What is Diamond Painting?
Diamond painting, also known as diamond embroidery, is a fun and relaxing craft that is quickly becoming a popular hobby for people of all ages. Often likened to a mix of paint by numbers, mosaics, and cross-stitch, diamond painting allows you to create stunning images with satisfying ease. Losing yourself as you work on one of the incredible varieties of diamond painting projects available is not necessary but is very likely as you work, piece by piece to create your own masterpiece.
Now you might be wondering, what exactly is diamond painting? Well, you’ve come to the right place. After reading this article, you will have all the knowledge you need about the hobby that is taking the nation by storm.
What is Diamond Painting?
Diamond painting is a DIY art form that consists of making images by using an applicator pen to place shiny and colorful synthetic crystals, often referred to as square drills or round drills, on a canvas according to a specific pattern.
The great thing about diamond painting is that the patterns are on the canvas itself. The canvas has squares or circles with different numbers, letters, or symbols inside of each small shape, and you are able to use a chart called the DMC to determine which colored square diamonds or round diamonds go with the corresponding symbol.
In this way, it is much like painting with numbers, except that you are using an applicator tool to "paint" with flat-backed rhinestones, crystals, or faceted resin diamonds that stick right to the canvas. This makes a fuller-looking image that literally pops right off the canvas!
What Comes With Your Diamond Painting Kit?
When you purchase a diamond painting kit from a top-notch retailer like VizuArts, you receive all the highest quality materials you need to paint with diamonds get started on your first masterpiece. Each box includes:
1. A 100% full-drill canvas that is high quality, weather-resistant, and waterproof. VizuArt’s canvases are especially designed with your ability to showcase your best and most stunning work in mind, which is why VizuArt’s heavy-duty canvases allow for easy release and the prevention of creases, meaning that you will not have to worry about smoothing out the canvas even after it has been rolled up for some time.
2. Individually packaged 5D diamonds with an advanced adhesive formula that was designed for easy application and longevity. If you go with a top brand, you can expect the highest quality materials, which is why VizuArt’s diamonds provide the maximum detail with an adhesive formula that ensures that diamonds will not fall off the canvas or shift, even in extreme temperatures.
3. Durable stainless steel tweezers.
4. A double-sided diamond applicator pen with a comfort cushion, made for easy application of diamonds to the canvas.
5. A wax picking pad with wax that makes your diamonds stick to the applicator tool with ease.
6. Diamond storage baggies for any extra diamonds you might have after completing your project.
What is 5D Diamond Painting?
There are different types of diamonds that you can create diamond art with, and one of the most popular types is the 5D diamonds that come with all of VizuArt’s diamond painting kits. The 5D refers to the realistic special effect that the artwork conveys when finished. 5D stands for 5 dimensional, so compared to 3D diamonds which have 3 facets, 5D diamonds have 5 facets, giving the finished work a greater shining effect.
How to Diamond Paint?
One of the aspects that has made diamond painting so unbelievably popular is the relative ease with which you are able to complete your masterpieces. When you order a diamond painting kit, there are just a few simple steps that you must follow in order to create fantastic images.
1. Spread out the canvas on a flat surface. Immediately you will realize that on VizuArt’s diamond painting kits, the chart which tells you which diamonds correspond to their given symbols are printed directly on the canvas for ease and efficiency.
2. Choose a single color of diamonds to get started with from the bags holding different colored diamonds. Pour these diamonds out on a tray. If you four at a slight angle and lightly shake the bag, the diamonds will fall right side up, so that they are facing the correct way for you to pick them up with the applicator.
3. The canvas is covered with a plastic protective film with the image that you are producing on it. You proceed by peeling back small sections of the plastic film to work on individual sections at a time. It is recommended that you work on small sections at a time and that you keep the canvas covered when you are not working on it.
4. Your diamond painting kit will come with a small pink square. This is the wax kit. You peel back the plastic cover on the wax kit and dip your application pen in the wax until the tip of the pen fills with wax.
5. The wax allows you to easily pick up the diamonds with the applicator pen, as they will easily stick to the tip. Once you have picked up the diamond, you can carefully press the flat side of the diamond onto its corresponding symbol on the canvas. From there, you can just proceed in the same way until you are done!
6. Once you are finished with your diamond painting, it is likely that you will want to show it off. A great final touch is to put your diamond painting in a suitable frame that allows you to hang it up in your home.
7. And there you have it! With these easy steps, you will have completed a diamond painting process that is fun, fulfilling, and rewarding.
Why Diamond Painting?
There are many reasons why diamond painting has quickly become the rage for people who are looking for a great new creative hobby. This is because diamond painting is not only an extremely fun activity. It also has many mental, emotional, and intellectual health benefits. People often say that the activities that are most fun always end up being bad for our health. But with diamond painting, health, relaxation, and fun come in a single package! So why are so many adults and children around the world choosing diamond painting as their new favorite hobby?
1. Reduces Stress and Anxiety
Today’s world is busier than ever. Whether we are working, going to school, taking care of chores around the house, taking care of our families, meeting social obligations or any of the variety of activities that we engage in during our day to day lives, it is easy to feel stressed and overwhelmed at all the things we have to do.
In fact, studies show that the American public is more stressed out now than they have ever been before, with approximately one-third of Americans seeking medical treatment or advice for stress-related issues. Even if your stress or anxiety is not severe enough that medical help is needed, there are still many more people who are looking for activities to reduce the stress of their every day busy lives. Diamond painting is just that activity.
