Diamond painting is the art of transforming any regular artwork or photo into a beautiful and mosaic render using sparkling small rhinestones on a prepared canvas. The art is usually compared to painting with numbers which is also another emerging crafting field, yet diamonds are usually less messy and generally do not require a very high level of skill to create something beautiful.
Figure 1: A simple art of matching sparkling diamonds to the correct symbol, not far from a jigsaw puzzle
Since diamond art does not yet garner a large following like other crafts, companies in this field usually assume that the buyers are beginners and propose a basic kit that includes everything needed to finish the work. Of course, the more experience you get, the more you’ll know what’s best for you. In this blog, we would share a very basic guide into what each beginner kit contains and hopefully help you get your feet wet with diamond art.
Figure 2: The basic kits contains everything you need to complete the diamond painting: tweezers, wax, sorting tray, diamond painting pen, some ziplock bags, and of course canvas and diamonds.
Each diamond art kit contains the following tools: the canvas, all colored rhinestones needed for the artwork, a sorting tray, a diamond painting pen, a small piece of pink wax, a tweezer and some clear ziplock bags for diamond storage.
Figure 3: Symbols are printed clearly visible onto the canvas background to guide you where to put the correct colored diamonds.
Let’s first talk about the canvas which is the backbone of your diamond painting and usually consists of 2 parts: the background and the glue layer. The background lets you know which colored rhinestones should go where and doubles as a “creative assurance” that allows you to verify that you are using the right color for each part. This background can be made from a variety of materials and here at Diamond Art Love, we chose a particularly thick, soft and durable canvas that will last to ensure that your art stays on your walls longer.
Figure 4: Example of glue layer instead of double-sided tape. Notice how the diamonds lay flat thanks to the homogeneity of the glue.
Next, there is the glue layer where we applied a homogenous high quality sticky glue and then covered this layer with a layer of clear film. Please be careful that not all glue layers are created equal! A lot of manufacturers out there will use double-sided tape instead of glue which you can easily detect by the fact that the canvas is covered by an opaque layer of film instead of clear film. Double-sided tape usually comes with air gaps between the tape and the canvas that may create bumps in your work, ruining the homogeneity and the sparkling effect.
Figure 5: Colored diamonds should comes in color coded bags with the important number being after '/' like color 318 shown here.
Continuing on the list should be the colored rhinestones which are sorted in color coded bags. The corresponding color codes will be used on your canvas to help you identify which color should go with which symbol.
Figure 6: On the side of the canvas should be guide to how these colors are paired to a particular symbol.
Be careful however, these bags should not be the permanent residence of your rhinestones if you do not want a messy catastrophe. Instead, you should, at the very least, use the included clear ziplock bags with some proper labeling to store the diamonds, or if you are getting serious about the art, invest in some high quality diamond storage box, also with proper labeling of course.
Figure 7: Proper storage and labeling of your diamonds is important. However, using ziplock bags is the bare minimum and aspiring creators should invest in a proper storage box.
Next up on the agenda should be the diamond painting pen and the pink wax, an iconic image of the diamond art world. The pink wax applied to the tip of the diamond painting pen will help you pick up the rhinestones and place them onto the canvas.
Figure 8: Diamond painting pen, trays and the wax are essential to work with diamond art. Of course, these are also basic tools and serious crafters will need to upgrade in the future.
Each pen has 2 ends, 1 being the single diamond applier and the other a multiple diamond applier (up to 4 stones in the row in our kit). It means that singular diamonds can just be easily handled as large swathes of color blocks and you will never have a dull moment crafting your work!
Figure 9: You can apply a single diamond or multiple diamonds at once.
Finally, when mistakes sometimes happen like dropping a stray rhinestone onto the sticky canvas or placing your diamonds slightly outside of the boundary, the tweezer comes to the rescue. Use it to pick up the naughty stray diamond or fix your little happy accident and be on your merry way to the creative end.
Figure 10: Tweezers can fix a slanted diamond or pickup accidents like these.
That’s it for this very basic introductory blog, we hope that this gives you an idea of what the art is about. Of course, this is by no means a full blown tutorial to become a diamond art expert. For that, please stay tuned on Diamond Art Love for more creative blogs like this. Happy creating everyone!