Discuss the different methods of adding some bling to your designs. Rhinestone and rhinestud transfers, templates, equipment, software and supplies are inlcuded in this forum.
So I'm really struggling making templates for rhinestone transfers. I called sign warehouse and bought the transfer material that they are selling now for rhinestones and I'm having several issues. When I first called I ordered the Hartco 425S but it didn't do right either so I called back and ordered the stuff they are selling specifically for this.
I have read almost every post on here about this over the past few months before I tried getting into it and I thought I knew what I was doing, but obviously I was sadly mistaken!!
First.. After my cutter cuts out the holes they don't weed out good. Even when I transfer the whole thing to lexan and try to peel it up the design either rips open between the holes or the holes stay attached to the material.
Second... When I picked out some of the holes by hand and tried to sift some stones over them, they wouldn't fall down in the holes, and the ones that did ended up facing different directions. I don't think I have the right size holes. I went by the size of the stones, but are you making them bigger than the stone?
I ordered my stones from the rhinestone depot and made sure to get the korean ones, so I think I got the right thing there?
I was watching this guy make a template on you tube and he pulled off the pattern and all the little holes were left behind, mine won't even think about doing that!
What material is working the best for you guys, and what do you think I'm doing wrong?! Thanks for all your help in advance
Ohhh, the woes of rhinestone holes. First, let me say that I don't know what material Sign Warehouse is selling that they claim is just for rhinestones, when they weren't even in the business a few weeks ago.
The Hartco425s is what I use when I can't afford the stencil material sold by DAS. It is very finiky. It does NOT always weed on it's own. Sometimes I chill it for a few minutes to make the glue more tacky, and that helps. Sometimes it does not. If you get your circles cut pretty much perfectly, then you can get some good weeding going on. That takes a lot of testing for the right pressure, offset and overcut. However, since this stuff was not originally made for rhinestone templates, it may never self-weed completely.
You will need to make sure you are cutting your circles to fit your stones. Even though you may be using a 3mm stone, it does not mean it is exactly 3mm in diameter. Most of the stones cover a size range. I typically cut my 3mm stones at 3.4mm. I am using Korean stones, but I like that extra "wiggle" room between my stones and the template. Are you using a rhinestone system (DAS or the ACS) or are you using Corel? I think I have an .eps file that will let you cut holes to help take an actual measurement of the stones you are using, that I can send you. Otherwise, just cut on a spare piece of material holes in 3.2. 3.3, 3.4 & 3.5 mm and see where your stones fit best. Then use this as your standard.
I have some of the black template material that DAS sells and I must say that weeding is pretty much a non-issue with this material. It took a while to get my circles complete, but once I did, weeding was easy. The circles that don't come off on the first pull, come off when you flip the liner and place the material on the backside. However, the DAS material is very expensive (approx $14/yard). I would rate this as the BEST material I have tried so far.
I also tried the black transfer material from ACS. Horrible and I will never even use what I bought.
I still use the Hartco more than anything, it's just a matter of ease vs costs.
I LOVE cutting the black rubber from ACS, once I started cutting it directly on a mat. I also swear by those Shur-Line brushes for getting the rhinestones brushed correctly into the holes. Here's a You Tube video I made showing the process:
That's an ACS Maxx and those attachable tables are nice for supporting the mat and come with the machine. You don't need them if you are cutting vinyl or have a thinner, lighter-weight carrier sheet/mat to support.
Sandy, thats a pretty cool technique. Would that work with a normal feed or does it have to be a flatbed cutter? I don't have the ACS machine, but I do have a ton of that black stencil material that I would like to use, but haven't had any luck with yet
Sandy, thats a pretty cool technique. Would that work with a normal feed or does it have to be a flatbed cutter? I don't have the ACS machine, but I do have a ton of that black stencil material that I would like to use, but haven't had any luck with yet
The ACS IS a regular feed and not a flatbed... at least not the kind of flatbed where the material stays motionless and the blade carriage does ALL of the movement. You'll see that the mat is moving in and out of the machine, just like a regular feed. Again, we use a mat/carrier sheet because a lot of our customers are into paper crafting/fabric cutting/styrene modeling, etc and need a sticky surface to hold their materials during the cut. Our original KNK models didn't come with attachable tables so some of the customers would just use stacks of books or just boxes to keep their mats horizontal during cutting. But then other customers have never used anything at all.
