Ultimate Guide to Preciosa Crystals

Preciosa crystals, also known as Preciosa rhinestones, are highly polished, machine cut glass stones used in the DIY sector for embellishment, jewellery making, fashion, costume design, nail art, beauty and are prevalent in the creative and performing arts industries. Although the exact manufacturing process is not known, Preciosa crystals are made from quartz sand and other natural minerals. Historically the crystals were made with lead, but after a change in the manufacturing process in 2013, many components are now listed as lead-free. Preciosa crystal rhinestones, often referred to as flatback crystals, gem and diamantes, achieve their high quality sparkle through the facets cut into the glass, which reflect light and offers the brilliance in shine we are all familiar with today.

History of Preciosa

Preciosa's history is deeply rooted in the glassmaking tradition of Crystal Valley, dating back to 1548, marking the beginning of Bohemian crystal. The company has continuously innovated, introducing the world to groundbreaking products like the first cut stone in 1715 – the chaton, the most perfect seed bead, and lead-free MAXIMA crystal. In 1948, significant post-war transformations led to a major advancement in the Czechoslovakian glass industry. 25 companies of various sizes from Jablonec, Liberec, and Turnov unified to form a single national entity, officially named PRECIOSA. Preciosa's journey reflects a blend of tradition and modernity, from founding the first glassworks to establishing the first School of Glass and continually pushing the boundaries of glass and crystal craftsmanship, all while contributing significantly to their community and the global market.

Importance in the Creative Industry

Preciosa crystals play a hugely important role in the creative industry, whether they're adorning costumes in the West End, splashed all over the major catwalks, or greeting guests in hotels all over the world through chandelier and lighting components. A common crystal component we often see in the creative industry is the flatback rhinestone, which appears so frequently on stage at major events such as the Queen's Jubilee in 2022 and the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023, as well as adorning celebrity outfits including the Spice Girls, Kylie, Jennifer Lopez and Sam Ryder to name a few. Preciosa crystals are also widely used in costume making, fashion design, jewellery making, bridal couture and even pop up in the beauty industry, with the popularity of rhinestone nail art booming, and tooth gems being back in fashion!

The addition of Preciosa crystals really elevates any design or project, whether it's a simple item of clothing, a designer handbag, household decor, a wedding dress, even a Rolls Royce – anything and everything can be crystallised with Preciosa rhinestones.

Introduction Summary

In this article we will be talking about the different types of Preciosa crystals, how they can be used and applied, where you can purchase Preciosa, and ideas for DIY crystal projects you can try at home.

Section 1: Understanding Preciosa Crystals

Types and Shapes

The full Preciosa range includes a huge collection of crystal products from jewellery and jewellery components, chandelier lighting and lighting components, crystal figurines and ornaments, plus an entire DIY sector, which is what we are focussing on in this article. The DIY sector features individual crystal pieces for creators, such as hotfix and non hotfix rhinestones, beads, pearls, chatons, fancy stones, cupchain, cabochons, sew on stones, rhinestone shapes and Crystal Faerie for nail art . These crystal embellishments are most commonly used in the creative arts, couture, performance and beauty industries, and within each of these product types, there are many different shapes, sizes and colours available.

Quality and Brilliance

Although rival crystal manufacturer Swarovski is probably a more well known name in the industry, Preciosa are certainly giving them a run for their money, and are now known all over the world as one of the leading manufacturers of crystals and cut glass, alongside Swarovski. Their range of flatback stones, sew on stones, beads and pearls, which are the more popular components in the DIY sector, are up there with Swarovski in terms of quality of cut and brilliance. For example, the Maxima flatback rhinestone, which is the latest cut launched by Preciosa, features 15 - 18 facets, offering an amazing sparkle. The round and flatback pearl range has a smooth and pearlescent exterior and a durable scratch-proof coating making them a popular choice among jewellery designers. The overall standard of Preciosa foil backed crystals and sew on stones is of the highest quality in the industry, with a smooth, flat base and scratch resistant finish.

