How do you attach stones?

D

DancerGA

New Member
How do you attach stones to dresses? I'm trying to replace a couple of stones that have come off. Is there a special glue to use? What have you found that works well?
 
I usually use Gemtac. There are other options out there. There are some that are stronger but more toxic, and I heard that Chrisanne glue is pretty weak.
 
I use Gemtac or Jewel-it. I've found both to be fine, but I use Gemtac if I can find it, and Jewel-it as an alternative.

I've found both at craft stores like Michael's.
 
I'm all about E-6000. It says on the label that it can be used on concrete, so you know it's strong! Any craft or fabric store will carry it.
 
Uhh. and at the risk of sounding totally ignorant, how do you do it? Put the glus on the fabric? Or on the stones? And how long do you have to let it set? And other similarly dumb questions I can't think of... :oops: :lol:
 
There are several methods.

1) Beeswax on a stick
Pinch a pencil-eraser sized piece of beeswax off of a beeswax candle and mold it into an eraser shape. Work the wax until it's soft, and poke the end of a toothpick in it. Now, take your tube of glue (I like Gem-Tac) squeeze dots of glue onto the fabric where you want to put a stone. It helps to have opened the glue bottle by poking it with a thick saftey pin. If you just snip the tip off with scissors you will end up with too big a hole and the glue will sort of glop out. Anyway, I can do up to about 50 dots, but beginners should start with 5 or 10 and work upwards. Once you've placed the glue dots, touch the beeswax to the glass side of a rhinestone. This will pick up the stone. Now push the stone into a glue dot. Ideally you will have used enough glue so a small ring of it will just start to ooze out around the edge of the stone. The surface tension of the glue against the stone will pull it off the beeswax.

2) Glue on a toothpick
This works really well with E-6000. Squeeze out a dime-sized glob of E-6000 onto a piece of scrap cardboard. Using a toothpick, pick up a little glob of glue from the big glob. Now touch the toothpick to the metal side of a stone. The little glob of glue will pick the stone up. Now press press the stone, metal side down, into the fabric. Hold the stone down with another toothpick, a pair of tweezers, an orangewood stick, a bobby pin, or your finger. Slide the toothpick out from under the stone, leaving the stone and glue stuck to the fabric.

3) A method with tweezers
Pick up a stone with the tweezers, metal side up. Squeeze a dot of glue on the stone, then press the stone into the fabric.

There are other variations, it seems that everyone has their favorite way of doing it. I like going for the fastest way, which is the beeswax on a stick way for me. You kind of have to experiment to see what will give you the best and fastest results.
 
pygmalion said:
Uhh. and at the risk of sounding totally ignorant, how do you do it? Put the glus on the fabric? Or on the stones? And how long do you have to let it set? And other similarly dumb questions I can't think of... :oops: :lol:
Click to expand...

Laura's advice about opening the bottle of glue with a fat safety pin is a good one. I'd add to that to make sure you always test the bottle on a tissue or something at first -- EVERY TIME you re-open the bottle -- just to make sure there isn't an air bubble in there that makes the glue ooze out uncontrollably.

Also, before I start, I make sure my stones are all arranged on a flat, clean surface, glass side up. I pin the dress down onto a flat, clean surface (I use the carpet on the floor in my bedroom, but I've heard of all kinds of things). If the material is thin or particularly porous, I put wax paper inside the dress where I'm stoning (so it's between the two layers of fabric -- otherwise, you can end up gluing the dress closed!).

I put the glue on the dress (small dots -- I too do about 50 at a time, but you should start with WAY fewer or your last dots will be dry by the time you get to them!). Then I pick the stone up with tweezers and place it on the glue dot. I have to stop every 10-15 stones to wipe the excess glue off of the tweezers, but it's pretty effective.
 
Joe said:
Why would an air bubble make glue ooze out uncontrollably?
Click to expand...

It just does. I've had this happen with a regular bottle of Elmer's glue.

Think of what happens when there's excess air inside a ketsup bottle, and you squeeze it too hard. The ketsup just goes everywhere. :shock:
 
Purr said:
Joe said:
Why would an air bubble make glue ooze out uncontrollably?
Click to expand...

It just does. I've had this happen with a regular bottle of Elmer's glue.

Think of what happens when there's excess air inside a ketsup bottle, and you squeeze it too hard. The ketsup just goes everywhere. :shock:
Click to expand...

Yep. Basically, the air bubble is trapped down in the bottle, BELOW the glue that is in the neck of the bottle. The air wants to escape UP because the glue is pressing down on it (that whole gravity thing ;) ). The air pushes up & pushes the glue OUT of the bottle, because the glue, which can't always get down PAST the air bubble, goes the only other possible direction -- out the hole in the top of the bottle.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Dance Ads

Advertise on Dance Forums Reach dancers, teachers, studios, event organizers, and dance-friendly brands. View ad options
Back
Top