Making Rhinestone Design Templates

[Ruben Salcedo]

I'm npt Larry but I do have some of each on hand.

Uline oilboard is .015"
I have 2 samples of Sticky Flock one is .022" and the other is .022" to .025"
I do not know the why the diff. , waiting on the "new" PVC free StickyFlock.
Maybe Larry can add what it should be or if his is the same.

Paul,

thank you, that is helpful, so Sticky Mat is still thicker than Oilboard mmm... thing is I come out with an idea to keep Oilboard flat and adhered to a flat surface with out adhesive, well almost, I have a rotary engraver and I have a sticky mat ( a different sticky mat, some goes with the name of Multi Mat) to hold things flat and in position, this are reusable you just keep cleaning them up, so I thought I could used it to hold the Oilboard flat and maybe just use painters tape in the edges of the long sides just to hold it so the transfer material that you use to pick the stones up don't lift the Oilboard pattern from the edges, hey maybe it would work?

Ruben

[Larry Bratton]

Sticky Flock by a pretty good margin. It is right at .024 without the release liner. Oilboard is .016. This is what I have on hand. The extra thickness of the SF is what is touted as being the factor to allow ease of brushing the stones into the template holes.

[Larry Bratton]

Paul,

thank you, that is helpful, so Sticky Mat is still thicker than Oilboard mmm... thing is I come out with an idea to keep Oilboard flat and adhered to a flat surface with out adhesive, well almost, I have a rotary engraver and I have a sticky mat ( a different sticky mat, some goes with the name of Multi Mat) to hold things flat and in position, this are reusable you just keep cleaning them up, so I thought I could used it to hold the Oilboard flat and maybe just use painters tape in the edges of the long sides just to hold it so the transfer material that you use to pick the stones up don't lift the Oilboard pattern from the edges, hey maybe it would work?

Ruben

Rubin, I still contend that a template made from Phototex and oilboard or a double layer of Phototex solves the problem of holding the template in place and gives sufficient depth for the holes. I have owned and used one of those mats like your speaking of and it is a possibility that may work. However, you still have to solve the problem of the thickness. Double oilboard? Raking those stones in those holes with a brush ain't all it's cracked up to be in my opinion. Your still going to end up placing some of them by hand.
Edit: Isn't acrylic available thinner than 1/16"? That might be an alternate also. Don't know about cost and availability though.
Another possibility might be wood veneer. I have some on hand and I just measured it..it is .031. Again, cost and availability might be an issue. Consistency of thickness could also come into play too, but .031 would work good. Add Phototex to hold it down and then cut the template....?

[Ruben Salcedo]

Larry,

yes Oilboard is kind of thin, I think the combination of both PT and OB will do it, I'm waiting for some PT to test, I can see how I would apply PT over the OB and use my sticky mat idea, but I cannot picture how I would use them both with out the sticky mat, I know the easiest way would be the use of a double play of PT, but then again I'm looking in to making it as inexpensive as possible.

[Ruben Salcedo]

Thank you, Larry,

yes Oilboard it is thin, and it will be problematical for some sizes of stones to brushing in the holes.

[Dee Gallo]

Ruben,

If you are trying to make your own version, why not adhere some flock to the oilboard directly? It's very easy to do and a little will go a long way. I think Lee Valley sells it, among other companies.

[Ruben Salcedo]

Dee,

are you referring to the powdery fibers flock? if so, then that is not my purpose, I really don't care about flock or any material in particular, what I'm (we're) looking for is a material with a specific thickness that it's laser friendly that can be vector cut and as inexpensive as possible, as my self have been using mat board rastering the holes, the matboard is inexpensive but takes a longer time (time is money ) than if I were vectoring in a thinner material, now... with the mat board I didn't need a backing board since the holes are not cut all the way thru, but with a thinner material you vector cut the holes and since the holes are been cut all the way thru you need a backing board to be adhere to your thin pattern material so it will seal the holes from the back and prevent the rhinestones from falling off, I hope I didn't confuse you to much.

Thank you for trying to help though.

Ruben

[Larry Bratton]

Ruben,

If you are trying to make your own version, why not adhere some flock to the oilboard directly? It's very easy to do and a little will go a long way. I think Lee Valley sells it, among other companies.

Dee, it's not the same kind of flock. This stuff is more like a foam product, sorta, kinda and it has a removable,replaceable adhesive on the back. The issue is the cost of it. Rubin and I think it's too expensive and that we can do better using just some common materials.

[Laura Zaruba]

Hello friends!

L-O-N-G time lurker/infrequent poster here. ;-) I've really enjoyed reading all your tips & tricks so I thought I'd chime in and give my two cents on my limited experience. I didn't want to spend a ton of $ to buy a bunch of oil board because I don't have nearly enough "free time" to play with my laser as I have in the past but I did want to try making a few rhinestone templates. So...I looked around my shop and decided to use what I have on hand - a huge stock of Stardreams metallic cardstock from previous projects. I cut the template and used spray adhesive to add a back piece (same cardstock but a different color).

I've never made a template from anything else so I can't tell you how it compares but for a newbie it was pretty easy and worked quite well as far as I could tell. The metallic cardstock has a semi-slick surface, which allows the sticky tape to release easily, much like I imagine the oil board does. You can probably find this particular type of cardstock locally at paper-supply store (think DIY wedding invitation supplies) in 8.5 x 11 sheets if you just want to get a few sheets to test. I bought my stock from Anchor Paper http://www.shopanchorpaper.com/ and I would highly recommend them...prices are reasonable, customer service is great - they will cut to size so I have a big stack the same size as my laser bed, which is nice but if you don't need anything too big you could get by with a small stack of the 8.5 x 11 size.

Another tip - be sure to wipe down the laser cut cardstock to get rid of any black soot so that doesn't get pulled up by the transfer tape and then transferred to your material.

Anyhow, hope that helps some of you who are interested in trying to make your own templates but don't want to spend a lot!

~Laura

[Larry Bratton]

Laura:
Thanks for posting that good information. I think that is what we are all trying to do is to utilize material we have in our shops already without having to go and buy a bunch of stuff. These templates are not rocket science and are really child's play for a laser. I guess we in this forum, need to realize though, that many and probably most of the people doing rhinestone decorating don't have a laser, but do have a plotter. Cutting these templates on a plotter will require different material altogether. Us laser owners are at an advantage because we can use alternates to what the plotter gang has to do.

[Ruben Salcedo]

Laura,

thank you for the tip.

What you're doing that's what I though of doing with Oilboard but is to thin, with the cardboard you're using you're able to brush-in different size if stones (in their own template, not combine) with no problems?, do you happen to know the thickness of it? Thanks.

Ruben

[Laura Zaruba]

Laura,

thank you for the tip.

What you're doing that's what I though of doing with Oilboard but is to thin, with the cardboard you're using you're able to brush-in different size if stones (in their own template, not combine) with no problems?, do you happen to know the thickness of it? Thanks.

Ruben

Hi Ruben,

I have only tried SS10 stones so far and it seems to work pretty well. I usually have to manually place a few stones but nothing that takes too much time. I do not know the thickness of the cardstock, sorry. Have you tried to do a couple layers of the oilboard if one layer is too thin?

~L

[Ruben Salcedo]

Thank you, Laura,

no, I have not try double oilboard, probably would be OK, but that would be to many steps and messy adhesive but I may try it.

Ruben

[Stanley Waldrup]

Just tried to get some samples and was told they no longer offer them.
Stan