Diamond painting is the form of art created to paint the images with not just regular paints. Instead, it was conceived to sprinkle diamonds on the pictures.
In other words, the image is embellished with diamonds and framed to ornate the wall.
Just by pasting the diamonds, also known as diamond drills, resins, or rhinestones, over the pre-printed canvas, a bland and ordinary image flares to life to sparkle and glow.
It’s an engaging activity for all ages, and the best part is, you don’t have to be dexterous in the art to enter into the world of diamond painting. But before moving on to an in-depth understanding of the diamond painting, let me tell you about its origin and history.
Diamond Painting’s Origin & History
The diamond painting concept is not a new concept. However, it has evolved a lot since its beginning. It is believed to be originated in Asia and has spread its horizon across the world.
In earlier days, the diamond painting was done on velvet canvas where beads were difficult to glue on the canvas. Now, velvet canvases are making a comeback with improved gluing techniques.
The modern-day diamond painting was invented in China by Guangdong Dazu Yueming Laser Technology Co., Ltd. in 2010. The art closely resembles paint by numbers and cross-stitch and is vastly spreading over the last five years.
Benefits of Diamond Painting
The engaging and fun-filled artistic hobby not only gives an escape from life but also has several benefits.
Relieves Stress
Diamond painting is a form of art therapy. The hectic life and schedule take a toll on our mental health. Engaging ourselves in an activity, we divert our mind from worries to a creative art form that absorbs our tension, reduces our anxiety levels, and relieves our stress.
Bonding With Family
Our bond with family improves tremendously if our mind is at peace without distressful thoughts that meddle with our minds. Many diamond artists take up art projects with family members, friends, or kids. It also helps in improving our bonding and social interactions.
Improves Sensorimotor Functions
According to American Art Therapy Association, “Art therapy is used to improve cognitive and sensorimotor functions, foster self-esteem and self-awareness.” 
The repetitive action of applying diamonds on the canvas improves hand-eye coordination, movement performances and activates muscles by repetitive movements.
Improves Focus
In our daily routine, we are constantly distracted by TV, kids, noises, etc. The frequent disruption adds to our habit, and we lose focus during any chore. Diamond painting boosts our focus as the art itself requires you to focus on placing the diamonds precisely.
How To Start Diamond Painting
Once you decide to embark on your journey to the craft world of diamond painting, you may get overwhelmed by the available choices of kits and packages. You may want to start directly by choosing larger kits for which you don’t have the pre-requisite skill level.
So, here we will give you a complete outlook to help you start your diamond painting easily.
How to Choose the Size of the Diamond Painting Kit?
Determine the correct size of the diamond painting kit according to the level of your expertise. For reference, you can choose from the following sizes.
Beginner Level: 12 x 12 inches (30 x 30 cm) or smaller size than this. Choose a simple image without many details to suit the size.
Intermediate level: Greater than (12 x 12) inches or less than (24 x 24) inches.
Expert Level: Greater than (24 x24) inches. You can choose more detailed images. The final result won’t be pixelated.
What are Partial Drill and Full Drill?
After determining the size of the diamond painting, you will also have to decide the type of diamond painting you wish to embellish.
Partial Drill: A partial drill diamond painting has only a part of the canvas filled with diamonds. The foreground image or the specific area is the ‘focused” or “emphasizes” part of the diamond painting.
Most beginners like to choose partial drill kits because they can be completed relatively faster.
Full Drill: In the full drill diamond painting, every inch of the canvas is filled with sparkly diamonds
. It gives the diamond painting a fuller and more detailed look.
Intermediate and expert level diamond artists choose full drill diamond painting.
Types of Diamond Drills
Square Drill Vs Round Drill
Square diamond drills are closely packed due to the straight edges of the beads. There is no gap between them, so it gives the painting a fuller look. They are very minute in size (2.5 x 2.5) mm, so these beads capture all the details of the image properly.
Round drills are slightly bigger than square diamond drills. Due to their rounded edges, these beads have a gap between them. Their size is 2.8 x 2.8 mm. Beginners tend to choose round diamond drills because these can be pasted easily on the canvas. The shakiness of the hand doesn’t impact the diamond application.
DMC Code: All diamond drills are labeled with DMC code to match their color to the canvas. There are 489 shades in the DMC color-coding system. If you want to order a specific colored bead, you will just have to tell them the DMC code, and they will send you your desired colored diamond beads.
3D or 5D Diamond Drills
You must have heard about 3D kits and 5D diamond kits and wondered what these terms mean.
3D and 5D diamond drills have just a slight difference in diamond cut and facets.
A facet is the flat and angular surface of the diamond drill. 3D beads have nine facets, with three facets on each side.
5D diamond drills have 15 facets, with five facets on each side.
So, what does this mean?
As a general rule, the more facets mean the shinier a diamond drill because these facets give different angular surfaces for the light to reflect. So, the more surfaces mean the light can reflect in various angles, increasing the sparkle of the diamond.
It is the reason 5D diamond drills are said to be shinier than 3D diamonds.
Special Diamonds
Any shape of diamond other than square or round comes under special-shaped diamonds. They vary in shapes and sizes to give a whole new dimension to the diamond painting. Special-shaped diamonds are primarily used in partial drill kits to accentuate the focused image.
Custom Diamond Painting
Apart from pre-made diamond painting kits, you can get your customized kit made from diamond painting retailers. You can turn any image into a custom diamond painting, be it your pet’s image or your wedding picture. Due to this, custom diamond kits are adored and loved by all diamond artists around the world.
Where to Buy Diamond Painting Kits?
You can find many diamond painting retailers online. However, not all sellers have huge diamond painting designs. In our recommendation, these are one of the best retailers online.
We hope you liked the concept of diamond painting. It is meant to relieve stress and to have an optimistic outlook on life. It can only be achieved if you work on the diamond painting project that inspires you, and you don’t have to worry about meager issues like creased canvas, low-quality beads, or canvas losing its stickiness.
So, make sure to buy only well-made kits from known sellers and enjoy your free moments painting with diamonds!
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