Top 16 Diamond Painting Terminologies to Familiarize Yourself with!

What’s in a name if a rose by another name would smell just as sweet, right? If you’re new to diamond painting, chances are, you are calling things as you see them. Keep reading to find out the top 16 diamond painting terms to familiarize yourself with! Learn these terms and you will sound like a diamond painting pro in no time!

If you want to amp up your diamond painting game and get it on with the big leagues, then you should start calling these tools and terms in the diamond painting world with their proper names — and no, those small little plastic dots are not exactly diamonds!

What is Diamond Painting

Diamond Painting is a unique do-it-yourself artwork that uses plastic resin beads as the medium and a pre-printed coded image as canvas.

The painting process is a mix between cross-stitching and paint by numbers. With the use of application tools, you will individually place a colored diamond in a specifically coded spot until you finish your painting!
Read the full article here

What is a Paint with Number kit

A paint with numbers kit is a DIY painting kit which includes a canvas, painting tools and the painting medium itself. The kit has a pre-determined image which you will bring to life by following the designated coloring patterns.

Paint with numbers kit often comes in various difficulty levels to ensure that you don’t bite off more than you can chew. As the difficulty level increases, the more tools and strategies you will need. Want to know which tools goes in a diamond painting kit?
Read what Paint by Numbers is

What is the “D”in 3D and 5D Diamond Painting

The “D”in 5D and 3D Diamond Painting stands for “dimension”. Dimension refers to the number of cuts the diamond needs to add appeal to the plastic resin beads. Just like with real life diamonds, the more cuts you have, the more polished and sparkly your diamonds will be!
Read about the differences between 3D diamond painting and 5D diamond painting

What is a Custom Diamond Painting

Have you seen diamond paintings where the canvas design is a beloved pet, a loved one or a significant artwork? That’s exactly what a custom diamond painting is. It is a normal diamond painting kit, except you can choose your own photos, images and symbols that you want to work on for a more personalized work of art!
Read our guide on what Custom Diamond Painting is

Visit our customize yours section to learn more about custom diamond paintings

What are Drills

Drills, or more commonly called as “diamonds”, are the colorful plastic resin beads you use to bring your diamond paintings to life. These drills often come in various colors (there are literally a million colors to choose from!), shapes (you can choose between square or round ones) and dimensions (as previously mentioned, the more cuts, the better!).

Learn what to do with leftover drills from old projects!

What is a Partial-Drill Diamond Painting

Partial-drill diamond painting is considered as the mixed medium artwork in the world of diamond paintings. It is considered as “partial” because only a selected element of the painting is covered with diamonds, and the rest you can color in with paint or other coloring medium of your choice!

For example, in a painting of a fruit basket, only the apples are covered in diamonds, the other fruits in the image such as a banana, grapes and others are not. This method highlights the apples in the painting in a fun and unique way!

What is a Full-Drill Diamond Painting

Just as the name suggests, a full-drill diamond painting means the whole artwork – elements, background and all! – are covered top to bottom in diamonds. There are no empty spaces left! Since the entire canvas is covered in diamonds, it produces an even surface that sparkles in diamond painting drills! Full-drill diamond painting are more common among diamond painting enthusiasts.

Read about Full Drill Diamond Kits

What are Square Drills

Square drills are a type of drill that varies in it’s shape. As the name suggests, square drills are plastic resin beads cut in a square shape. The bottom has a flat surface for sticking into the canvas while the exposed sides are cut in either 3D or 5D.

Square drills usually make for a more cohesive and “complete-looking” diamond painting since there are no white spaces left when the diamonds click together!

What are Round Drills

Another type of diamond painting resin beads are the round drills! Just like the square drills, they are flat at the bottom so they can be placed easily on the canvas.

The round shape makes it easier to pick-up and place on the canvas since there are no corners that would overlap with the other drills. However, they are a bit smaller in size compared to the square-type ones and often leave small white spaces in between diamonds. This gives the painting a more textured and grainy film effect!

Read about the differences between square diamond drills and round diamond drills

What are Applicator Tools

Applicator tools are the hand-held tools you use to pick up the drills and attach them to the canvas. They usually come in different variations so you can choose which of them you are comfortable with.

The basic drill pen applicator tool usually comes in a shade of green or pink with a slim stick. This often built with two tips — one for placing single drills at a time, the other for placing 3 to 6 drills at a time.

The high-end ergonomic drill pen is more advanced and usually comes in a sculpted form that naturally matches the curves of your hand for comfort. Lastly, if you are more the pinching type of painter, you can also use the tweezers!

Learn how to use a drill pen properly

What are DMC Codes

Dollfus-Mieg and Company Codes, or more commonly referred to as DMC code is a type of “cheat sheet” where certain colors are paired with numerical codes to identify them easily.

The DMC company was initially a French company that sells threads used for embroidery but the codes grew beyond that and expanded to include diamond painting drills as well.

The DMC code is used as coded instruction to guide diamond painters to which block of color goes into a portion of the painting! Hence, the next time you see a three-number code with a little square of color next to it in your diamond painting kits, that’s your DMC code! Best to familiarize yourself with it!

What is Drill Storage

Drill storage is simply the space or organizing tool of your choice where you keep those little diamond beads. Since they are so small and easy to misplace, drills as often kept in boxes, cannisters and little plastic baggies to keep them tidy and well-organized.

Drill storage can be as basic as small resealable plastic bags to practical pill-boxes to made to order diamond painting drill cases! It’s up to you to choose which storage tool you prefer!

Diamonds storage and more: read the list of the must-have diamond painting accessories

What is Diamond Painting Light Pad

Often used for reading books, Light pads are thin clear glass panels attached to an LED-lined handle. Once turned on, the pad emits a light soft glow that illuminates books, surfaces and yep, even your diamond painting canvas! Say good-bye to eye strain with this handy tool!

What is Multi-Drill Applicator Pen

As a close relative of the basic drill pen, the multi-drill applicator pen falls under the category of applicator tools. However, unlike the basic drill pen with a pointed tip for holding single drill at a time, the multi-drill applicator pen has a wide-tip capable of holding up-to 9 drills at a time.

If you are filling up a portion of the diamond painting for a background, chances are that they are filled with only one color. The multi-drill applicator pen comes in handy to get the job done easily without going back and forth to pick up drills one by one!

What is Checkerboard

If you don’t have a multi-drill pen and you needed to fill up a huge space with the same colored drill, working on the checkerboard pattern might be ideal. The checkerboard pattern is diamond painting technique where you fill up spaces in the canvas in an alternating pattern (like as checkerboard!).

This technique breaks the tedious pattern of lining up your drills perfectly and let’s you cover much space in a short span of time!

What is Sealant

Sealant is any clear water-based adhesive that you use as a final coating to keep the drills in your diamond painting securely in place. This type of glue is thin with a watery consistency that you can easily pour and brush over your finished artwork. It is also important to choose a sealant that dries clear and easily to give your paintings that glazed look to it!

These are the most common terms to learn by heart. As you go along your diamond painting journey, these terms will flow easily to you! So why not jump into the craze and start your diamond painting journey with us now!

Learn how to seal your diamond art

 

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