I did not start bedazzling because I had some grand plan to become a rhinestone person. I bought stones, glue and a few little tools because I wanted to make one of my vapes cuter, and somehow that turned into me looking at almost everything I own and wondering whether it needs crystals. Apparently this is how hobbies happen.
My first projects were mostly me trying to figure out how rhinestones even work on objects that were never designed to have anything glued to them. I knew I liked the look of fully bedazzled things, but actually sitting down with loose stones made me realize there is a lot more decision-making involved than “put sparkles on it.” What size stones should I use? Do I follow the shape of the object or create my own pattern? How close should everything be? What do I do when I get to a curve, a button or a screen? And how do people make those elaborate designs look intentional when I’m over here feeling accomplished because I made a straight line?
I’m still learning all of that, but I also understand the obsession now. There is something extremely satisfying about taking an ordinary object, spending way too much time staring at tiny rhinestones and ending up with something that looks completely different when you’re finished.
Disclosure: This article is for adults 21 and older. Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through them, at no extra cost to you. Any cannabis products shown are legal adult-use products from my personal collection, and all opinions are my own.
My First Bedazzled Vape Was Mostly About Getting the Stones On Straight
One of my first real projects was a purple Select Briq (shown above). It already had a shape and color I liked, so instead of trying to create some complicated design, I concentrated on covering the body neatly and working around the parts of the device that still needed to remain usable.
At that point, straight rows felt safe to me. I could understand them. Start at one edge, keep everything reasonably aligned and work my way across. The harder part was figuring out what happened when the surface stopped behaving like a flat piece of paper. Vapes have curves, seams, screens and little areas where a perfectly straight row suddenly does not fit anymore.
That was probably my first lesson in why bedazzling looks easier on Instagram than it feels when you actually have tweezers in your hand. You’re not only placing rhinestones. You’re constantly making tiny decisions about spacing and direction, and one slightly strange gap can become the only thing you see once you notice it. I still liked the finished vape, though, and that was enough to make me want to keep going.
Then I Started Understanding Why Rhinestone Sizes Matter
Before I started doing this, stone sizes were basically meaningless numbers to me. SS6, SS10, SS12 and everything in between sounded like information for people who already knew what they were doing.
Once I started actually placing them, the reason for having different sizes made a lot more sense. Larger rhinestones cover space quickly and make a project feel dramatic, but they are not always going to fit neatly around curves or into the little gaps that appear between rows. Smaller stones give you more control in those awkward areas and make it easier to fill space without forcing a big stone somewhere it clearly does not belong.
That also changed the way I look at other people’s work. What initially looks like a perfectly uniform surface usually has much more going on when you look closely. There may be several stone sizes working together, especially around edges and curves, and that is part of what makes the finished design look dense instead of leaving obvious holes.
I’m still figuring out which sizes I naturally reach for the most, but I stopped thinking I needed one perfect rhinestone size for an entire project. Mixing them when the shape calls for it has made much more sense. Once I get this figured out, I’ll start organizing a premium collection with better rhinestones.
The Lookah Bear Made Me Think More About Composition
The green Lookah Bear vape battery was a different problem because it already has so much personality before you touch it. There are ears, a face, a screen and several different shapes competing for attention, so covering the entire thing in one identical rhinestone treatment would have been a very different project from doing a simple vape body. This is also where I started thinking more about composition, even though that word sounded much fancier than what I felt like I was doing.
For me, composition has really just meant deciding where I want your eye to go when you look at the finished piece. If every single surface is covered with the same stone in the same way, the entire thing can start blending together. Using different stones or leaving certain areas alone can make the existing shape of the object part of the design instead of something I am trying to hide.
I’m definitely still learning that part. I’m not someone who can sit down and casually sketch an elaborate rhinestone pattern from memory, and that used to make me feel like I was limited to rows forever. I’m starting to realize I don’t have to begin with a complicated drawing. I can work with the shape that is already there, choose a few places I want to emphasize and let the design develop from that. As evidenced from the photo, I’m still working out how I want my Lookah Bear finished product to be.
My MWAH Vape and Lip Glosses Is Where It Started Feeling More Like My Style
When I customized my pink MWAH It’s Giving Guava vape, I did not want to cover the entire thing. The original device already looks like a lip gloss tube, and the pink body is a huge part of why I liked it in the first place. Covering every inch in rhinestones would have taken away the part of the design that made me want it.
Instead, I added pink and AB rhinestones along the bottom and made a charm with gold hardware, glitter cherries, butterflies, pearls, a heart lock and an ASHJANE bead strand. The rhinestones became an accent instead of the entire object.
