Fixing crystals in wood

Hi there, looking for some help. I am wondering if anyone knows of a
good way to fix Swarovski crystals in wood. I have a wooden jewellery
box that I would like to put pink initials with Swarovski crystals on
the top. At the moment it is a high shine lacquer finish. Any help would
be great. I don't really want to set the crystals in metal then fix the
setting to the wood. I am looking for something like a glue, I guess,
but my wife has the idea to sew the crystals to fabric then glue the
fabric. Anyway, please help!

They make flat bottomed crystals specifically for this purpose. Just glue
them on. On lacquered wood, I'd probably just use white glue, but I'm not
all that knowledgeable about glues.

Tina


"VinceF" wrote in message
...
Hi there, looking for some help. I am wondering if anyone knows of a
good way to fix Swarovski crystals in wood. I have a wooden jewellery
box that I would like to put pink initials with Swarovski crystals on
the top. At the moment it is a high shine lacquer finish. Any help would
be great. I don't really want to set the crystals in metal then fix the
setting to the wood. I am looking for something like a glue, I guess,
but my wife has the idea to sew the crystals to fabric then glue the
fabric. Anyway, please help!

On Tue, 12 Jul 2005 6:09:02 -0400, VinceF wrote
(in message ):

Hi there, looking for some help. I am wondering if anyone knows of a
good way to fix Swarovski crystals in wood. I have a wooden jewellery
box that I would like to put pink initials with Swarovski crystals on
the top. At the moment it is a high shine lacquer finish. Any help would
be great. I don't really want to set the crystals in metal then fix the
setting to the wood. I am looking for something like a glue, I guess,
but my wife has the idea to sew the crystals to fabric then glue the
fabric. Anyway, please help!

Take a look at the "Hotfix Swarovski Crystals" They're crytstals
with a flat back, the flat back being coated with a heat sensitive
adhesive. There's usually a special heating tool (about $15-$20)
available wherever you buy hotfix crystals.

I've seen them used on cell phones, so I assume they stay on
reasonably well, and I've seen lots and lots of them on dance
costumes, so the heating tool can't be too damaging (thinking about
your lacquer finish)

One really nice thing is that the hotfix crystals are a lot cheaper,
per crystal, than anything we beadworkers ever see. They come in
what we would consider fire sale prices - mostly because one costume
uses as many hotfix crystals as a dedicated beadworker would use in a
year. I mean, really, unless I'm doing a special project, it's not
often I'd use 20,000 crystals in a tear, but 20,000 crystals is
nothing for a theatrical costume.

A quick goodgle search on "Swarovski Hotfix" brought up many, many
good candidates. www.rainbowsoflight.com is a highly regarded
vendor, and they do carry the hotfix crystals. Simply look for
"flatbacks" on their site. All the article numbers in blue have the
hotfix adhesive.

Hope this helps, and good luck with your jewelry box.

Oh yes, one last hint. The size of crystals is normally very small.
You would serve yourself well to sketch out your design in the
correct size for your jewelry box, and then fill the design with dots
to represent crystals of the right size. That way you'll know if you
like it, and you won't underbuy. I'd think that tinier is better for
a project like yours, so the finished initials looked as if the
jewelry box had an areas paved in jewels. (Just my opinion, of
course)

Kathy N-V

P.S.: Sorry about the typos, bad pain day