What Is 5D Diamond Painting?
Diamond painting is a calming hobby that has quickly become newest trending craft project. It’s a relatively new art form based on a century-old practice of rhinestone/beaded paintings. 5D Diamond Painting utilizes technology to break down images into patterns, and it’s similar to cross stitching. Small, shiny diamonds (beads/drills) are applied to a sticky canvas to create a work of art!
Rhinestones which are often called diamonds or drills are matched to a coded DMC color code and are 2.5mm in size. Multi-faceted and extremely shiny angles create an incredible sparkle when viewed from different angles. The two major shapes are round and square, but there a variety of special shapes that are used to accent certain paintings. The bottom side of each diamond is flat and made to be stuck to the canvas. Diamonds (rhinestones) are either opaque with shiny surfaces (facets) or translucent (they’re called crystals, but not made of crystal) which allows light to shine through each diamond. While the opaque variety is more popular, the translucent shimmer crystal-gem style paintings are gaining popularity! Additionally, there are paintings that feature "special" gems that can be a wide range of shapes and sizes, often used to accent the painting.
Each kit comes with a variety of tools (depending on the company you purchase from). These toolkits often contain a sorting tray, tweezers, a pen tool, baggies, and a wax pad (used for lightly holding the diamonds to the tool itself). While some companies include most of the above-mentioned items, they vary, 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. Most kits include a "diamond legend" sheet that lists the Shape/Color/Amount of drills.
It doesn’t stop there for tools! There is a wide range of specialty tools that many artisans prefer. An example of these specialty tools can be found HERE. While not necessary, they can provide additional comfort, speed, and peace of mind.
There are many types of 5D kits to choose from, but there are 3 major types. Partial Drill, Full Drill, and Multi-paneled kits.
1. Partial Drill Kits - Diamonds covering only a partial portion of the painting.
Each canvas is printed using high definition printing techniques, but only some of them feature paintings with diamonds that cover the entire canvas. Symbols are printed onto the painting indicating where to place the diamonds. Often times it’s the “featured subject” that is highlighted as the background is left without diamonds allowing the HD printing to show through.
2. Full Drill Kits - Diamonds covering the entire painting.
These kits are printed with symbols on the entire canvas. The adhesive covers the full image and it’s best to work in small sections as full drill paintings require a lot of time and patience to complete. The end result of a full drill painting will often cause onlookers to fall in love with aesthetic and hobby in general.
3. Multi-Paneled Kits - Partial OR Full Drill Paintings that include more than one painting to complete the final piece.
These kits are much like the above mentioned but feature multiple panels that are used to create a larger picture. This allows for creative decorating ideas, large passion projects, and hours of mind-calming fun.
The canvases themselves are made of a vast array of materials.
The diamond painting kits supplied by Untitled Artisan are each marked within their description. Each painting is clearly labeled at the top as to the shape of the drill, the coverage area of the painting, and your choices of sizes.
While the smaller sizes are cheaper, and more beginner friendly, you’ll likely want to choose a larger size for more detail. Once you’ve done a larger size painting, you’ll have a very hard time going back to the smaller choices!
One of the true joys of diamond painting is that you produce beautiful artwork while nurturing your mind and body. You’re creating a gorgeous work of art (oftentimes as a gift) that continues to calm, ease, and grow your mind as you progress. Paint by diamonds is like a puzzle, coloring book, bedazzle, word search, and meditation session all rolled into one hobby!
The benefits of this hobby are endless. The friendships and relationships that are formed, the community of like-minded artisans, the love! The calming ease that washes over your body about 10 minutes after you start that you don’t even realize hit you because you’re so absorbed in this wonderful hobby.
We’ve created a detailed “How-To” HERE that will guide you through the first moments of your 5D journey.
If you have questions, you can ask our community HERE
Click HERE to shop our most popular selection of premium 5D diamond painting kits.
