Information on Iron-On (Hot Fix) Swarovski Crystals
Swarovski Hot Fix rhinestones stones have glue that melts at about 340 - 375 degrees F. If your fabric is easily damaged by heat, these are not the stones for you. These stones can be applied with your household iron or a heat press. A specialized tool, the "as seen on TV" BeJeweler can also be used. The BeJeweler will pick-up round rhinestones, heat them until the glue begins to melt so that you can attach them to your fabric. Its quick, it' clean and its easy.
The weakest link in the rhinestone system is its mirror backing, the coating on the back of a rhinestone is a mirror bonded to the glass. This mirror does not have a very strong bond with the glass and can be pulled free of the glass over time. This is why you may see a silver spot where a rhinestone used to be. When you use heat set rhinestones, only the backing is glued to the fabric. These stones will come loose over time in a washing machine and/or dryer. It is highly advised to hand-wash any items with glued rhinestones, regardless of how they are put on the garment.
Do not dry clean any garment that has any kind of glued stones on it, be it glue or heat fix. Regardless of the manufacturer, the cleaning fluids can denature the glue, cause it to become yellow and brittle, or just plain dissolve it. Even Swarovski, who that says that their glue will withstand dry cleaning, it with reservations some dry cleaning will not harm the glue, other dry cleaning will. And since you do not know what kind of fluids are used at any one time, you will not know if your stones will survive the process don't take the chance!
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