How to Apply Heat Press Rhinestones

Rhinestones are a great way to add some bling to your designs. We have a few options when it comes to rhinestones: custom transfers, stock transfers, and rhinestones to make your own designs with our rhinestone flock! Regardless of what type of rhinestones you order, you are going to need to know how to press them. In this blog, we will go over basic instructions for rhinestone transfers, along with some helpful troubleshooting tips.

Tools:

Tweezers - Tweezers can be very helpful with your rhinestones. If you need to flip

Pressing Pillow - If you are working with thicker materials or uneven surface, a pressing pillow will help getting even pressure.

Steps for custom or stock transfers:

1. Lint roll your garment first. Then line up the rhinestone transfer where you would like it on your shirt.
2. Once your transfer is where you want it, press it according to the application instructions which are: Firm pressure at 305 F for 15 seconds. Don’t forget that rhinestones are a cold peel, so wait until the transfer is room temperature before peeling.

Steps for creating your own rhinestone transfer using Cricut:

Items needed: Rhinestone Flock, KTM mask, rhinestone brush, rhinestone template board, weeding tool, tweezers

• Start with a new project on Cricut Design Space. Create your design using a rhinestone font. It needs to be a rhinestone font in order for it to cut properly! If you use a regular font, the tiny circles won’t cut out of the flock.
• Highlight your design and weld it together, then press “make it” to see a preview of your design on the Cricut mat.
• Next, load your Cricut mat with the rhinestone flock! The fuzzy side should be up.

• Set your pressure on your Cricut to a setting with more pressure, like bonded fabric. Then load your mat and cut!
• After it has been cut, peel of the white backing of the flock.

• The tiny circles should fall out of the flock, but use a weeding tool to knock any stubborn ones out! After that, stick the flock onto your rhinestone template board.

• Then, pour your rhinestones all over the design. Use your rhinestone brush to make sure every circle has a rhinestone in it! If any are flipped over, use your tweezers to make sure the colored side is facing up.

• Next, trim your KTM mask to fit the design. Take the backing off the mask, and with the sticky side down, use the “taco method” to place the mask onto the rhinestone transfer. This picture is an example of the “taco method,” the center should touch first and then lower the edges so that the KTM is covering the whole design.

  

• After the KTM mask is down, press it to make sure the rhinestones adhere to it. Then you are ready to remove the mask. Peel from one corner, and watch to make sure you don’t miss any stones!

• After you have peeled the rhinestones from the flock, you can transfer the design to your garment and press according to application instructions!
  

Tips:

• If any stones shift during shipping or come out of place, use your tweezers to align them where they should be.

• If you are pressing near a seam or an uneven surface, consider using a pressing pillow to ensure you are getting even pressure.
• You can reuse rhinestone templates by putting the flock back on the liner.
• If you plan on making multiple rhinestone designs, or ordering frequently, a rhinestone color chart would be handy!
• You can use HTV and rhinestones together for a design, but try not to layer rhinestones on top of the vinyl because they won't adhere well.

Rhinestones add fun, shiny details to your custom made garments! They also bump up the resale value of garments you sell. Check out these videos for step-by-step instructions to creating your rhinestone transfers.