Jewellery Guide: Rhinestones
Rhinestones are one of the most standard sort of stone that we see these days in dress jewelry. By And Large the thought of rhinestones brings up pictures of dancing girl lines and twinkling fake jewels at parties and nightclubs in Vegas, but actually rhinestones are everywhere around us nowadays. Actually rhinestones are everywhere, every day, and we don’t even notice most of them.
The original rhinestones were crystals which came from Germany, from the area of the Rhine. Adding metal to the binding of these crystals made what is nowadays known as rhinestones. The metal caused the crystals to reflect back the light, rather than allowing it through, making tones and a look which were very similar to diamonds. This made the type of rhinestones as we know them nowadays.
Some time later, a jeweler named Swarovski, whose name is still associated with rhinestones to this day, made a way to quickly cut and shine the rhinestones to give the impression of a gemstone. Utilizing this new method, jewelry makers were able to make massive numbers of rhinestones relatively cheaply, making a true mass market item. Around this time rhinestones started to be made of glass, because the Rhine crystals were in very dwindling supply.
Nowadays, the majority of rhinestones are not made from stones, but just from glass or even plastic materials. Making glass rhinestones is comparatively simple, as it’s just a matter of shaping the glass into gemstone shapes and adding the metal backing. Rhinestones made from acrylic also have the metal support but they are produced by putting the acrylic mixture into metal moulds in the desired shape. All rhinestones now come in one of 48 standard sizes, from 1/12th of an inch to almost half an inch across.
Nowadays rhinestones are used very widely across all parts of the world. While they are still most commonly known as costume jewelry pieces, rhinestones nowadays are also used to make rhinestone buttons, handbags, shoes and more. In fact, many people take their everyday garments and add items made from rhinestones such as rhinestone zippers, buttons and hats to make their clothing unique
Caring for rhinestones isn’t always easy though. Although they may feel like diamonds, they are nowhere near as strong and they can oftentimes scratch easily, particularly acrylic ones, so you need to make sure you store them in a safe place and preferably not in with lots of other jewelry, which could make harm. And whatever you do, don’t get your rhinestones wet. Water will cause rust and other damage in the metal parts, wich will eventually lead to the stones losing their glitter and perhaps even breaking.