Some thoughts on stoning

8,000+ rhinestones and I-don't-even-know-how-many hours later and I'm finally done gluing!

In the end I used 3 different sizes in 4 colors:

12ss AB stones (3/4 of a pack)
16ss crystal (2 packs), peridot(2 packs), and purple velvet stones (1 pack)
20 ss AB stones (1/2 of a pack)

I used the wax paper technique for some of the mesh parts so I wouldn't get the dress form all glued up, but I'd like to add to that, if you are going to use this technique, make sure you pull the paper off before it's fully dried. Perhaps my wax paper isn't waxy enough, but the first part I let it dry too much and now there is a little bit of paper still stuck to the back of some of the rhinestones. I'm sure it will wear off before too long, but it was annoying to try to peel off the little pieces enough that it wouldn't be visible.

The other thing is I'd make sure next time to start my stoning patterns in the areas I want to be most heavily stoned. I was scrambling a little bit at the end of some parts of the design that are more visible to make it look as heavily stoned as other parts that are not going to be as visible when I'm dancing. Not smart. It ended up ok in the end, but next time I'd think it through a little more. I ended up completely using 5 packs of 10 gross each and about 3/4 of another 10 gross pack and half of another. In total I estimate that there are about 8,000 rhinestones on this now.

The only step left now is attaching the floats and then I can say I'm done. I probably won't have pictures or video until after this weekend when I'll be wearing it for the first time at UPenn Classic! If you see me there, come say hi!