Hey amy, I am up working late with ya lol

when you put your transfer tape down on stones, gently rub the transfer tape over each stone,, with your hand.. 
if your stones are not coming out, your holes might be to tight, and holding them in,, if your holes are to tight it hugs the stone and they wont come out.. 
i am thinking that is the issue.. if that is the case you will have to recut a different template,, 
do you have any smaller stones,, to see if they would come out,, in that same template, just try a few,, 
when you have it right,, just go nice and slow, 
sometimes i turn my transfer over after applying the transfer tape, and rub slowly from the backside. 
and then start to peel while upside down, i do this for fills and lots of stones... 
Hope this helps.let me know if you need any more help.. 
Cant help you about the water,, i have never dont that trick, 
Sandy jo


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## adoptivemom1 (Jun 14, 2009)

sjidohair said:


> Hey amy, I am up working late with ya lol
> 
> when you put your transfer tape down on stones, gently rub the transfer tape over each stone,, with your hand..
> if your stones are not coming out, your holes might be to tight, and holding them in,, if your holes are to tight it hugs the stone and they wont come out..
> ...


 Hi Sandy! I actually got my rhinestones from your website I think! I think the template might be the problem too. I have another cutting right now. I tried tapping from the back, etc. A few were just REALLY stuck, so I figured I'd try a new template. What do you stick your template material to? I tried to find a really thin board, but couldn't, so I bought tough artist canvas on backer board. I think that may also be part of my problem too. What do you think is best to attach it to? I cut the template from the Hartco sandblast....will say though, I did have to do a LOT of weeding. Guess it's all a trial and error! Thanks for any help!  Blessings, Amy


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

Amy, i think it is your template, you holes need to be larger,, to let the stones out,, and also you need a hard backer board,, or you can stick it right to a table, just save your piece of back that you tear off the template before attaching it to the table, 
It takes a lil time, so be patient, you will get your techinique down, 
I think you will be really happy after recutting your template,, and making your holes bigger,, 
Weeding is not the funniest but when you have a good template it is work it. 
let me know how it goes,, 
glad you got the stones,, have fun,
Sandy jo


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## adoptivemom1 (Jun 14, 2009)

Woo Hoo! Only weeded part of a letter and added stones, so I didn't waste time. Worked like a charm- every one popped up...where it was supposed to! I can now go to bed feeling somewhat victorious, I may actually get some sleep. Been dreaming in "bling" since the new cutter arrived..... (yawn) Blessings, Amy


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

AWesome,, welcome to bling land,,
Have a good night,, 
Sandy jo


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Amy I have also read from another post that this stencil board works great for attaching the hartco template material for a backer board Scrapbookdiecutter.com: Stencil Supplies. It looks like it is fairly cheap as well  Hope this helps.

Congrats on your new cutter  What cutter and software are you using?


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## DTFuqua (Jun 26, 2008)

Hi Amy. Same problem here. I got my Corel X4 and Cathy wanted "Coca Cola" in rhinestones. First cut the blade holder loosened up in the cutter. Second cut, the stones wanted to stay in the template. Third cut, I made the holes larger and worked fine. Then it was 4;00 in the morning and I finaly went to bed.


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

Terry, It looks great,, awesome job,, 
Sandy jo
MMM


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## adoptivemom1 (Jun 14, 2009)

sjidohair said:


> Terry, It looks great,, awesome job,,
> Sandy jo
> MMM


Thanks for the help, guys! Since I actually got a rhinestone (template) shirt done, I thought I'd try to share. We'll see if I can add pix to this entry!
I am mom to an eight year old boy, and wife to a police detective, so needless to say, they were like, "O.K., I guess that's neat," when I showed them the new shirt technique today. They only get excited when I let them design and make baseball or police shirts! Go figure. Now, I went to babysit my 4-year-old niece, who before I even got a shirt out of the bag went, "OOOOH! Aunt Amy- SPARKLY!" Therefore, sufficient excitement was shown and now I'm brave enough to share..  
Been cutting tee-shirt vinyl on two little Roland V8 cutters for the last year- little workhorses- over 2,500 shirts since last September. Just bought a Signmax with the WinPCsign software to increase speed and to make the templates. Works great- would've LOVED one of the systems that I've been reading about, but this _total_ was around $500 for cutter and software, so I'm giving it a try. Don't have CorelX4 yet, but that will be next, so I had to manipulate the dots and do them by hand... If anyone knows a shortcut for the WINPCSign software for that, like the one for Corel, please share!!! I'm working on Vista 64 bit, which I had to buy (because only 64 bit works with Brother PE Design latest version for embroidery.) Not at all pleased with the frustration on Vista!! Therefore, I'm limited on what will work with my machine. Wore my shirt today to work in the school library and already had two moms who ordered one- tomorrow is open house, so we'll see the response. Can't wait to wear it.
.....wonder what my husband would say if I "blinged" out his bullet-proof vest. That might get them to show a little more appreciation 
Blessings, Amy