Colours and Finishes

As well as the classic Clear and AB, Preciosa feature a huge range of colours and coatings in their flatback rhinestone range, including standard 'flat' colours, AB colours and special effect colours such as metallic, multi-tone, neon, and opal.

Clear: Also known as simply Crystal, the clear rhinestone is completely colourless, but has a mirror foil backing which reflects the light like a diamond. It is one of the most popular crystal colours.
AB: 'Aurora Borealis' or AB gets its name from the natural phenomenon that occurs in certain skies at night known as the Northern Lights. It is a coated crystal that has a rainbow effect, much like a soap bubble, or sometimes described as an 'oil on water' effect. This is the most popular colour by far, especially in the performing arts world, the stunning AB coated crystal reflects light superbly and looks gorgeous under spotlights. The coating reflects the colours that surround it so use against pale colours for pinks, purples, pale blue and golds to shine through. Or use on a darker background to see greens, yellows and darker shades of blue.
Standard: These colours are one single monotone colour, such as Fuchsia pink, Sapphire blue or Emerald green.
AB Colours: This range includes all the standard colours, with the iridescent AB coating over the top, which gives the effect of lots of different colours being reflected from the stone.
Metallic: Metallic coated crystals such as Capri Gold, Aurum and Jet Hematite, are a solid looking crystal, rather than iridescent, i.e. they look like a little piece of metal.
Multi-tone: Two-tone or multi-tone crystals shine with more than one colour, for example Volcano or Heliotrope.
Neon: These are glow in the dark, fluorescent colours which are popular for freestyle dance costumes and festival wear.
Opal: Opal crystals such as White Opal, Rose Opal and Chrysolite Opal have a milky, more subtle sparkle and are popular for creating vintage style designs.

Section 2: Applications of Preciosa Crystals

Fashion and Apparel

Preciosa crystals have always covered fabrics, from catwalk garments and sportswear to high end shoes and trainers. Rhinestone embellishments are used to enhance and elevate an item of clothing or accessory, giving them a luxurious and expensive feel. In the fashion world, celebrities don Preciosa encrusted outfits for award shows, catwalk shows, music festivals, music concerts, red carpet and Royal events etc. Just recently, Sophie Duchess of Edinburgh showed off her Preciosa encrusted headpiece at the King's Coronation

For us non-celebrities though, you can easily decorate your own clothing with rhinestones by using the hotfix or non hotfix method to create patterns, lettering, logos or icons onto the fabric.

Jewellery Making

Although Preciosa design and make their own jewellery and watches, you can use individual pieces from the DIY sector to make your own. With a huge range of crystal pendants, sew on stones, pointy back chatons, stones in settings, fancy stones, cupchain and cabochons available, you can create all kinds of beautiful jewellery. If you have the correct tools and findings, it is easy to get creative and glue a large oval crystal into a pendant bezel for example. Or make simple necklaces and bracelets using round pearls and crystal beads.

Interior Design

Within interior design, applying Preciosa crystals to furniture, mirrors, wallpaper, vases, glassware, artwork, lamps, soft furnishings and other household items is becoming increasingly popular. The addition of crystal in the home brings elegance, style, luxury and offers a bespoke style. In fact one of Preciosa's biggest and most lucrative areas of crystal manufacturing is in lighting and chandeliers. You will find Preciosa chandelier's and light fittings all over the world, and you could even have a go at making your own at home with their extensive range of chandelier components.

Performing Arts

Preciosa rhinestones are essential in costume and dancewear design, adding brilliance and sparkle to performances. Both flatback hotfix and non hotfix rhinestones are employed in decorating costumes, props, and sets. In competitive dancing, especially Irish dancing, the visual appeal of the attire can influence scoring, making the abundance of crystals a key factor. These crystals, whether glued or heat-fixed to fabric, along with sew-on stones, significantly enhance the aesthetic value of dancewear.

