HotFix vs. Glue Fix
A lot of rhinestone vendors sell both HOTFIX and GLUE FIX. Here at DFR, we specialize in GLUE FIX only. But what do these terms mean?
Hot Fix is a type of rhinestone that has glue on the back of it from the manufacturer. You use a special heat fix mini iron tool to heat the stone up making the adhesive on the back temporarily turn to liquid state so you can adhere the rhinestone to a fabric item. It is not recommended to use these types of rhinestones on hard or non-porous surfaces like tumblers, phone grips, headphones, car emblems, etc.
Glue fix means the stone requires adhesive to adhere to the item you are applying the stone to. This means Gluefix stones are more versitile as you can glue the rhinestone to fabric with fabric glue, glue it to a hard surface with GemTack, Liquid Fusion, or Supertite Fusion tack, or whatever your preferred adhesive is. Be careful though, too much glue will cover your stones. Some adhesives are even so strong that they’ll ‘etch’ the glass if the glue gets on the top of the stone. With practice, you’ll learn the proper amount of adhesive to use on your projects. Check out our resources section to learn more about adhesives.
