# New To Rhinestone Advice Please If Possible



## [email protected] (Aug 11, 2009)

Hi,

I have an enquiry from a local dance troup to do rhinestone printing, i have been looking at this for a while but never really followed it through.

Would any one be able to tell me what I require to do this i have the following items already and would like to know if this can be used doing stones or will i need new equipment as well.

Coral X4 Pack , Adobe CS 4 Suite (illus , pshop)
Rabbit Cutter
Airwaves Clam Shell Press
Epson 1400 A3 Printer
Epson 7880 Wide Format Printer

I know I will need software etc but thats about it, if anyone could help me with advice it will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Chris


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## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

well...to do rhinestone patterns you since you have Corel X4, you might do a search here. Luis has a tutorial on how to use Corel X4...not my favorite but he has put a lot of work into it and it is impressive.

otherwise you will have to do it in one of the following:
1) do it manually..do a search..sjidohair has a post on the forum on that.
2) do sort of manually...placing one stone at a time. There are two devices for that. One is called Glitz-up and is sort of like a soldering iron with special time to use vacuum to hold and place the stones (sort of like the hobby store item on steroids) cost about $120. The other system uses ultrasonic sound to activate the glue and does not use heat. cost around $1500-1800
3) use a dedicated system that is not cheap..one is from Digital Art Solution and a complete package will be around $4500 and is my personal favorite. This would include the vinyl cutter that is used. There are two more systems that use vinyl cutter. One is KNK using ACS software..costs between $1100-$1600. the other is EageUltraForce...using ACS software that is about $3500 including the cutter. ACS also makes a version of the software for Graphtec cutter. I forget which one..the software is around $400 or so. And then there is R-Wear from Roland that is specific to Roland GX24 and their Rotary engraver R-Wear is around $500. the ACS software is specific to the cutters mentioned. the DAS software only will work with most of the popular...and some unpopular ...cutters
3) you can cut templates using Roland EGX350 which is around $5000. It comes with basic software but you should have R-Wear if you are going that way...and R-Wear is an option item...$500 or so
4) You can use a cam machine which is dedicated to placing rhinestones directly on the transfer tape. I think the smaller units are around $20K...Ioline has one that is less but I don't know how much less

I am sure I have missed someone's favorite..if so maybe they can add to this

If you are just starting, and have a heat press you might consider outsourcing the file or if you want to use the same pattern over and over, consider outsourcing for just the template and you put in the rhinestones.

There are several on the forum that will do this

I am not familiar with the rabbit cutter so I can't address that.


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

Here is a list of rhinestone systems I put together a while back. Not sure if there are any new ones to add but this might help as well  http://www.t-shirtforums.com/rhinestone-decoration/t95228.html


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## DTFuqua (Jun 26, 2008)

Luis has a tutorial on how to use Corel X4...not my favorite but he has put a lot of work into it and it is impressive. 


Not you favorite tutorials or not your favorite way to layout the designs?


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## Kin (Nov 29, 2009)

Hi. 

machinewise , i think , you are good to go. however, for dancers - you will be better off doing it by hand. there is much more time spent into preparing a "single time" design then doing it old fashion way. unless they want something standard - like their names or initials - 
and another thing to mention - not to put you down - but i have two full time - over 15 years of experience each - designers, whose sole purpose is decorating dance dresses, not to mention that my entire shop helps out when we have a rush.
about ultrasonic michines - well, they are awesome - but they work only with swarovski stones - korean and chineese stones explode under vibration. and you have to be careful with its settings, if machine is not setup right for the type of fabric and stone size it will burn the hole in the garment withing fraction of a second. 

hope it helps.

Andrei.


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## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

well andrei...guess we have to agree to disagree...in spite of your impression experience. I think I was among the first to get an ultrasonic machine. about 3 years ago.I have YET to have any stones, korean, chinese or szwaroski...explode or fail to work ... what you have to do is adjust for the type fabric and I have NEVER had any burn on fabric... Now the Glitz-Up is another matter...there is intense heat generated by this machine and one COULD burn fabric IF the tip touches the fabric. 

So I guess we can say that we have had difference experiences. I don't use either much anymores since I have the DAS system and the Roland EGX24, but they are handy for decoration some items that will not take heat or heat press


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## Kin (Nov 29, 2009)

charles95405 said:


> well andrei...guess we have to agree to disagree...in spite of your impression experience. I think I was among the first to get an ultrasonic machine. about 3 years ago.I have YET to have any stones, korean, chinese or szwaroski...explode or fail to work ... what you have to do is a


about burning the fabric i will have to disagree with you. we use some fabrics that would melt on any setting - it is just that type of material. and if you heat the glue with UltraSound there will be fabrics with melting point below temperature generated on the glue. (i dont deal with t-shirts or cotton). and about exploding stones - i think it is all in frequency of US. Plus, if there is a crack in crystal , even a micro crack, vibration will brake it with even less effort. and another point being - all of those machines are not the same. it is a new application of an old tech.

Andrei.

PS i've played with ultrasonic welders in college, we have done some cool things with them, and with whole bunch of materials. and that was 92 - 97.


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## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

don't want to start an back and forth...I was just stating MY OWN experience...not yours.. I stand by my statements as you do yours. maybe you had an OLD technique but there are improvements made to ALL techniques. This is a forum to share information and experiences...which you did...and I did...end of story..I will not respond further as this will only go on and on

maybe someone else can share their experience as I am sure there are other users around


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## [email protected] (Aug 11, 2009)

thanks everyone will continue trying to read up on it, any more advice is greatly appreciated


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