I Love Diamond Painting But My Eyes Aren’t What They Used to Be: 3 Great Tips to Make Those Diamonds Bigger!
Diamond painting can be a fun and rewarding hobby. It is a relaxing experience to slowly assemble a beautiful, sparkly painting from a numbered canvas and a pile of different colored gems, and you will have a gorgeous piece of art to display on your wall when you are completely finished. However, diamond painting can be frustrating for those whose eyesight is not as strong as it once was. All those minuscule gemstones, and the even smaller numbers on the canvases – which is of course by necessity: since the numbers need to be covered entirely by the diamonds, they can’t be larger than the diamonds themselves. But understanding the logic behind the tiny numbers and gemstones does not make it any less frustrating to have to hold your nose an inch away from the canvas in order to understand the next step in your painting process. Read on to learn some easy ways to cut down on this frustration and get back to enjoying your hobby.
Make Sure All Your Tools Are Assembled Beforehand in a Routine Location and Manner
When you need to put in a little bit of extra effort to make sure you are able to see the numbers on the canvas, you definitely are not going to want to put in even more effort when it comes to reaching your tools, especially in the midst of being engrossed in your painting! Make sure you have taken the time before starting to paint to get all of your gemstones sorted into their trays by color, so you do not have to strain your eyes to tell them apart later. It can also be helpful to put similar colors, such as blue and green or red and orange, on opposite sides of your painting, so that they are not right next to each other and more easily mixed up. You will also want to make sure your tools are close at hand, and, if you take a break (frequent breaks are definitely recommended, as we will expand upon later in the article), you always place your tools in the same spot where they will be waiting for you when you return. If you keep all of your tools close at hand and in a consistent location, eventually, your use of the tools will become muscle memory and you will need to rely less and less on your eyes, which may not be the most reliable.
Use a Light-Up Backdrop
One of the easiest, quickest ways to make diamond painting a little bit easier for a pair of tired eyes is to use a light-up backdrop behind your canvas. Shining light through your canvas from behind will make the tiny numbers sprinkled all across your canvas seems a significant amount larger. You may not even need to use your reading glasses at all anymore when you use a light-up backdrop! There are several light-up backdrops available for purchase out there that are specifically designed for use with a diamond painting canvas. These backdrops – described as light boxes or light tablets, typically – can make all the difference when it comes to creating a beautiful diamond painting for someone whose eyes are not quite what they used to be. The best version of these products use LED light, which is especially powerful when it comes to shining through diamond painting canvases. Look for products described as LED tablets or LED light boxes, and you can simply place the box behind your canvas and watch the previously illegible number combinations come to life! Using an LED light tablet will make your diamond painting experience so much simpler and more straightforward, you definitely will not ever go back.
Paint With Diamonds carries an excellent LED Diamond Painting Light Tablet which can be viewed HERE.
Have Patience and Take the Breaks You Need
Ultimately, regardless of a more streamlined routine or use of a back-lighting tool to increase visibility of the numeric code on the canvas, your eyes are still going to get a little tired in the process of creating your diamond painting. If your eyes are not as strong as they used to be, they are going to need a little bit of extra time. This situation is no reason to become frustrated – on the contrary, you should see it as a good opportunity to take a step back from your painting and give yourself a breather. It can be very tempting, when you first start your painting, to want to rush all the way through to the end so you have your finished, beautiful, sparkly end product, but that is not really the point of diamond painting! Diamond painting is intended to be a hobby that you can participate in every day, completing a little bit at a time, until you have your gorgeous painting at the end. Rushing through can cause complications even if you do not have compromised eyesight, such as loosely placed gems, gems in the wrong location, and other marks of shoddy craftsmanship. So needing to take a break to give your eyes a rest can be a good thing for a lot of reasons, and definitely is not something to become frustrated about. Taking the breaks you need is better both for your eyes and for the quality of your final, finished painting – so why rush?
It can be pretty frustrating to be a diamond painter when your eyes are not as strong as they once were. Diamond painting is a hobby that definitely requires a good amount of viewing close-up details, so if your vision is holding you back, think about implementing some of our helpful tips. Arranging your tools in a routine way and making time to take the breaks you need can all have a real impact on the ease of your diamond painting. But using an LED light tablet will really take your diamond painting game to the next level. Invest in one today and see how much easier your diamond painting experience becomes!
If you did happen to make a mistake, see how to bring your diamond painting back to life HERE.
Check out the 6 vital tools for any & every diamond painter HERE!