The Best Diamond Painting

Buying Guide

If you’d like to try a new craft, diamond painting is a relaxing activity that you can easily learn and make very creative designs. It involves using a special pen to apply small resin diamonds, also called drills, to areas on a canvas. Each spot on the canvas has a symbol for a specific color along with an adhesive already applied. In addition, you usually use a small amount of wax on the pen to grip the diamond so you can apply it properly to the space.

While diamond paintings come in many forms, the most common include kits with a large rolled canvas that you usually tape down to a workspace. Other kits have smaller canvases that lay flat and may include frames to easily hang your creation. You can also find unique diamond painting kits that allow you to create photo books, greeting cards, suncatchers, stickers, wristbands, coasters, pencil cases, decorative boxes and more.

Whatever your interest is, you’ll likely find a diamond painting canvas with an image you like. Some popular themes include nature scenes, holiday symbols, animals, famous artwork, buildings, insects, fantasy scenes and famous characters. If you want something very special, you can seek options that let you upload a photo and receive a custom diamond painting in the size you choose.

You’ll need to consider the difficulty level of the painting so you don’t choose something that frustrates you and makes you give up. If you’re a beginner or you want something for a child, consider going with a small canvas that uses larger diamonds or doesn’t have many similar colors. After you get experienced, you could try stepping up to a larger canvas with a complex image, small diamonds and a large color selection. However, keep in mind that large or complex paintings will require more patience and time.

You’ll also need to choose between full- and partial-drill canvases. With a full-drill canvas, the whole area needs to have beads applied. In contrast, a partial-drill canvas has a printed background with only certain areas for beads. You might prefer partial-drill canvases at first since they require less effort and make one object stand out. However, you might like the look, challenge and sparkle of a full-drill canvas better.

• Make sure your diamond painting kit has everything you need so you can enjoy it right away. Along with the beads and canvas, it should include a pen, some wax and a sorting tray. Some kits also give you some small zippered bags to store opened packs of diamonds.
• When you first get your diamond painting, you’ll notice a plastic film over it that protects the adhesive. Unless you have a very small canvas, you don’t want to fully remove this film and throw it away as soon as you’re ready to begin working. Instead, lift the up parts of the film to work on the painting in specific areas.
• To keep things simple, consider working on your diamond painting one color at a time. While you can choose any color, you might want to go with the one that’s closest to one of the sides. It’s also a good idea to not pour the whole bag of that color into the sorting tray at once since you’ll often have more diamonds than you actually need.
• If an area on your diamond painting canvas has lost its stickiness, you can use a little of the wax as a replacement adhesive for the dots.
• Having a good light source makes placing diamonds on complex canvases easier. Otherwise, it can be hard to tell apart similar colors.
• You can also use small tweezers to place the diamonds. Some kits even include a pair.
• People often work on diamond paintings alone, but you could also get a large canvas and enjoy the activity with family or friends. This can make the activity even more enjoyable as well as speed up the process.
• Many diamond painting kits come only with round diamonds because you can easily grab them with the pen and place them precisely. But if you’d like something more interesting or challenging, look for kits that mix diamond shapes and sizes. For example, a flower image might use large round or square diamonds for the flower’s center and a mix of small round and oval diamonds for the petals.