How to make your diamond painting? Is it really hard to work with such a small drills? How long does it take to complete the project? Do I need a lot of tools and special glue?
Here we have all the information you need. And after you read our notes and watch the video, you will be absolutely sure that it is not hard, even easy, to get creative and have such a nice picture for your interior! Did you buy one of the diamond painting sets yet? Get one in our shop
What is diamond painting? This creative art is using the idea similar to “paint by numbers”. Instead of paint in our sets we are using the acrylic square drills size about 2.5 mm. We choose square shape since compare to round ones they give more complete image and color. Our diamond paintings come in size of 40 cm x 60 cm (or about 15.8″ x 23.6″). After I have finished my diamond painting of “Deep Bay”, I share different tips and technique that I learned from the project. It took me about a month to complete this beautiful painting. We calculated that if you spend about an hour every day doing your diamond painting you should have it ready in 28 days!
Get familiar with contents of the package.
You will need to allocate the smooth, flat surface that you will be using for the period of time to assemble your diamond painting – it should be big enough to have room for tools and supplies. Coffee table or some kind board that you place in the quiet area that does not need to be moved and will not disrupt the daily activities. Open the box and put the contents on the table. You will find: canvas with image – it has sticky surface covered by plastic film; two bags with diamond drills packed by type and numbered; two strips of wax (pink); two hand tools and two trays. There is also a paper with numbers / types of the drills as they apply to your project.
If you find that your canvas has too many creases – put a few books over for the night or let it sit on the table in the warm place – the canvas will get flat. When you look at the image on canvas you will see that it consists of small squares and each has a sign on it. Look at the package label you will find an image that was used as a base to create this diamond painting.
Set up the work area, make sure you can be comfortable doing your diamond painting, note that lighting is very important.
This is a very important piece of paper included in the package. It is the refence list that you will be using to find the correct colour! The “symbol” column is what you see on canvas; the “NO” column is the number on the small plastic bag with drills that you will glue on the canvas.
I wrote the symbols under numbers on my bags. It makes it easier when working with several colours, especially at the end of the project!
Tools you will work with (two of each):
White trays – that’s where you’ll put the drills of the colour you need. Put only a bit at a time.
Stripe of pink wax – it’s covered with plastic; open a bit at a time. This wax is used to get the drills picked by pen and placed on the canvas.
Pink pen – you dip the thin metal tip into the pink wax, then pick any drill from the tray and place it on the corresponding square on the canvas.
The other side of the pen has a wide tip – use it to pick several drills at the same time – speeds up the process so much! But make sure that you place the drills on the squares along the lines!
There are different ways to approach your painting – you may do it by field of same colour / code or line by line… If I had to do it over again, I will probably start from left vertically and go by larger colour blocks first. Why? If you work with right hand you need light on the left side. And you need the unused side of the canvas always covered, so you will not get glued to it (it is very sticky and hard to get things off!). Gradually peeling off the protecting film you will move from left to right completing your painting. You may carefully cut the protecting plastic into strips, so that you open only part of canvas and the rest stays covered – it’s up to you. Just make sure to keep the area of canvas that you are not using covered by plastic film to prevent your clothing or other thing get on the sticky surface. You can use the cut out piece to cover unused area. My first project I did by colour blocks’ selecting the large area of same colour and filling it first; then moving on to next large colour block. Close to the end I had small areas and some random squares of colour that I had to fill in last. Make sure to check carefully for any missing drills!
Now, get the pen ready, open the bag with drills of the selected colour and place a bit in the tray, do not take out too much. Always close the bag!
KEEP THE SMALL BAGS WITH DRILLS CLOSED AT ALL TIMES! Put only a bit on the tray to work with, close the bag – this will prevent many troubles!
Very gently shake the tray to have the drill lay flat side down, this way the drill will be picked by the pen.
Peel off some plastic film covering the canvas.
Now place the drill on the canvas and press to make sure it is attached.
Diamond painting is not hard to do and even after one session you will notice that you getting more and more accurate with placing your drills on the spot. To keep yourself entertained get some good music or podcast or audiobook… Even better – invite a friend to work together – you got tools for two! Take short breaks for rest… Diamond painting can give you a sense of achievement; reduce stress, provide emotional relief, enhance self-confidence and cultivate patience.
After your major colours are done, you will be able to see the sparkling image! Carefully look over the entire canvas for missing drills and fill those in.
Problems happen – here is what to do:
You spilled the drills on sticky canvas – there is a reason you have tweezers in the package. Carefully pick the drills from canvas and put them back in their bag.
If you mixed colours – get a white sheet of paper and put the drills out. Under a good white light you will be able to see the difference in colour and sort them out.
If they fall on the carpet – as it happened to me, I used tape to collect the drills, then sorted those on the paper.
Note that you have more than enough drill to complete your painting, so loosing some is not a big trouble.
Now, if you got your paper stuck to canvas – get the baby wipes or wet napkin, run over the paper piece to moist it and wait a bit, Then carefully pick the paper from the surface by gently rubbing and getting layers of paper off. Let the area dry completely.
In case you have a spot that is missing glue for some reason – clear nail polish, any clear resin or acrylic glue will help.
The diamond painting project can be worked on together with your children if they are over 6 years of age! Make sure the kids of a younger age are supervised! And keep children that under 3 years of age away from the project.
Let us know how you did! And if you have questions – email me store@kimagic.com.
Good luck…