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

Amy outstanding,, you did great,, 
thanks for sharing,, I am here if you need more help, 
sandy Jo
MMM


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

Nice mixture of stones and vinyl by the way,, 
YOU ROCK!!!!!! I am so excited for you,,
and with a machine and software for under $500.00 incredible..
Sandy jo


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Great Job Amy  you will be addicted now. I totally understand about the whole boy girl thing hehe, I am married to a fire fighter, and the only time he gets excited for what I do is when he gets fireman shirts  Although he does love when I print him shirts with the grand babies photos on them as well with my dtg 

So glad you got your template working well, and look forward to see your future creations.


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## Andy the Logo (Sep 1, 2009)

This is my very 1st post so be nice....lol
At the minute I do machine embroidery but are looking to expand into heat pressing vinyl and rhinestones, so after quite a bit of gooogling and vid watching on you tube I think I know the direction I'm heading, At this point I have not bought the vinyl cutter and after doing some reading I am now hoping that I can use this for making templates for the stones and then putting the on to t shirts, I have just got a copy of adobe Illustrator which I am going to learn, and am now hoping that this can be used for the templates, I have seen mention of r-wear? is this something I need? 

hoping to buy a cutter in the next week or so any advice for here in the UK.

any info / advice greatly received


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

Welcome Andy,,
and once you press one shirt with stones or studs, you are so hooked,,,
we will be here to help you along the way,, 
Just let us know what info you need one of us is sure to know or can find out for you,,
Sandy jo
MMM


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## lgjar (Jun 5, 2008)

Andy,

Welcome to the forum and the world of rhinestone embellishment!

To answer your questions . . . 
R-wear is one of several software packages that's geared toward rhinestone template development. It is a Roland product, designed to work with Roland equipment (cutters, etc.) Here are some details from Roland about Roland R-Wear. 

DAS and ACS also offer systems and software to facilitate rhinestone template development. 
Those are the 3 most commonly discussed on the forums and if you search for any of the 3 you'll find a good bit of information and user experiences with each one. They all have great features and they all have certain requirements. You'll want to be sure that you select software which works with your cutter.

Since you have Adobe Illustrator, you don't absolutely have to have rhinestone software to cut rhinestone templates if you have an Illustrator plugin that will send your artwork to the cutter. However, many people like the nice features of the rhinestone software packages - they make some tasks easier. 

There are lots of resources here from many generous people describing how you can create rhinestone motifs without a cutter (manually placing stones) or even without special software, how you can use Illustrator and CorelDraw to create the design, as well as how to use each of the 3 popular rhinestone systems. There are very helpful videos too. You'll really just have to read and search (a lot) to learn about all the options, features, requirements and limitations to make a decision. 

Keep reading and posting . . . before you know it, you'll have a plan!

Good luck . . . 
LG


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## Andy the Logo (Sep 1, 2009)

Thank you very much for the replies, at the moment im looking at the robo craft pro, Ive seen a few threads on here, so I guess I have lot of reading to do. Currently trying to expand the business, I have now out grown the room in the house so im moving in to a garden office which will be delivered in a few weeks time, so everything is moving in the right direction.

many thanks

Andy


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## DTFuqua (Jun 26, 2008)

Andy the Logo said:


> Thank you very much for the replies, at the moment im looking at the robo craft pro,
> 
> 
> If your serious about the Craft Robo Pro and wanting to do rhinestones with it, You may want to hold off on purchasing the software till we get some more information on the newest rhinestone software to come out. It is for the craft robo pro and other CE5000 series Graphtec cutters. Here is the location on the thread. http://www.t-shirtforums.com/rhinestone-decoration/t95112.html#post557309


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