Nail Art & Beauty

Adding Preciosa crystals to nail art is fast becoming a long standing trend in the beauty world, big names in the industry such as Kirsty Meakin and Scarlett Senter often use Preciosa crystals to enhance their nail art. And crystal nails are also seen often in the celebrity world, for award shows, fashion weeks and music concerts. Preciosa nail art embellishments include the smaller flatback crystals, shapes, pearls and faerie and are attached to the nail using Crystal Fix glue. Another popular trend in beauty is tooth gems, we saw them appear in the early 2000's and now they're everywhere! Lead free crystals in brands such as Preciosa, are safe to use on the teeth.

Preciosa crystals in nail art and beauty

Section 3: Working with Preciosa Crystals

Tools and Materials

Whether you're a pro or a beginner, when it comes to applying Preciosa crystals to different surfaces, it is always important to know the basics and use the correct tools for the job. When using non hotfix flatbacks, the best glue to use is either Gem Tac or E6000 depending on the material, read more about glue for attaching crystals to find out which is the recommended glue for your project. For non hotfix crystals and glue, you will also need a pick up tool, which makes the job of picking up and placing the crystals a lot easier, quicker and mess free, we recommend the Crystal Katana but there are other less expensive pick up tools on the market. If you're heat fixing the crystals to fabric, you can use a heat press or hotfix applicator wand, alternatively for crystal transfers, it is possible to apply them with a household iron. Read the full tutorial here.

Techniques for Attachment

Flatback Preciosa rhinestones and pearls require either a glue on or heating fixing method to attach them, as discussed above, but for some crystal products such as sew on stones, beads, pendants, lighting components, cupchain, stones in settings and round pearls, these have a hole running through the crystal allowing you to sew them on. Not only is embellishing with sew on stones more durable than sticking, you also save money on not having to buy an adhesive. This sewing on method is often used for dancewear, theatrical costumes, sportswear and other performance outfits so the garment can be washed without risk of the stones falling off.

Section 4: Buying Preciosa Crystals

Retail vs. Wholesale

If you're a business or creator who relies on consistently using large amounts of Precios, then buying rhinestones in bulk would be valuable to your business. Smaller retail quantities, which are available from a number of suppliers including Crystal Parade, are useful for one off projects or if you like to experiment with lots of different products, such as in nail art.

Authenticity Guide

Genuine Preciosa crystals will always have their logo and a holographic seal on the wholesale packaging, however, to recognize them when they have been removed from their original packaging there are some tips and tricks the expert eye can see:

Check the foil backing - Preciosa's non hotfix backing is completely smooth and grey/silver in colour, whereas Swarovski and Zodiac have a slight gold tinge to their foil backing. Cheaper and low quality rhinestones tend to have a thicker and clumsily made backing, which is prone to scratches.
Preciosa's facets are cut into rhombus shapes, facing inwards, whereas Swarovski have a recognizable star shape cut into the facets of the stone. When you compare a 2088 Xirius stone to a Preciosa Maxima for example, you can clearly see the difference.

Another good tip for spotting Preciosa among the crowd is to check for scratches, chips or any irregularity. Preciosa crystals will not have any – unless they have been dropped or extremely roughly handled.
Have a good look at the holes cut into the sew on stones, Preciosa's have a really neat, smooth finish with no chipping to the crystal itself.
When it comes to pearls, the Preciosa pearlescent coating is very durable, smooth and scratch resistant.

Buying Tips

To buy Preciosa rhinestones in bulk would be the most cost effective way of purchasing. Shopping with retailers such as ourselves is the best way to buy lots of different Preciosa products for the DIY sector, if you're new to crystal embellishment you could look at purchasing some Preciosa crystal mixed packs which is a great way of trying out different stones.

Section 5: Maintenance and Care

Cleaning and Care Tips

Once you have applied Precisoa crystals to your surface, it is important to keep them well maintained to ensure they last as long as possible. Here are a few tips to preserve their beauty:

Once applied, and glue is completely dry, polish the crystals with a slightly damp cloth to remove any grease or glue marks. You will immediately see them light up.
Try to avoid contact with anything that might scratch the crystals, or cause them to fall off. If transporting your item anywhere, wrap up carefully in bubble wrap.
If you need to wash an item that has crystals on such as clothing, costumes or dancewear, make sure you do it on a cool wash and don't use fabric conditioner. Even better – hand wash!
Try not to keep the item in direct sunlight which may affect the glue.
Avoid contact with chemicals such as perfume and household cleaning products.

