What is Diamond Painting? Welcome To The Wonderful World of Diamond Painting!
If you are an arts and crafts aficionado, odds are you have probably heard of diamond painting, or seen diamond painting kits online. But unless you have looked into it, you probably are not fully sure what diamond painting is, and you likely have a lot of questions. Diamond painting? Does that mean painting on top of diamonds? Aren’t diamonds beautiful enough already without being painted over? Or does it mean the paint itself contains diamonds? But wouldn’t that make diamond painting a ridiculously expensive, luxurious hobby?
Fortunately, diamond painting is not painting actual diamonds, nor is it using paint with crushed diamonds as an ingredient. As a matter of fact, the “diamond” in the term “diamond painting” does not refer to the precious gemstone at all, but rather the style of painting. Diamond painting is composing a painting by using smaller colored gems (not precious, expensive gems, don’t worry!) to compose a larger picture, with a special tool and specially designed gems just for that purpose. It is similar in concept to painting by numbers, where certain colors correspond to certain areas of the painting, as well as the artistic photographs where a million different peoples’ faces make up one big face. Diamond painting takes a bunch of smaller pieces of bright color and transforms it into a beautiful overall picture.
Trending…
Diamond painting is rapidly becoming one of the most popular arts and crafts trends out there, and its popularity is increasing by the day. The style and design of diamond painting originated in the continent of Asia, but it is quickly spreading to all other corners of the world, including the United States. Odds are good that if you are familiar with the world of arts and crafts, you have already heard people talking about diamond painting. But diamond painting is accessible to those who are completely new to crafting and creating art as well. It is a simple, easy process that anyone can learn and become skilled at in time.
Supplies Needed
Basically, diamond painting requires only a few supplies: a canvas with adhesive, a setting tool and gum for picking up the gems, and the gems themselves. Using a piece of gum and the setting tool, you simply pick up the gem that corresponds to the particular section of the painting you are working on and set it in its pre-marked area. You also do not have to worry about playing tug of war between the adhesive on the canvas and the sticky piece of gum on your setting tool: the adhesive on the canvas is specifically designed to be stronger than the sticky gum, so your gem will slide right off once you place it in its corresponding area on the canvas.
Different Types of “Diamonds”
As for the gems themselves, there are two separate kinds: round drills, which do not line up perfectly with each other and therefore create a more glittery painting aesthetic, and square drills, which require the painter to use the tool carefully to line them up perfectly together. Square drills produce paintings that are more precise and may resemble mosaics, while round drills produce more abstract-looking images. Additionally, within square drills and round drills, there are different types: 3D drills have three facets on each side for nine facets in total, while 5D drills have five facets on each side for fifteen facets in total. 5D drills tend to be more sparkly and eye-catching and are more common in diamond painting, which is why another common term for diamond painting you may hear used is “5D painting.”
Technique
Placing individual gems at a time, particularly square drills, requires intense focus and concentration, and it is not unusual for people engaging in diamond painting to wake up and realize that hours have gone by. For these reasons, diamond painting is considered an especially soothing arts and crafts activity for those looking to take a break from their busy lives.
Diamond Painting Lingo
Another key component of diamond painting terminology you may hear if you have casually started exploring this hobby is in regards to the diamond painting canvases themselves, which can either be partial drills or full drills. Each diamond painting canvas comes with a background already on the canvas, without any gems added. A full drill canvas means that every single part of the background image will be covered with gems. Full drill canvases usually take significantly more time to complete. In comparison, a partial drill canvas only has part of the background image covered in gems. You may be wondering what kind of painting only requires gems for a certain component – would that not end up looking a little weird? But in actuality, partial drill canvases can be some of the most striking canvases of all when finished, because the specific sections of gems draws the eye to certain areas in the painting. If you want part of your image to stand out, a partial drill canvas may be for you.
Diving In
Once you have identified your image, your canvas type, and your gems, you can get started on your painting. But how will you display your beautiful finished image? One of the best aspects of diamond painting is that it is less expensive to display than other arts and crafts projects. Diamond paintings can be framed without using any glass at all, and in fact should be framed in this manner, as a sheet of glass between the viewer and the painting will actually dim the painting’s natural sparkle. Diamond painting can also be used to emboss book covers and other objects around the house, to give your living area a bit of an extra gleam.
Now that you know a bit more about the emerging art of diamond painting, you can get started on your own masterpiece. There are plenty of diamond painting kits already out there, and odds are good that you will be able to find an image that speaks to you. If not, there are also services where you can send in a custom image and they will design a kit specifically for you to diamond paint that image. What are you waiting for – get started on this fun new hobby today!
See how you can get started HERE.