What is Diamond Painting?
Diamond painting is a cross between cross-stitch, embroidery, and paint by numbers. An image is provided with a thin plastic film on it, peeling back the film uncovers a sticky canvas. A color guide provided instructs you where to place the diamond drills to the canvas using a provided applicator pen.
How To Guide For Diamond Painting
Congrats! You have purchased your diamond painting kit and now you can't wait to paint with diamonds and your 5D art kit has arrived.. now what? The moment you have been waiting for. The 5D diamond painting kit has arrived and you are ready to paint by diamonds, so what does that mean? Well, we highly suggest you read this post before you dive into your diamond embroidery or you could actually ruin the project before you even get started.
What is Diamond Embroidery?
Diamond embroidery is another term used to describe diamond painting. Diamond embroidery is a combination of cross-stitch, embroidery, and paint by numbers. The process is completed when an image is recreated to a sticky canvas, the artist that applies diamonds using a number colored guide similar to a paint by numbers project.
What Are 5D Diamond Painting Kits?
5D diamond painting kits is the name given to diamond painting kits that come with full drill coverage of the canvas. Usually, these will come in square drills or round drills. Drills are the beads that are applied to the canvas, often just referred to as diamonds.
Unboxing Your Diamond Painting Kit
Like many people when they first receive their 5D diamond painting, they become overwhelmed and bewildered by what sits in front of them. You really shouldn't be. The actual instructions are very easy to follow and won't take you long to master the latest hobby that has everyone talking!
Let me break it down for you, first let's find a flat surface and lay out everything that has come in our paint with diamonds package.
What's Included in your Paint By Diamonds Kit?
Your 5D diamond art kit will normally consist of the following. Which is also documented above in the image.
1. Tray - Your tray will serve as the holder for the color of the drills you are working with. Normally, you will work 1 color at a time and keep the active color in the tray. When you are done with your project, you will want to keep the tray for your next project as it makes the 5D kit much easier to do with multiple trays available.
2. Square Piece of wax - This is used by the pen to help pick up diamonds from the tray to help you apply them. You do not melt it or need much on the tip. The wax will come with a plastic cover that you will need to peel back so that you can dip the pen directly into the wax. The wax will allow you to pick up the diamonds much easier.
3. Pen or Stylus - The pen or diamond applicator tool will have a metal end that you use to place the diamonds throughout the canvas. The basic pen that comes with the package will have a single head to apply one diamond at a time. Upgraded tool kits often include pens that will apply anywhere from 1 to 9 diamonds at once. Your applicator pen will apply square drills or round drills. There are a number of different pens available and you will probably want to upgrade to different ones once you start to really enjoy the craft to help prevent hand cramping. Remember, once you start to paint with diamonds, you will find yourself lost for hours.
4. Colored diamond art drill packets - These are coded with an internal code used with the guide to applying the diamonds throughout the canvas. The beads will also have a 3 or 4 digit DMC color code which is an industry-standard color code. The DMC code is used should you need to order additional diamonds for your project that have been lost or were shorted in your package. Square diamonds or round diamonds is entirely up to you. People prefer them both.
5. Your diamond art canvas. The canvas is covered by a thin plastic film sheet. DO NOT REMOVE THE ENTIRE SHEET AT ONCE. You will pull it back in small sections as you complete your painting.
How To Complete Your Diamond Painting Kit
Once you have bought and received your diamond painting kit, we recommend opening it like you see above to get an idea of what you are dealing with. You will want to unbox the entire kit and make sure you have all the diamond painting tools and accessories that should come with every kit you order. Depending on the size and difficulting of the canvas, you may be dealing with 10 packs of diamond drills to 60 or more. So best to have an idea of what you are dealing with.
After you have it all spread out, I like to look over the canvas, the canvas is covered with a thin piece of plastic. Under this plastic is a sticky canvas. This is the glue that will hold your diamonds to your canvas. Depending on how comfortable you are, you may work right to left or left to right or even top to bottom. It is really up to you how you want to paint with diamonds, there is no wrong way or right way. Just be sure that when you are done working on the diamond painting, that you cover the artwork back up with the plastic to help keep the glue as fresh as possible. Leaving areas exposed will lead to the sticky glue drying out and making the canvas difficult to work with.
At this point, I look for an easy color to start with or a large area on the canvas that is a single color and get my DIY painting project going. There are numerous diamond painting techniques, so don't be afraid to do your own diamond painting in the way you want to do it. A lot of personal preference comes into just exactly how you do your diamond painting art.
