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9 Posts
I enjoy wearing occasional blingy shirts-meaning a rhinestone shirt. I think I'm the only one left though. I invested in a setting machine-Crystal Press II, which is for the beginner I'm sure. I'm a computer programmer and wanted to dive into the software and machine to see what it is all about. I made some with our company logos and did some for a few other small businesses just for experience. This stuff is time consuming!
If the rhinestones are not the same size, the machine will place them upside down...and that takes a huge effort to manually flip them. Can you imagine doing this for 30 shirts??? I have now learned what companies overseas (since there are no USA companies making rhinestones...why???) make consistent rhinestones. I'm thinking spangles are better because from what I see it punches the circles, which look like rhinestones...probably cheaper, but then the machine cost!!
From the business end, I have learned most women I know do not enjoy bling as I do. Restaurants are scared to use it for them falling off in food??? Good Lord. My rhinestones never ever come off in the washer or dryer. I totally mis-treat them for a Q & A in how they hold up. I've even done mixed designs with glitter vinyl and rhinestones. The quality is bar-none. The shirt started getting holes...and these are Bella's. The Rhinestones never came off. I've done 30+ washes. gee whiz.
From the technical side, the software that is available out there sucks big time and is over priced...whether plugins for Corel Draw, Design ERA, Digital Art Solutions, which I asked for a refund. My husband wrote a piece of software for me that does complex fills and borders much better than ANY software I was reviewing. There isn't any software that will allow you to give a proof to customer with vinyl and rhinestones together. My hubby is working on it, but should he...seems like this is dead.
Thoughts on this business? Is it dead, dying or what?
Thanks,
Gal
If the rhinestones are not the same size, the machine will place them upside down...and that takes a huge effort to manually flip them. Can you imagine doing this for 30 shirts??? I have now learned what companies overseas (since there are no USA companies making rhinestones...why???) make consistent rhinestones. I'm thinking spangles are better because from what I see it punches the circles, which look like rhinestones...probably cheaper, but then the machine cost!!
From the business end, I have learned most women I know do not enjoy bling as I do. Restaurants are scared to use it for them falling off in food??? Good Lord. My rhinestones never ever come off in the washer or dryer. I totally mis-treat them for a Q & A in how they hold up. I've even done mixed designs with glitter vinyl and rhinestones. The quality is bar-none. The shirt started getting holes...and these are Bella's. The Rhinestones never came off. I've done 30+ washes. gee whiz.
From the technical side, the software that is available out there sucks big time and is over priced...whether plugins for Corel Draw, Design ERA, Digital Art Solutions, which I asked for a refund. My husband wrote a piece of software for me that does complex fills and borders much better than ANY software I was reviewing. There isn't any software that will allow you to give a proof to customer with vinyl and rhinestones together. My hubby is working on it, but should he...seems like this is dead.
Thoughts on this business? Is it dead, dying or what?
Thanks,
Gal
