I've done pearls and garnets. It was a renfaire costume (King) that saw a lot of use. We didn't dry clean though, we used Frebreeze on the inside, and occasional gentle water rinse. I think we did end up of using Dryel once. Everything held up just fine but then garnets are a dark color and I don't believe change very much. Some stones are heat treated to enchance color so you could have a problem there. If possible, can you test a couple? And I strongly agree with the previous advice for sewing these things on :). I never liked the nylon threads, had trouble with it knotting securely, so I used quilting thread and a good beeswas, then at least one overhand knot every 2-3 beads. It's been over 20 years on the original costume and never lost a stone. Please let us know how the citrine's work out, might need to use them sometime :).
Catherine _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
