How do you start a diamond painting?
I am very happy to inform you, that you do not need any specific preparation or training to start a diamond painting. All the needed things for perfect artwork is already in one all-inclusive diamond painting kit. However, let me describe the process.
- Firstly, unroll the canvas and flatten it. Tips and tricks on how to do it like a pro is given here.
- Read the symbols, given on a table on canvas, then, find the corresponding bag of colored diamond drills. Give some time to understand it. Believe me, it very easy.
- Peel back part of the plastic covering on the canvas. JUST SMALL PART! Then, run your fingernail along the plastic to crease it so that it doesn’t roll forwards.
- Choose a color (or symbol) to start. Find a bag with corresponding diamond drills.
- Open up the bag, and pour out some of the diamonds onto the tray (usually it comes in green) that came with your kit. Give a little shake to settle the drills.
- Dip your pen tool into the gel or wax that came with your kit. Then pick a diamond. Also, you can use tweezers, then the wax is not needed.
- Gently press the drill onto the corresponding square.
- Repeat.
- After positioning the last diamond, lay the protective film over the top of the painting. Using a rolling pin (or a jar, glass, etc.) gently roll over the design to secure the diamonds on the sticky surface.
As can be seen, diamond painting is easy. Good news, that you can start the diamond painting from any side of the canvas – from the top or the bottom. As I am right-handed, usually, I start from the bottom right corner and part-by-part go to the left and top. After that, If I have fully finished one corner, I just turn round the painting and continue working with another corner. Such a technique is comfortable for me and lets me secure sticky places.
More tips and tricks you can find in my other blog post here.
Diamond painting kits. What you can find inside?
All the necessary tools are already included in the diamond painting kit. Therefore, you can start a diamond painting with the first kit. A variety of included tools, of course, depends on the company you purchase from. What you can find inside the kit?
- A canvas with a sticky surface and covered with a protective film.
- Lots of bags with diamond drills.
- A sorting tray. It is used for convenient diamond drills picking.
- A pen tool or tweezers.
- A wax pad used together with the pen tool. The wax is meant to go into the tip of your pen so that you can pick up the diamonds and then place them onto the adhesive flat side down. The wax will not transfer onto the diamond it is just sticky enough to pick the diamond up. The adhesive should be sticky enough to hold the diamond when you lift your pen.
- Empty bags. They are used to keep diamond drills safe from the opened bag when not in use.
- Most kits include a “diamond legend” paper sheet that lists the Shape/Color/Amount of drills.
The good news is that the tools last for a long time, so if you purchase a kit that doesn’t include one of these items you’ll most likely already have some laying around from previous kits.
Where to buy an inexpensive diamond painting kit?
For many years, I have been looking for Aliexpress things that I wouldn’t normally find in a local and even specialized store. Sometimes I searched out of curiosity and I found strange objects that have no purpose and also I was surprised about the assortment of technology devices. Therefore, when I first heard about diamond painting, I was looking for them specifically in Aliexpress. At the time of writing this article, I did an analysis and, to my great disappointment, I did not find an online store that offers a bigger variety of products and cheaper than on Aliexpress.
Some online stores suggest “free diamond painting kits”. Mhmm, that sounds unreliable, as diamond painting kits are physical products, that are needed to produce, pack and sell and at the same time, it cannot be sold for free. Be careful with such online stores, try to double-check their proposals.
How to choose the best or cheapest kit on Aliexpress?
When I am searching, I firstly turn on the filter to show me items with a rating higher than 4 stars. When I choose a particular drawing, I read reviews from other buyers and look at the supplier’s rating: the higher it is – the better. After comparing different suppliers and customer reviews, all you have to do is select the specific product, the size of the drawing and the shape of the diamond.
Cheap diamond painting. Balance between the quality and the price.
Currently, suppliers offer a variety of diamond paintings on the market – everyone wants to choose the best product and not overpay. I won’t tell you exactly what’s the best price, but I will advise you on the best option for you. First of all, the price of the round drill and the square drill diamonds and canvas is usually the same, but the quality of a finished drawing is really different – a square drill will look more neat, solid, with no spaces between the crystals. You can save on a partial drill painting, but finished full drill painting would look more professional – and you’ll feel like a true artist.
What price for diamond painting is normal?
As I mentioned before, there is almost no difference between round or square drill diamond. So how much it can cost? Prices, given below, are approximate from the most popular and highly ranked supplier in Aliexpress and, certainly, may vary depending on popularity, special deals, etc. To point out, about 20 days shipping is not included in the price and may cost about 4-5 dollars to the USA, Australia or most European countries.
| Size of a canvas | Price in dollars |
| 20 x 25 cm (7,8 x 9,8 in) | 4,50 |
| 30 x 40 cm (11,8 x 15,7 in) | 8,00 |
| 40 x 50 cm (15,7 x 19,6 in) | 12,20 |
| 40 x 60 cm (15,7 x 23,6 in) | 14,50 |
| 50 x 60 cm(19,6 x 23,6 in) | 20,50 |
| 60 x 80 cm (23,6 x 31,5 in) | 30,20 |
| 70 x 90 cm (27,5 x 35,4 in) | 41,00 |
| 80 x 120 cm (31,5 x 47,2 in) | 59,00 |
| 100 x 140 cm (39,3 x 55,1 in) | 87,00 |
If you had paid much more for similar size canvas, maybe you had got excellent customer service and very fast delivery, and that is OK.
Will I get a high-quality diamond painting kit?
In my personal experience, diamond paintings from different vendors are of good quality, and vendors respond quickly to failures. However, mistakes can happen everywhere. Once, when the packages of diamond colors were mixed – instead of diamonds No. 3047, diamonds No. 3074 were added to the kit, the supplier responded to my message very quickly and sent the diamonds of the correct color. Because the shipments take a very long time, I recommend that you check if diamonds are the correct color in the package accordingly to symbols table as soon as you receive the parcel. This will save you time and you won’t have to wait for the remaining few diamonds of the correct color, even though the drawing is almost complete.
How can I check if my preferred item is on Aliexpess?
Oftentimes, you want to find products on Aliexpress without having to type out the entire name or you might not even know what name people use to list the products. In these situations, you want to use Search By Image. Using your Smartphone or Tablet, go to AliExpress App. Click the camera icon in the search bar and upload the image from your local storage. AliExpress will then list products that look similar in appearance. You can filter results by choosing a specific category. Using this method, as a result, you can find the cheapest or the best diamond painting kit.
