How To Diamond Paint: 3 Simple Steps

 Step 1: Unpack and flatten your canvas

The first thing you want to do is find a flat surface where you can work. A table or desk is a great choice, though make sure it’s not cluttered or sticky. A cluttered space reveals a cluttered mind, and you want to be able to have a concise area so you can concentrate without losing pieces and losing focus. 

Start by unrolling your canvas. Often, the canvases can have some marks or wrinkles that you’d like to get out before you start working. To best balance the material, tape each corner to a flat surface. Scotch tape should be fine; you don’t need something so heavy duty for this responsibility. Mostly just to ensure the canvas doesn’t slip and slide while you work and you can maintain a consistent surface

If there are still creases after you’ve rolled out your canvas you can place heavy books on the canvas for a few hours or some people even place the canvas under their mattress for a night or two. If you still see some creases, don’t worry they will vanish as soon as you start placing your diamonds.

Step 2: Prepare your diamonds and tools

So now that we’ve unpacked and flattened our canvas to our liking, we’re ready for our next step. You can start to prepare your tools and diamonds on your table. Organization is important! 

The first thing you want to do is open the bag of diamonds that correlates to the symbol on your canvas.  Pour a small amount into the grooved tray. Shake the tray lightly so that the flat side of the diamonds is on the bottom.

Next, you want to peel back the protective film that keeps the adhesive stick to the backside of the diamond’s shapes. The stickiness can fade after a while, so don’t peel off the pieces until you’re ready to stick your diamonds. When crafting your artwork, it’s best to work in small sections to prevent this risk from inhibiting your final product. 

Now that the plastic film has been lightly removed, you’re ready to peel back the film on the pink wax pad. You take your diamond applicator tool and dip the pen in the wax pad, to get a bit of wax on the tip. Only a small amount is needed, and a little bit goes a long way. Next, you’re ready to move onto our next step of using the diamond pen to pick up a diamond. 

Step 3: Place your Diamonds

Once you have the tip of your pen with glue and you have picked up a diamond, you’re ready to start placing. Peel back the film on the canvas and place diamond on the corresponding symbol.

We suggest starting in the lower corner.  Once you’ve started, continue to check the design chart for where to see where the colors go. Each has a corresponding symbol that helps you learn where each needs to be placed. Crafters will recognize this pattern as something we often see in paint by numbers processes as well, so it should be a familiar formula. Without a doubt, to paint with diamonds demands a certain amount of patience and discipline because it can seem a bit tedious at first, but once you’re locked in and focused, the process is both fun and offers a meditative type of calming energy. It’s great to see your work starting to take shape after just a few minutes.

Once you’ve placed the last diamond, you can frame your canvas and share it with the world. Before you frame it, take a rolling pin or roller tool and give your painting a once over to ensure all the diamonds are securely in place.  

Now hang your beautifully completed design and enjoy the art you masterfully created

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 How to Diamond Paint (video)

BONUS Tips

What’s the difference between a Square and Round drill? 

In the cross-stitch style of diamond art, there are actually various styles. The predominant two are round drill and square drill, which correlate to the physical shape of the diamonds. Round diamonds will give you a beautiful mosaic style look, while square diamonds will show a more traditional approach. 

Within these two diamond painting techniques, there isn’t much of a difference in how you create your image. Both use a similar diamond applicator tool to create lovely diamond art. You simply apply the items to the sticky flat side of the canvas. 

What’s nice about a square drill piece versus a round drill is that the pieces here snap into place. There’s that satisfying noise that really comes with the territory, and the final product can look a bit cleaner than the other. We’re not talking about the literal soap suds here but because everything lines in a more efficient manner, the mosaic can look a bit fuller from a distance. 

Round Drill diamonds have their benefits as well. They seem to stick to the diamond pen more easily, making the transition between the two feel more seamless. And for some users, they prefer the lighter air a rounded painting seems to give off. By squinting in close or watching the piece from a distance, the effects and impacts of the artwork differ a bit.

Different Diamond Painting Techniques

Once you’ve placed down several thousands of tiny diamond drills, you may be looking to shake things up. The meditative process can suddenly seem bland or banal, and a new style could be implemented to resolve the lonesome blues. There are several different styles of placement you can use to change your tune of diamond painting technique. 

For starters, we recommend the checkerboard technique. Just as a chessboard has the alternating black-white, you can set up your diamonds in a similar fashion. This works well when you’re using large amounts of the same color in one area and don’t need to focus on each individual shape for some time. This is large area of one color is often called color-blocking.

Another technique is to work in colors. Start by working with the colors with the smallest quantity first. Then you move onto the next smallest color. It gets easier as you move along working your way to the colors that have concentrated areas. Larger color block areas can have diamonds applied quicker by using a multi placer on the end of your diamond painting pen.

If you want to be a bit more conservative, work by filling in section by section. This method gives you rewarding little bumps of completeness to keep you focused and progressing forward.

To keep your rows straight and even we suggest using a correcting tool to straighten your rows and give a clean look.