Diamond painting functions a lot like meditation when it comes to relieving stress. It allows us to switch off our brains from other thoughts and focus on the present moment, a proven technique for alleviating free-floating anxiety and other forms of stress.
Another term for what I am describing is “flow,” the state you get in when you are completely absorbed in something. Flow states reduce your anxiety, boost your mood, and even slow your heart rate. Research has shown that engaging in repetitive creative motions is a great way to activate flow states. Moreover, when you succeed at creating, your brain is flooded with dopamine, the feel-good chemical that is associated with increased happiness. The soothingly repetitive creative activity of diamond painting is the choice for those who want to have fun, be creative, and reduce their stress at the same time.
2. Improves Focus
Most of us wish that we had the ability to deeply focus on whatever tasks or activities come our way, and diamond painting can actually increase our ability to do so by helping the brain be able to develop and follow patterns in a self-induced state of focus. Moreover, focusing on tasks for a long period of time has been shown to improve concentration levels, which is easily achieved when you are engaged in such a satisfying activity.
Diamond painting engages both the logical and creative parts of our brains. We use logic when reading the pattern by picking a symbol and finding the color associated with it from the chart. This has the effect of activating the analytical part of the brain, while the act of laying down tiles on the canvas in an aesthetically pleasing way activates the creative side of our brain which can have beneficial effects when it comes to your ability to focus even after you are done with your diamond painting.
3. Helps Fine Motor Skills
In addition to helping your ability to concentrate and reducing stress, diamond painting can have great benefits for your hand-eye coordination. Given the small size of the tiles, a lot of hand-eye coordination is required and developed when picking up the tiles with the tool and placing them on the canvas in just the right place. By repeating this action over a long period of time, your brain, your eyes, and your hands become increasingly more in sync which can be beneficial both for your diamond paintings in the future and for other activities you might engage in.
4. Improve Social Life
Diamond painting is a great activity to engage in with family and friends. There are many adults who invite friends over to engage in this fun and relaxing activity together, while diamond painting can also be a great bonding activity to do together with your kids. On top of that, diamond painting is a great way to increase your social circles and expand your community with other like-minded people who enjoy the activity as much as you do.
Many online diamond painting groups have popped up on various internet sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr, enabling diamond painting lovers to interact and share their love for art. This can be especially important for those who are homebound for any reason or who just find that their schedules are too busy to spend much time socializing outside of the house. It can feel great to connect with other people over shared interests from no matter where you are.
5. Can Help Stimulate Creativity
Many of us want to be creative but do not feel as though we are able to take on the task without some guided help, and this is completely okay! You do not have to have an “artistic bone” in your body to feel the great creative effects of painting with diamonds. Like other creative activities, such as writing and free-form drawing, crafting with diamond painting kits stimulates the right hemisphere of the brain, which is associated with creativity.
Research shows that creativity comes from a mix of genetics and experience. So yes, this means that some people are born with brains that are more geared toward what we often think of as creative thinking, but a large part of creativity comes from engaging in creative activities and watching other people be creative.
Studies of children, in particular, show that watching someone else be creative or engaging in creative play encourages new insights, analytical thinking, and creativity, which means that painting with diamonds can be a great activity for children in their creative development. However, cultivating creativity does not necessarily have to be done in childhood. The human brain is always changing and each activity we engage in has the ability to change it.
While this is especially the case during childhood, it still remains true for adults. Studies show that engaging in activities that stimulate the right hemisphere of the brain during adulthood can also have the effect of increasing the imagination, encouraging new insights, and improving analytical thinking.
For these reasons, painting with diamonds is a wonderful option for stimulating the creativity of your kids or yourself. Sometimes a little bit of guided help is all that is needed to kick those creative parts of our brain into full gear. And once you see the beautiful product at the end, you are sure to want to keep on creating.
Lots of Variety!
One of the benefits of this DIY activity being so popular is that there is an incredible amount of variety when it comes to the types of diamond paintings you are able to do. With your own hands, you can create just about any type of artwork you would like! For example, VizuArt’s extensive catalog of diamond paintings provides options for you to create abstract paintings, nature paintings, fantasy paintings and more!
Given that diamond painting can be a great activity for both adults and kids, there is an incredible number of painting options for children, such as Disney themed paintings, fantasy paintings, superhero paintings, among many other options that kids would just love as a gift.
Feeling in the holiday spirit? Who said that the only decoration possible for your favorite holidays are made for the tree? VizuArt has diamond painting kits that are great for Halloween and Christmas. There are no better decorations for these holidays than a painting that seems to pop right off of your wall with all of its 5D magic.
No matter your taste in art, there are plenty of options for you, making this activity a hobby that keeps on giving.
So What Are Diamond Paintings?
To answer this question simply, diamond paintings are the perfect creative hobby for all those interested in creating beautiful pieces of art and having a lot of fun while doing it. In this busy world, an activity like diamond painting can be just the fresh breath of air that you need, as it allows you to go into a self-induced flow state and lose yourself to the present. With benefits like reducing stress, increasing focus, improving your fine motor skills, expanding your social circle, just about anyone could benefit from engaging in this absorbing activity that has found its way to the top of wishlists everywhere.
Moreover, diamond painting is perfect for those who have the creative itch but do not feel comfortable engaging in creative activities without a little bit of guidance. With diamond painting, you get the same effects on your brain as with other creative activities, ultimately allowing you to cultivate your creativity with all of the benefits that come with that. Whether you buy diamond painting kits for yourself, your kids, or your friends, you are sure to find out why diamond painting has taken the creative world by storm.