What is Rhinestone Chain?

Rhinestone cup chain was first created in Providence, RI USA over 60 years ago. In the 1970’s Swarovski, an Austrian based manufacturer of crystal jewelry stones, opened a factory in Rhode Island and purchased one of the two companies that were making rhinestone chain at that time. The chain was seen as a vehicle for Swarovski to sell its crystal jewelry stones. The demand for rhinestone chain and stone set findings was huge and Swarovski used their global distribution system to integrate the product into the worldwide market. With innovations in high speed robotics Swarovski was able to automat much of the process so they could meet the high demands. However, rhinestone chain has always been a bit of a commodity in the jewelry industry with periods of high demand and low supply and vice versa. The cost of chain is controlled by Swarovski so all parts of the world are on a level playing field. Swarovski accomplishes this by using currency surcharges and or discounts to control the cost of the crystals worldwide. Availability of the product differs greatly with Asia and America having greater access to a wider selection of product than others.

The chain itself is stamped out of raw brass stock of the highest quality. The crystal stones are then set into the cups. The high quality brass base metal allows for the chain to be manipulated via soft soldering. With the use of a low melt 60/40 alloy solder a designer can create jewelry pieces by tacking the chains together in strategic places so it holds its form. This art of cupchain jewelry manufacturing can be best seen in the work of the Butler and Wilson collection. Unfortunately the process of soldering rhinestone chains and findings to create pieces of jewelry art work is not being past on to the new generation of artisans. It is the goal of Austriancrystalchain.com to mentor designers who have an interest in creating rhinestone jewelry. The use of online seminars and instructional CDRoms will help to facilitate this and customers of Austriancrystalchain.com will be notified via email of upcoming events.

Rhinestone chain is also sold by the foot in plated finish. Click on our Plating/Finishes link for more information on plating finishes. Austrian crystal chain, which is another way of saying rhinestone chain that is set with Swarovski crystals, is the only chain a designer/manufacturer should consider using. This is due to the foiling on the back of a Swarovski crystals which is far superior to that of any other crystal stone manufacturer; therefore it retains its brilliance throughout the process of manipulation and electroplating.

Rhinestone chains are available in sizes as small at 1.7mm wide to large 8mm wide chains. The normal square boxed chain contains a round Chaton style crystal. This crystal is foiled on the back with a mirror coating to reflect light. This foiling that protects the mirror coating is the most important part of the crystal and Swarovski has the highest quality foiling in the world.

Rhinestone chains are also available with different shaped crystal such as baguettes, squares and navettes. You will see variety of shapes offered on this site but they sell fast so availability is not consistent.

Today rhinestone chain is used not only in the jewelry industry but in the garment industry and giftware industries. Questions on application of the chain to your project should be forwarded to us via email.

We could go on forever but you’re probably bored by now! Please feel free to ask any questions and just have fun….also whether you purchase chain from this site or another we would advise that you only use chain that is set with Austrian (Swarovski) crystals. You may pay a slight premium for Austrian compared to Chinese, Middle Eastern or Eastern European crystals but the brilliance and durability will compensate.