Storage Solutions

It's important to take good care of your Preciosa crystals, even if you're not using them. If you have crystals in your craft kit that you've not yet used, keep them tightly wrapped in their packaging or in storage pots. This will stop any scratches or chips. Storage pots are also a great way of separating colours, sizes and shapes etc, especially if you work with lots of different crystals like nail artists or crafters. For larger crystals such as fancy stones, buttons or sew on shapes, it is a good idea to keep these separated by keeping them in their original packaging, or wrapping them tightly in tissue paper.

Section 6: Preciosa in the Industry

Trends and Innovations

Preciosa are always hot on the tail of Swarovski when it comes to new product launches, colours and styles. For instance, after Swarovski's release of the new 'Xirius' cut a few years ago, which offered even more sparkle, they were closely followed by Preciosa and their 'Maxima' cut, which increased their number of facets from 12 to 15 – again, a big step up in quality.

Another example, Swarovski's Crystal Pixie for nails was a huge success in the beauty industry, selling out within weeks. This success led to the launch of an almost identical product a couple of years later from Preciosa, with their Crystal Faerie.

Preciosa have also had great success with the neon Maxima rhinestones, which glow under UV light, and have since been replicated other brands. Their neon range, which includes fluorescent pink, yellow, green, blue, orange and purple took the festival, nail art and dance world by storm when they were first released, and are still hugely popular.

Section 7: DIY Projects with Preciosa Crystals

Beginner Projects

For first time blingers, you should be starting with easy embellishing projects to ensure you get the hang of the process. It takes a lot of practice to get to a skilled level, plus there are tips and tricks you need to know to achieve the best results. We suggest starting with basic projects such as crystallizing a simple shape/initial onto a phone case, or a logo on a t-shirt etc. It is easier to stick with one colour to start with, and using the same sized crystal is also quicker to work with.

If you want to embellish an object, we suggest starting with something that has a basic shape and straight edges such as a photo frame or phone case.

Here are some ideas for simple but effective embellishing projects: Personalised coffee tumbler, phone case, rhinestone glasses/sunglasses, sparkly footwear.

Images courtesy of Crystalled By Jane, Crystal Skins, Swarovski

Intermediate and Advanced Projects

Once you've got the hang of the basics, and you're ready to progress your skills further, have a go at something more advanced. Objects with curved edges or complicated shapes are always trickier to embellish as you need to work with different sized crystals. Also, try embellishing with different colours and use the ombre method, this is a very popular way of distributing colours. Here are some more intermediate Swarovski projects to try: Fully covered shoes, designer handbag, skateboard, intricate phone case design.

Intermediate and advanced Preciosa crystal projects

Images courtesy of Crystalled By Jane, Swarovski and Crystal Skins

Tips and Tricks for embellishing with Preciosa crystals

Practice applying the rhinestones to a spare piece of paper/card before you start your project, this will help you get an idea of how much glue to use and how much pressure to apply.
Use specifically designed tools to help the process such as a Crystal Katana pick up tool rather than fiddly tweezers, storage pots for keeping the rhinestones neat and orderly, Gem Tac glue – our #1 bestselling adhesive and Application Syringe with Precision Tip for applying glue neatly.
If possible, work in the natural daylight as artificial lighting makes it harder to see especially when using smaller rhinestones.
Make sure your hands are clean when working with rhinestones - grease marks will show up and dull the sparkle.
Spend a little more money to purchase a high-quality rhinestone. The last thing you want is peeling stones, dis-colouration or scratches.

Conclusion

Preciosa have shown us how you can elevate the most luxurious things into something even more astounding, from red carpet gowns and BMW's to the finest watches and designer shoes. But with just a few crystals and some glue at your disposal, us humble hobbyists and crafters can do the same at home, try heat fixing some rhinestones to your favourite logo tee, nothing says bespoke like a crystallized Nike tick. Or get creative and try using crystals on your next manicure. We have a fantastic selection of project ideas for you to get your teeth into.

