How to Use Diamond Painting Tools and Accessories

So you’re about to start on your very first DIY diamond painting kit and you got these diamond painting tools that come along with it. So here’s a guide on how to properly use the basic diamond painting tools included in the kit.

In this article, we will also be discussing other diamond painting tools that are usually not included in standard DIY diamond painting kits, these are special or premium tools and accessories that are handy and can further help you finish a diamond painting more quickly.

Get to know the different basic and special diamond painting tools available you may want to have to swiftly finish any diamond painting kit.

Pick up pro tips and reminders to avoid rookie mistakes and purely enjoy doing diamond painting as a hobby.

1) Diamond Painting Drills - These are little “the building blocks” of your diamond painting design. These are shiny hard resins in diamond shape available in square or round with 9 to 26 facets. The more facets, the more reflective surfaces and that’s what makes a diamond painting sparkle more.

Reminder: Be careful in buying diamond painting drills, you might get low quality diamond painting drills that do not shine or sparkle well - these are just made from acrylic or just plastic. You can avoid these by observing a diamond painting website store’s reviews. Look for reviews mentioning how sparkly their diamond painting drills are.

Round and Square Diamond Painting Drills

1. Round diamond painting drills - Most diamond painting beginners find the round shaped diamond painting drills easier and faster to put in between drills on the canvas. Looking closely at a diamond painting design made up of round drills, you can see that there are little gaps in between the placed round drills with color same as the drills surrounding it.

As a beginner, it’s more advisable to go for round drills for diamond painting designs because it’s easier to put in.

Square drills leave little room for mistake when you put them inexactly in its place - it will cause the other surrounding drills to overlap into other drills’ space making the design bent out of shape.

2. Square diamond painting drills - Square shaped drills are slightly for the experienced diamond painting hobbyist, the reward is that diamond painting designs with square drills give out more fine details and a picture like finish especially if the design is on the larger side.

A diamond painting with a detailed design should opt for a larger canvas and use square drills to accurately capture the fine details of the design.

Diamond painting enthusiasts say that the snapping in place of square drills into gaps releases muscle tension which helps reduce the feeling of stress similar to pushing snap buttons or popping bubble wraps.

If you lose some diamond painting drills or you’re somehow missing drills with different colors to finish your diamond painting, you can ask the diamond painting store for free diamond painting drill replacements if it’s part of their terms of sale.

If you lost too many diamond painting drills, you can also order extra diamond painting drills in packets. You will need to specify your diamond painting drill order by shape and DMC number or color, you can order by packets or wholesale.

Here’s an idea: As a challenge, you can cheaply duplicate a diamond painting design by using a blank diamond painting canvas with the same size and drill shape as your diamond painting canvas with design, then order the same diamond painting drills and have fun duplicating. After you finish, you can keep or give the duplicate to someone else as a gift!

2) Diamond painting drill tray - This is where you conveniently place your diamond drills when you’re working on your diamond painting design.

Diamond painting drills will be easier to pick up from this bead tray specially made for diamond painting because of the little ridges or canals where the drills can line up for easy pick up.

It also has a small opening at the pointy end that will serve as a funnel for easy pouring when you put your drills into a container.

How to use the diamond painting drill tray:

Simply pour your diamond painting drills and slightly shake to get the diamond drills in place on the ridges for them to neatly fall in line for easy pick up.

Extra Large Diamond Painting Drill Tray - This is not included in the basic DIY diamond painting kit. It has all the same design as the regular one.

If you’re working on a large diamond painting canvas, you need to consider getting an extra large bead tray for convenience. You can put different colored drills there depending on your style on how you go about laying diamond drills.

3. Diamond drill pick up tool - This is a hollowed tip stylus that is specially made to pick up diamond painting drills. There are pick up tools with hollow tips shaped for round or square drills.

The pick tool is easy to use, it is used with a glue stick that is also included in a basic DIY diamond painting kit.

How to use the diamond drill pick up tool:

Simply get your pick up tool and dab it on the glue stick to get it sticky enough to pick up a diamond painting drill.

Cushiony Purple Grip - It is essential to be comfortable while placing diamond painting drills to you canvas design. The cushionary stylus grip will offer extensive comfort over continuous hours of doing diamond painting. Avoid having calluses if you’re super into diamond painting.

The cushiony grip for diamond painting pick tool is a must have for persons who have hand grip conditions or have problems using their hands over extended periods of time.

Multi-pickup Stylus - Now, depending on the website, this may be included in the basic DIY diamond painting kit as a separate extension to the pick up tool. Yes, there are new pick up tools that have an interchangeable extension for single or multiple diamond drill pick up. When using the multi pick up tool, make sure to use the bead tray to properly line up the drills.

Good to know: You can also buy diamond pick up stylus tools from 2 to 10 drill pick up capacity.

LED lighted tips to light up your way can also be bought, it’s a convenient way of doing diamond painting during night time or in low lights. It is also available on multiple drill pick up extensions.

4. Glue stick - These are glue sticks or pads that are specially made for pick up stylus for diamond painting. They give just about the right level of stickiness to pick up diamond painting drills and easily release on the diamond painting canvas.

