OK, so what is a hinestone?
The first “rhinestones” were stones mined from the Rhine river in Germany, and then hand cut and polished, hence the term “rhinestone”. It was Daniel Swarovski who invented a machine to automate the stone cutting, and then moved his entire operation to Wattens, a small town in Austria. Despite the advances, the generic term rhinestone has stuck over the years. Some folks have the mistaken notion that only crystal that is foiled (has that silver or gold backing) is a “rhinestone”, and will therefore reject a set or wrapped unfoiled crystal, or crystal beads. This is a shame, as the foiling is meant for when the stone is set into a solid mounting; like a diamond, when the stone is set into an open-backed setting, no foiling is used. And, also like a diamond, when properly cut and set, an unfoiled stone – partiularly a clear one – will refract light gloriously. Think of all those wonderful crystal mobiles you’ve seen that catch the sunight!
