Glass vs acrylic crystals

gymchick05 · November 2010

I want a crystal manzinita (sp?) tree for my placecard table, and it is a ton cheaper to use acrylic crystals instead of real ones or glass. However, I have no idea how this will look. Can you tell just by looking they are fake if i get high quality ones? Will it make my tree look cheap? I dont want to speak a thousand dollars on the tree, but I do want it to look nice and not cheesy too. Any suggestions? Thanks!

misschristinec · November 2010

I didn't know you were doing manzanita CPs.
I bought my "real" crystals at Etherealdecor.com.

I just bought long strings, which we are taking apart ourselves. I believe I spent about $250-ish on the crystals.
I plan to do about 6 string per CP. I bought 3 sizes, 20mm, 16mm, and 14mm.
I am doing 25 CPs, so about $10 of crystals per CP which isn't too horrible.

Crystal vs Acrylic are completely different. Acrylic crystals do not sparkle...
This is the mock up of my CP, I don't have all 6 string on tthis CP. Don't mind my messy dining room table and the candle/rocks thing is not part of our centerpieces

where do you live? You can always swing by my place to see what the crystals look like. Or you can order a sample kit from etheral decor for like $30.

Acrylic crystals on CPs from a friend's wedding

misschristinec · November 2010

ohhh if it's just 1 tree I would totally go REAL! Get 2 x 39 inch chains for like $20!

gymchick05 · November 2010

Thanks so much! Yours look great- where did u buy your branches from? I just want to make one big tree for the placecard table so I want to put tons of crystals on it w/o going broke haha. I love the idea of these for CPs, but my family and FI wanted flowers more. Good to know the "real" ones sparkle more, that was my concern w/ the acrylic, but tempting since they are cheaper. Do you think if I am adding a lot of strands to the tree, i could mix with some acrylic in the back, or would that make it look worse?
Thanks!

misschristinec · November 2010

You could totally tell the difference between acrylic an real, in my opinion it may not look so hot.

I purchased my branches from www.bloomsandbranches.com
once again, I ordered a sample kit (I believe it was 18" and 24") for about $30. I used both for the 1 CP mock up.

There is another site with an awesome blog, nettletonhollow.com

gymchick05 · November 2010

Thanks so much! And yours looks great

gymchick05 · November 2010

BTW- did you get a quote from any florists on these before you decided to DIY? I was gonna ask my florist what he would charge, but my guess is it would be a lot cheaper to do it myself. Also, with the braches, Ive never seen them in person- do you think local tree branches painted would be a good substitute and be able to hold the crystals? I have no problem buying them, but if they are free in the yard and work, why not haha

misschristinec · November 2010

I do think local branches could work, however, manzanita look like mini-tree's and the branches are pretty diesel for handing stuff.

No joke, I looked around my woodsy neighborhood and couldn't find anything that would replicate the manzanita.

My Florist quoted me $150 per tree.

If you'd like, you can buy one of mine after my wedding and just buy additional crystals.. I'd charge you like $15 for the CP.

Glass vs acrylic crystals

Re: Glass vs acrylic crystals

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