The Art of Diamond Painting
If you are on Facebook it is likely you have seen ads for 5D Diamond Painting kits. Have you ever wondered what all the rave is about? In this blog entry, I am going to tell you what a 5D Diamond Painting is and why it quickly became my hobby of choice.
Diamond art is a cross between paint by number and cross stitch. Diamond paintings consist of a canvas that is super sticky that has a printed picture or design on it that is made up of little itty-bitty symbols and numbers. There is a key on the canvas that associates each symbol and number with a little colored “diamond.” The diamonds themselves are either round or square and they have a shine to them that makes them sparkle in the light, like a diamond. Other items that come in a diamond painting kit are a pen and a sticky wax that you put on the end of the pen in order to pick up each little diamond for placement on the canvas. Also enclosed with a kit is a small tray to put a smaller amount of diamonds in for the ease of placement on the canvas itself. You also get a set of tweezers to assist with picking up a diamond that has been placed on the canvas in the wrong spot in error or is a little off kilter and you want to relay it.
There are other items you can purchase that make diamond painting easier to complete. They have LED light pads that are specifically made to put under your canvas so the light shines through it and makes all the little symbols and numbers more visible for diamond placement. They also sell a roller that you can use to roll over all the diamonds you have placed on the canvas to secure them firmly on the canvas. Another little tool I have found super helpful is something that looks like a putty knife. You wedge it in between each row of diamonds, and it straightens and aligns all of the diamonds, so they are straight.
My sister was the one who first introduced me to 5D Diamond Painting about a year ago. She had seen them first on a website called Wish.com. She found her first kit and it was inexpensive so she thought she would try it. She has completed designs such as fairies, cats, owls, dragons, silhouette of a couple standing in the ocean, etc. She told me about it because I was looking for something to do in the evening time that I could do that was not demanding, that was fun and most of all relaxing. I, too, ordered my first kit off Wish.com. It was not a full drill (meaning the whole canvas was not covered for diamond placement just a small portion of the picture was) so it was a perfect one for me to practice on. It was a unicorn so basically the body and main of the unicorn were diamonds, the rest of the canvas was just the background picture of trees and other greenery that was printed on the canvas as just part of the picture itself. I instantly fell in love with diamond painting. It was fun, there was instant gratification as the picture came together with each diamond I laid. Diamond painting is relaxing but it is challenging enough to keep your interest peaked. I have completed four total and I am currently working on my fifth painting. The canvas’ themselves come in all different sizes and like I mentioned above you can order most paintings with round diamonds or square. I personally prefer the square diamonds because they leave less of a gap between the diamonds themselves versus the round diamonds.
There are many different websites you can order diamond paintings from. I have not found a site that ships directly from the United States yet. You can find a smaller selection of painting kits on Amazon but I still believe the actual sellers are outside the United States so the down fall is it takes about three weeks to get your order. However, the best website I have found to order from so far is www.paintwithdiamonds.com. They stand behind their products 100%, their shipments arrive within the window for which they indicate, and their customer service is amazingly helpful. However, if you do a Google search for “5D Diamond Painting” the options are endless on where to order them from.
So, if you are in the market for an inexpensive new hobby that is relaxing and gives you a beautiful piece of art, check it out. I promise you will not be disappointed.