On the right there is a chart, it is a guide that shows you which symbol, belongs to which color, that color has a number. That number is on the bag of diamonds you need to use. This will be the same on every diamond painting from any diamond painting website or manufacturer.
So, after choosing a color or section to start with, peel back a section to work with. I would normally open up 4-inch by 4-inch section and start working on the bigger areas first. This is personal preference, that is why it is good to allow yourself some time to learn the craft and start with a couple of 5D DIY diamond kits to learn how to properly paint with diamonds. Then moving up once you really have mastered a couple of diamond paintings.
After you have your section exposed, take the color you are starting with and pour a few into the tray. You don't want to dump a lot into the tray as you will find yourself going back and forth and switching up colors often. Once you have used the diamonds to fill up the section you are working on, you will pour the beads back into their bag and move on to the next section.
Take the pen, dip the tip in the wax as mentioned above, and then pick up the diamond color by using the tip of the pen and place into the symbol on the canvas. You will only need to use the wax sparingly as it just helps you pick up the diamond drills. The glue is located on the canvas. When you apply the diamonds, try and keep them straight and as close as you can get into the square or circle the diamond belongs in. You will also want to manually straighten your lines as you guy by pushing the beads with the end of the pen or using the tweezers to help you push the diamonds properly into place.
If you have round drills or square drills on your paint by diamond kits, it will change which side you apply to the canvas. Remember on the square drills, you will want to place the flat side of the diamond on to the sticky canvas. With round drills, both sides are the same.
After you have applied the drills to the correct sections, place any extra diamonds of that color back into their bag and choose another color and do the same thing.
Paint With Diamonds Tips and Tricks
Remember, it is much easier to work in sections of the 5D DIY diamond art and continuing to peel back areas as necessary. Assuming you have a full drill diamond painting, which means the entire canvas is covered in drills or diamonds, you could have a rather long project ahead of you depending on the size of your canvas. Partial drill diamond kits are much smaller and not really recommended. Although, some new specialty diamond kits are considered partial as they incorporate specially shaped diamond beads.
Never remove the entire plastic cover to start.
Your glue will dry and you will not be happy.
After you have applied a section, you can fold the plastic back and press down to secure the diamonds more on to the canvas. This will keep your paint with diamonds secured to the canvas.
Continue this to completion.
What do you do with your finished diamond painting?
Once you have finished your diamond painting project, there are a number of things you can do with them.
1. Flatten Your Diamond Painting Kit - This is important so that your drills all have solid connection to the sticky canvas so that the glue takes hold and secures your diamonds. There are a number of tools and accessories you can use to do this. There are double-headed diamond painting wooden rollers and a nice plastic roller that will perform perfectly. Both will not grab or pull out the diamonds.
2. Frame Your Diamond Painting - Framing your diamond painting kits can be tricky. While we do sell some diamond painting frames, the easiest way to frame is often with a trip to the dollar store and select a suitable frame that is slightly larger than your canvas. Then with the use of some crafting paper, you can make a border around your kit, center within the frame and have a lovely piece of hangable artwork. Once you begin to paint with diamonds, you will find you really enjoy the craft and will have quite a few done after a while. They make for lovely wall decor and can be done for any holiday or occasion.
3. Sell Your Diamond Painting - This is a legitimate business. People love diamond painting kit and will pay money to have you complete their own kits or to sell them your completed kits. You can also offer to do custom kits for those people that do not want to paint with diamonds. We have seen tons of diamond embroidery kits for sale on Etsy, Ebay, Amazon and other websites were crafts are sold. People love to use these as home decorations for holidays.
4. Give Away Your Diamond Painting Kits As Gifts - People love this craft, you can send your friends your completed diamond painting kits or your new paint with diamonds kits undone. Perhaps with a note and explanation on how to paint by diamonds. With all the different types of kits available and custom diamond painting kits, your ideas are endless. You can use their favorite pictures, favorite sports teams, meaningful artwork. People love getting diamond painting kits as a gift.
Most paintings will come with extra diamonds, this is because some will also come blemished and the extras will come in handy. Most diamond painting lovers will store the diamonds and keep some extras for future projects. You can find many diamond painting accessories for sale.
Custom Diamond Paint Kits
Looking for custom diamond painting kits? That's right, you can upload any image and we will create a DIY custom diamond art package especially for you. The process takes about a week longer than normal delivery as we naturally have to create the design from scratch based on the image you provide. You can get more information by clicking on custom diamond painting kits.
Any questions? Email fun@freediamondpainting.com for any help you need.
Anything to add to our guide? Email us and I will add it!