![]() (Example: order 3,000 small crystals if you’re ordering 10,000 larger crystals for your project, or less if you’re dealing with a fairly flat item which doesn’t have many altering contours.) You’ll need much fewer small sized filler crystals than your main crystal size though, so remember to only order a total quantity of filler crystals at a ratio of about one quarter to one third of your largest crystal quantity. To bypass this gap problem you’ll need to order crystals 1-3mm smaller than your current crystal size in order to fill the gaps as much as necessary until you can neatly fix your main crystal size back into it’s regular side-by-side formation. If you want to be a real perfectionist about it then you’ll probably want to order 1mm crystals and be prepared to alter your pattern plan for a larger area.) Below is a picture of a potential-gap issue occurring, and the way in which you try to place smaller crystals into the gap in order to fill it (it looks quite messy but when the glue is dried and the entire item is finished these areas aren’t noticeable. So shoes, for example, definitely pose an issue of gaps appearing where the curvature of the surface changes and causes your neat crystal sequence to misalign. If you try to line up 5mm crystals exactly so that no gaps appear between the crystal edges this will only work on a flat surface, but you will encounter problems with any item that has curvature to the body. Unless you choose to use 2mm crystals across your entire item you’re going to need to buy crystals in 2 or 3 different sizes to ensure a gapless coverage all over. (Click for a bigger picture to see in detail) Below you can find a picture of heels I’ve bedazzled in different crystal sizes to give you a better idea of what you might want. But if you’re happy with bigger glints of sparkle then you can use 4mm, 5mm, or even upwards if you’re covering a large item (corset, binder, random stranger off the street) or simply crave a big rock kind of look. ![]() If you want a very fine glittering, 2mm or 3mm crystals is the way to go. ![]() The crystal size you use is up to you and depends both on the surface area you’re covering and the look you want to achieve. Obviously the bigger the crystal you use the quicker you will be able to cover the surface, so shoes covered entirely in 2mm crystals will take you many hours longer to complete than shoes covered in 5mm crystals. Here are the things you’ll have to address. If you can afford that, great! But personally I’ve only ever dealt with the cheap non-Swarovski crystal kind, so that’s the guide I’m going to be offering you here. If you want to go the Swarovski route this is going to become less of a ‘budget’ job and will cost considerably more, considering Swavorski crystals cost around £3+ for a pack of 100 non-hot fix crystals, compared to a bag of 1000 flat backed crystals for between 99p-£1.50 online. When it comes to the crystals there’s a few things you’ll need to consider and decide. Use permanent marker, paint, or glitter in a colour that matches the crystals you’re using to give you a base coat that will mask your potential little beginner’s mistakes. This isn’t too difficult a matching task if you’ve bought an item specifically to be covered and can purchase the right colour beforehand, but if you’re giving a new lease of life to an old pair of white shoes and you now want them to be blue I recommend you get handy first. This is because no matter how hard you try to align your crystals exactly side by side you’re likely to end up with very small gaps between the crystals in some areas, especially if you’re dealing with an item that has any sort of curvature to the surface, and so a tiny slither of red between red crystals is going to be much less noticeable than a glimpse of black between clear crystals. My first tip before I get into the specifics is that it will make your life much easier if the colour of the item you’re covering is identical to or similar to the crystals you’re overlaying. – Your shoes or accessory of choice, clean and dry. Typically a wax end picker, as pictured below at the bottom of the equipment image, but I prefer to use a pencil picker, as pictured at the top. I use GemTac, but you can also use E6000 (which must be used in a well ventilated area and preferably while wearing a mask, as there’s links to cancer with this glue. – Glue, specifically made for bedazzling. Whether you want to bedazzle a pair of shoes, a phone case or a headband, you’re going to need the same materials and the same methodology. Hopefully by the end of this post you’ll know what you need to know in order to get gluing and glittering all over town.
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