Have you ever wanted to add rhinestones to your custom apparel but didn't want to have to hand-glue them on one at a time? We can show you how to take a rhinestone design or font, upload to your vinyl cutter's software and size it for the rhinestones you'll use. Hotfix rhinestones, such as our premium Hot-Fix Diamond Cut SS10 Rhinestones, have a heat-activated adhesive disc on the back and are best applied with a heat press.

One of the most important details when creating rhinestone templates is to size the holes properly so that the rhinestones can brush in easily, but also not have enough wiggle room to have the rhinestones not aligned in your design.  We recommend the following sizes for many of the most popular rhinestone sizes:

ss06 = .1"
ss10 = .135"
ss16 = .173"
ss20 = .208"
ss30 = .270"
ss34 = .302"

After sizing your rhinestone font or design to use the correct rhinestone size, send your design to your vinyl cutter and cut the Magic Flock 12"x15' Foot Roll - Bonus Bundle Template material. If you use a cutting mat with your vinyl cutter, remove the paper protective backing from the Magic Flock and place the flock sticky side down to your cutting mat. The sticky mat will help weed out the rhinestone dots, which then can easily be scraped off with a squeegee.  We have recommended Cut Specs for cutting Magic Flock with a vinyl cutter on our site, under the Resources tab, then FAQ, found here: https://therhinestoneworld.com/ColorSpark-Vinyl-Recommended-Cut-Settings-_b_143.html

After your design has finished cutting, remove the Magic Flock and place on a hard worksurface. To brush in the rhinestones, dump a large amount of hotfix rhinestones onto your template--more than you think you'd need--as the excess rhinestones help roll the rhinestones in the template over if they happen to fall in upside down. Using a Rhinestone Brush - Monster, brush in large, gentle circles to brush the rhinestones into your template. Brush in straight lines to get the excess rhinestones off of the template and pickup your design with Acrylic Rhinestone Hot-Fix Transfer Tape 12". This specialty tape is heat resistant, so it will not melt in your heat press at the temperatures needed for activating the adhesive disc on rhinestones.

The smaller rhinestones, ss06 and ss10, press at 325 degrees F for 15 seconds with medium-firm pressure. The bigger rhinestones need a slightly higher heat and dwell time, as you need the heat to get through the entire taller profile of the rhinestone to activate the adhesive disc on the back.

Shirts and hoodies decorated with hotfix rhinestones that have been properly heat-applied can be washed and dried in your washer/dryer, with no special care needed. We do recommend avoiding fabric softener and laundry scent beads, as the chemicals in those can affect the adhesion of your rhinestones.