Resources and Further Reading

Whether you're new to working with crystals, you've worked with them before, or even if you're a pro blinger, it is always important to know the basics of crystal application to ensure a successful outcome. We have some useful informative Ultimate Guides to help with your Preciosa crystal application, including:

Appendices

Glossary

AB - Crystal Aurora Borealis (Crystal AB) is probably the most popular colour effect in the Preciosa range of crystals. The AB Precisoa Crystal is a clear crystal enhanced with an iridescent rainbow effect coating. This special coating splits the light going into the crystal into a beautiful rainbow of soft colours. The coating reflects the colours that surround it, so use against pale colours for pinks, purples and golds to shine through. Or use on a darker background to see greens and blues reflected. They look absolutely stunning under stage lights and are a very popular choice the costume and dance dress designers.

Adhesive – Also known as glue, cement, paste or tack, this sticky substance binds two surfaces together. Gem Tac adhesive is specifically made for bonding crystals, gems and rhinestones to surfaces.

Cabochon – A glass or crystal gemstone that has been shaped with a rounded dome and highly polished, most commonly used for jewellery pendants. They are unfaceted, unlike Preciosa rhinestones.

Chaton - A pointed back crystal used to set into a metal casings or settings for jewellery making.

Cut glass – The method of manufacturing rhinestones and crystals, glass is cut into shape using specially designed machinery.

DIY Sector – This refers to the creator market who use individual Preciosa components to make their own design.

Facets – The name of the cut given to a rhinestone, facet, refers to the flat surface area cut into the glass which refracts light inwards and reflects light outwards to create a sparkle. The more facets to a stone, the more light reflected, therefore the more sparkle.

Findings – The term given to metal jewellery making components such as ear wire, head and eye pins, clasps, claws etc.

Hotfix – A method of attaching crystals to a material using heat, from a hotfix applicator wand, heatpress or iron.

Innovations – A term used by Precisoa for new design and product launches.

Non hotfix – A method of attaching crystals to a material using glue, no heat required.

Pearl – The name given to an imitation pearl, whereby a glass stone is covered in a smooth pearlescent coating to replicate the shine of a natural pearl.

Rhinestone – Meaning 'round stone', rhinestone refers to the classic round shaped, flatback gem used for embellishment.

Transfers – A crystal design that is applied to fabric, in one go, using heat, transfers can be either pre-made by Preciosa or you can create your own using hotfix transfer film.

FAQ's

What are Preciosa Crystals?

What are the different types of crystal for DIY and craft?

Preciosa produce an array of crystal products, such as jewellery, chandeliers, glass lighting, figurines, decorative ornaments, accessories and fashion wear. And like Swarovski, they also cater for the DIY sector, which includes crafters, blingers, jewellery makers, costumiers, dressmakers, milliners and many more. In this area, Preciosa produce a number of individual components for DIY use, including flatback rhinestones, (also known as diamantes or gems), beads, pearls, chatons, pendants, sew on crystals, chatons and fancy stones.

Are Preciosa rhinestones made from real crystal?

Although the exact manufacturing process is not known, Preciosa crystals are made using cut glass, which has been made from melted sand found in the Crystal Valley of Bohemia. The glass is highly polished and shaped into the desired components such as tiny Cubic Zirconia, beads or flatback rhinestones. They must not be confused with diamonds, which are a natural material that can be mined. Preciosa crystals are man-made.

Where can I order Preciosa crystals from?

Preciosa crystals can be purchased in bulk from Preciosa, if you are a business and are able to meet their requirements. There are several retailers in the UK who supply Preciosa crystals. Here at Crystal Parade, we can supply the entire Preciosa range and don't require a minimum order or spend.

Can I buy Preciosa crystals in wholesale packs?

Almost all online retailers offer Preciosa crystals in wholesale quantities. If you're a business or creator who relies on consistently using large amounts of Preciosa crystals, then purchasing wholesale packs would be valuable to your business. Smaller retail quantities are useful for one off projects or if you like to experiment with lots of different products, such as in nail art or craft.