Thread: rhinestone chain repair??

I have a costume that has a few stones missing from the rhinestone chain. Is it possible to pry back the prongs a bit and replace the stones? What size stones?? Where would one find such an item?
Thanks!

I've wondered this myself. I haven't been able to find stones that small so far. I've just bent the prongs in so they won't catch on my veils. I'd love to see if there's a place to find replacement stones.

Yes, I've done this myself. Measure the rhinestone cage. It is in mm. Usually costumers use 4mm or SS18. The bigger the number the bigger the rhinestone cage of course. Decorative Trims, Cords & Fringe from M&J Trimming will have the chain you need. It's a little difficult. The tools I've used are tweezers and a tiny flat head screw driver. It depends on where you are starting on the chain. If the chain piece you are replacing lost it's stone. Okay here goes... I will try to explain:

Measure the setting and try to find the same size chain. Once you have the chain, just open the prongs {carefully because they may break} and replace the stone and move the prongs back in with the tweezers.

If you need to replace part of a long chain: The connectors are double "T" connectors at each end. Pry open the edge of one end of the chain you are replacing on the side of the cage, The stone (if there is one) will come loose. Jiggle the T connector from the new strand and slip it into the pried edge of the old strand. This may involve having to remove a cage from the chain in order to get the T connector because sometimes they are cut off. Close the opening with the screwdriver, be careful not to distort the cage or you will have a hard time putting the stone in correctly. You may have to bend the prongs back to pop the rhinestone back in it's place.

Hope this helps - it's a little hard for me to explain the process but the process is easy... just time consuming.

Hello,
An alternative is to look in your local craft supply stone (e.g. JoAnn's, Michael's) for loose rhinestones (e.g. swarovskis for brighter shine) and use those as replacement stones.

They likely won't look exactly the same as the original stones on the costume, but are definitely not noticeable when performing. They are noticeable only when one looks closely at the costume.

I've looked for replacement stones as well, and they are available in the LA Fashion District, but I would have to buy a minimum of a rather large number.... I think it was 100! As I needed only 4 of one size and 8 of another, that wouldn't work.

I considered the option of harvesting replacement stones from new rhinestone chains but these are more expensive and I would be left with chains with a few empty cages which I would have to snip off and discard...

So I settled for the "less waste" and cheaper option... :-)

Look for something like this:
Jewelry Essentials Glass Rhinestones

JoAnn's & Michael's has regular 40% off coupons too.