The important thing I'm showing in the video is that the Krylon Easy Tack sprayed mat holds onto those little black circles after the cut and makes weeding a breeze! And then scraping up the circles to clean the mat is also very easy... even using just a little Pampered Chef stoneware scraper.
It's a 14" x 24" plastic mat that we ship with every ACS cutter. The adhesive I use (which we also supply with the cutter) is called Krylon Easy Tack (repositionable). You can buy this adhesive at Michael's craft stores or find it on-line. It works great with paper and cardstock and you can even wash the mats when they become dirty and, after air-drying, the majority of the adhesive will come right back and only a light re-spraying may be needed. It's possible that the adhesive may not be needed because the black rubber has such a strong adhesive itself and the black circles may stick on their own. I will need to test on a new mat that's never been sprayed.
There are additional mats in other thicknesses and dimensions at Accugraphic's paper crafting site.
I have been using a Cricut mat that I got from Walmart. I think it was like $12. I will get some of the sticky spray from Michaels's today as one of my mats is barely sticking now. thanks for that tip and cool video.
Ohhh, the woes of rhinestone holes. First, let me say that I don't know what material Sign Warehouse is selling that they claim is just for rhinestones, when they weren't even in the business a few weeks ago.
The Hartco425s is what I use when I can't afford the stencil material sold by DAS. It is very finiky. It does NOT always weed on it's own. Sometimes I chill it for a few minutes to make the glue more tacky, and that helps. Sometimes it does not. If you get your circles cut pretty much perfectly, then you can get some good weeding going on. That takes a lot of testing for the right pressure, offset and overcut. However, since this stuff was not originally made for rhinestone templates, it may never self-weed completely.
You will need to make sure you are cutting your circles to fit your stones. Even though you may be using a 3mm stone, it does not mean it is exactly 3mm in diameter. Most of the stones cover a size range. I typically cut my 3mm stones at 3.4mm. I am using Korean stones, but I like that extra "wiggle" room between my stones and the template. Are you using a rhinestone system (DAS or the ACS) or are you using Corel? I think I have an .eps file that will let you cut holes to help take an actual measurement of the stones you are using, that I can send you. Otherwise, just cut on a spare piece of material holes in 3.2. 3.3, 3.4 & 3.5 mm and see where your stones fit best. Then use this as your standard.
I have some of the black template material that DAS sells and I must say that weeding is pretty much a non-issue with this material. It took a while to get my circles complete, but once I did, weeding was easy. The circles that don't come off on the first pull, come off when you flip the liner and place the material on the backside. However, the DAS material is very expensive (approx $14/yard). I would rate this as the BEST material I have tried so far.
I also tried the black transfer material from ACS. Horrible and I will never even use what I bought.
I still use the Hartco more than anything, it's just a matter of ease vs costs.
Thank you sooooo much!!! I'm going to send back the material that they say is for rhinestones and keep the hartco. I was up till about midnight playing with my pressures like you said and I have got the hartco 425S cutting perfect finally.
I'm not using any system. Truth is I have bought all of my stuff from DAS (cutter, emb. machine, large format printer, software...etc.) but they wanted over $1200 for the stone stencil system and I just couldn't do it right now. They won't sell me the material for the stencils either because I didn't buy the whole system, which I don't really understand, but oh well.
I am using Corel and if you don't mind sending me your circle sizes that you are using I would REALLY appreciate it. I bought some SS-8, SS-10, SS-12, and SS-16. Thats the ones that Nova Rhinestone said were the most popular size. My e-mail is
I LOVE cutting the black rubber from ACS, once I started cutting it directly on a mat. I also swear by those Shur-Line brushes for getting the rhinestones brushed correctly into the holes. Here's a You Tube video I made showing the process:
Thanks for that video Sandy!! I'm going to go out and get some of that Krylon and try it today. My cutter wont' cut on a mat like that, but after it cuts I'm going to lift the whole design off the backer and spray on that Krylon and press it on a plastic sheet and see if that helps me to lift it off and leave the holes behind. Thanks for your help!!!
I don't have the flat board like Sandy but I use a mat in mine when cutting templates. The mat I use is flexible so it moves just like the material you are cutting but provides a stiff back and i get great cuts using it. I even use it sometimes when i am cutting fine details when cutting vinyl. Works great. I don't think you need the flat board to use a mat.
Need help with making rhinestone temps. 
. First, let me say that I don't know what material Sign Warehouse is selling that they claim is just for rhinestones, when they weren't even in the business a few weeks ago. 
