Bedazzler

The Bedazzler is a home appliance which is used to fasten rhinestones, studs and patches to clothes and different fabrics.

History
The Bedazzler was first introduced in the 1970s as a direct marketing product. It was developed by NSI Innovations in the United States. It is promoted through TV infomercials, most recently by Tana Goertz of "The Apprentice" fame.

Currently, DRTV company SAS Group, Inc. owns the rights to the product. Ron Popeil sold a similar product under Ronco, his groundbreaking, successful DRTV company called the, "Ronco Rhinestone Stud Setter". Recently, the product was owned by TV marketer Avram C. Freedberg.

Description
The Bedazzler is a plastic device, similar to a stapler. The base has a circular wheel (a "Tiffany setting") opposite the plastic applicators ("plungers"). The device allows users to add various rhinestones and other assorted studs to fabrics and similar materials.

Reception
The Bedazzler was voted #100 in the Top 100 Gadgets of all time (Mobile PC Magazine March 2005 edition). Craft magazine - 'CNA Magazine' featured the Bedazzler on its cover in the January 2001 edition.

Like any fashion item, the popularity of the device and its output has waxed and decreased over time. Due to its low cost and the type of glitzy clothes and accessories that can be created using a bedazzler, it is often associated with kitsch and retro fashion.

A commentator in Entertainment Weekly magazine described the Bedazzler as: "The cheap-ass rhinestone-studding tool favored by art teachers and over-excitable soccer moms everywhere, the biggest piece of crap sold on late-night TV since the ThighMaster, the reason women own shirts with glittery kitty-cats on them."