That project probably feels the most like where I want my bedazzling to go because it looks customized without losing what the original product was. I still wanted someone to look at it and immediately recognize It’s Giving Guava. I just wanted mine to look different from everyone else’s. I also wrote a full review of the actual vape in my MWAH It’s Giving Guava review, because the fact that I covered part of it in rhinestones has absolutely nothing to do with whether the cannabis inside is good.
B7000 Has Been My Starting Glue, but I’m Still Experimenting
The bedazzling kit I bought came with B7000 glue, so that’s what I’ve been using while I learn. It has held my rhinestones well so far, but once I started researching adhesives more closely, I found that B7000 isn’t necessarily everyone’s first choice for rhinestone projects. Other options that come up often are Aleene’s adhesives and Gem-Tac, so once I finish the B7000 I already have, I want to try something different and see what actually works better for me.
The bigger learning curve so far has been the application itself. Too much glue can spread beyond the stones and leave you trying to clean around tiny crystals, while too little creates the obvious problem of stones not staying where you put them. I’m getting better at applying a smaller amount to the section I’m actively working on instead of covering a large area and then racing to place everything before the glue starts setting.
I’m especially curious to see whether another adhesive gives me more control, dries cleaner or makes placement easier. I’m not at the point where I can tell anyone which rhinestone glue is “best” because I’ve only used B7000 myself. I’d rather finish what I have, test the alternatives and then compare them based on my own projects instead of repeating somebody else’s recommendation.
The Hardest Part for Me Has Been Designs
Placing rhinestones is not really the part that intimidates me anymore. Deciding what the hell I’m going to do with them is. I can follow a straight line. I can work around an edge. I can fill a section. What I’m learning now is how to move beyond that without turning every project into a random collection of sparkly things.
I used to think people who made elaborate bedazzled designs must be able to draw really well or somehow see the entire finished pattern in their heads before they started. Maybe some of them can, but I’m finding other ways to practice. I can start with a focal area, repeat a shape, use the natural lines of the object or work with a limited group of stone sizes and colors. That gives me enough structure to make decisions without requiring me to suddenly develop an entirely different artistic skill set.
It has also helped to stop judging every project against people who have been doing this for years. I can see things in my first projects that I would place differently now, but that is kind of the point. If everything looked perfect the first time, there would not be much to learn.
I Also Started Seeing Bedazzled Everything
One slightly ridiculous side effect of starting this hobby is that I suddenly notice rhinestones everywhere. Phone cases, bags, shoes, tumblers, makeup packaging, headphones, gaming accessories and random household objects all apparently became potential projects overnight. Some of that is probably because once your brain becomes interested in something, you start noticing examples that were always around you. Some of it is also social media realizing exactly what you stopped scrolling for and deciding you need 300 more versions of it.
It has made me much more interested in customizing things I already own instead of automatically looking for something new when I want a different look. Now I can look at something plain and start thinking about how I could make it feel more like mine.
That is probably the part of bedazzling I did not expect to enjoy as much as I do. The rhinestones are fun, obviously, but I like the process of turning an object into my version of it.
What I’d Do Differently If I Were Starting Again
I would buy a mix of rhinestone sizes and colors earlier instead of assuming I could make one size work everywhere. I would also spend more time thinking about which parts of an object need to remain functional before I start gluing anything. Screens, charging ports, seams, buttons and removable pieces can make a gorgeous idea extremely annoying if you realize halfway through that you covered something you actually need.
I would also stop trying to make every row perfect before moving on. Precision matters, but obsessing over one stone for ten minutes usually does not magically make the entire project better. Sometimes I need to place it, look at the design as a whole and adjust once I can actually see where the next stones are going.
Mostly, though, I would tell myself that beginner projects are allowed to look like beginner projects. I’m already making different choices than I made on the first vape, and that is much more useful than waiting until I somehow feel qualified enough to start.
I’m Definitely Not Done Bedazzling Things
At this point, I have enough rhinestones, charms and ideas floating around that the question is less whether I’m going to keep doing this and more what I’m going to attack next.
I already know I want to customize the top of my pink Santa Cruz Shredder at some point. I like the grinder exactly as it is functionally, but a plain black lid sitting on top of that bright pink body is practically inviting me to interfere with it. I also want to keep experimenting with projects that are not vapes because I don’t want bedazzling to become one extremely specific hobby where I eventually own twelve sparkling devices and nothing else.
For now, though, I’m enjoying being new at it. I’m still learning which stones I like, how to make designs feel intentional and how much glue is too much glue, but the finished pieces already feel more personal than the things I started with. And yes, now I look around my house and wonder what else needs rhinestones.
Try out some bedazzling! It’s been the best hobby I’ve tried so far.
