When you first step into diamond painting, it can be extremely daunting to choose your first piece. There are so many options, variables and varieties it’s easy to get mixed up! Thankfully, there are some guidelines to determine if this kit is right for you!
1. What image do you want to create?
There are hundreds and hundreds of choices! Fantasy pictures, religious images, even abstract art can be made into diamond paintings, so choose an image you like and are ready to look at for long periods of time while you work.
2. Full or Partial Drill?
When looking at a listing for a diamond painting, look for the words full drill or partial drill. This determines how much of the image is made using diamonds. In a full drill, the entire image is made using stones. In a partial drill, it’s only certain highlights, like these pieces below:
Full drill will take a lot longer, since you have more spaces to cover.
3. What’s in the box?
Make sure that your kit comes with everything you need: a pen tool, all of the drills you need, and glue. Not all kits come with everything, so be sure to check! Once you get started with several kits, you will have plenty of spares, but if it’s your first project, make sure.
4. Size matters!
The detail of your image depends on the size of the canvas. The larger the canvas, the more details can be worked in. Small canvases are great for geometric and abstract designs, but larger ones are better for photos and classical images.
5. Prepare your palette
The larger the image, typically the more colors are used. Some designs are more simple and don’t use as many, but larger, photo-style diamond paintings use a lot of subtle color changes. On the listing for the diamond painting, the kit should tell you how many colors are used, and how many drills of each. (For fun you can add them together to find out how many individual drills there are. It can be pretty impressive!)
6. Packaging is important!
While there are many brands of diamond painting manufacturers now, each of them handles packaging a bit differently. It’s important to see if there are images of how the kit is packaged.
You want a strong, sturdy box-- you don’t want your canvas crushed! Some of them come in a tube, wrapped around styrofoam stick to keep its shape, or even specially-made, long bubble wrap.
These things were all kept in mind when we at Pretty Neat Creative curated our diamond painting collections. Using these guidelines, you can browse our massive catalogue and look for your next project!
What do you look for when you choose a diamond painting? Let us know in the comments below!