5. Textile canvas with design guide - This is a sticky textile canvas with design pattern or guide to follow in placing the diamond drills.

On the top right side of the canvas, there will be a diamond drill guide chart with numbers, symbols and DMC codes that should match with code on the diamond drill packets.

The canvas design will have symbols that will serve as a guide on which diamond painting drill should be placed. The symbols are usually in letters or different shapes.

Pro tip: Get a diamond drill and stick it accordingly beside its matching number and DMC code to easily determine which drill goes to where.

Blank diamond painting canvas - This is not included in a basic DIY diamond painting kit. Experienced diamond painting hobbyists buy this to create their own unique diamond painting design from scratch or copy diamond painting designs with pattern guide.

There’s a lot of things you can do with a blank diamond painting canvas with the diamond drills. Advanced diamond painting hobbyists who orders and use blank diamond painting canvases are like artist painters with different colored diamond drills as a palette of paint colors and stylus pick up tool as paint brush.

You can save money, get creative and have fun with friends or family copying diamond painting designs using a blank diamond painting canvas.

Stainless Steel Tweezer - This very much looks like a common tweezer. You can use any tweezer to adjust improperly placed drills. Not included in a basic DIY diamond painting kit.

Tweezers is also an important diamond painting tool, a single improperly placed diamond painting drill can cause distortion to the whole design. So it’s important to properly place drills and adjust if it’s misplaced.

Important reminder: Never continue placing drills if one is improperly placed especially with a diamond painting design using square drills.

Diamond Painting Correction Tool - Correction tools have a lot of variances and they come in different shapes and sizes. These always have a straight side to adjust multiple straight drills especially if they are square. This is not included in a DIY diamond painting kit.

It will also have curvy odd shapes and corners for different situations adjusting placed drills on a diamond painting canvas.

Slim LED Light Pad - A lot of diamond painting hobbyists say that this tool is a must have for anyone who loves doing diamond painting. The light pad works by lighting up the diamond painting canvas from the back.

The diamond painting LED light pad has adjustable brightness settings which is great for folks who continuously work on their diamond paintings, working on places with lowlights and folks with impaired vision. It’s rechargeable and can be easily carried around as it’s quite light with an approximate weight of 423g. This diamond painting accessory is sold separately.

Charging: USB input voltage: DC 5V and adapter input voltage: 100V ~ 240V.

How to use the diamond painting LED light pad:

Simply place your diamond painting canvas on top of the light pad and secure the canvas using the light pad’s clip. Set your preferred brightness level and you’re good to go.

Diamond Painting Roller Applicator - This looks exactly like a paint roller or a roller pin. Use the roller applicator to gently press down the placed drills on the canvas to secure placement. Use it on finished large parts and after completing the whole canvas. You can buy this from any art supply.

You can use any clean paint roller or even a pin roller. When using a pin roller or any roller that’s hard, cover your diamond painting first with soft cloth or a T-shirt to safely cover your finished diamond painting to avoid damage when being rolled over.

Diamond Painting Sealer - Over time, your diamond painting’s placed drills may fall off if it’s not properly kept. Protect your finished diamond paintings with art sealers like brush-on sealers or paint-on sealers. Use a brush-on sealer to seal the tiny gaps in between placed drills on a diamond painting to strongly secure the drills for a very long time.

How to use a brush-on sealer on your diamond painting:

First, you need to make sure that there are no loose drills on your diamond painting. Secure the drills by pressing it down by using a roller. Make sure all diamond drills placed are leveled and that there’s not a drill popping or has risen up.

Using a soft brush, like the one from Modge podge, dip it into your brush-on sealer and get a non-dripping amount and apply it in broad strokes all over the canvas. Generously apply to cover the tiny gaps in between drills and avoid getting globules, lumping or bubbling- if these happens, gently spread it to other areas. Do the application in a room where nothing can disturb you.

Use a shiny finish sealer to enhance your diamond painting’s shininess. There is also a matte finish if you want a diamond painting to have less shine, pearlized finish if you want your diamond painting to have a pearly shine look.

Frames Specialized for Diamond Paintings - This is mostly available on online diamond painting stores. It has iron clasps that will specially hold a diamond painting canvas in place on the backboard and it has a soft glass cover.

How to use the special frame for diamond painting:

Just clamp your diamond painting canvas into the backboard and assemble it like any normal frame. You can save money and the mistake of buying the wrong frame for your diamond painting. Order a specialized frame for diamond paintings to easily frame and keep them more intact.

Diamond Painting Canvas Stretchers - This is like what the artist painters use. It’s made up of quality wood and has 4 “U” shaped nails to secure the sides. It also uses strong sticky tapes all around the sides of the frame to hold out the canvas.

How to use the diamond painting canvas stretcher:

1. Place the finished diamond painting on top of a flat surface face down.

2. Put the side frames on top of the diamond painting’s sides with double side adhesive tapes facing the diamond painting aligned accordingly on all sides.

3. Using a tape, secure each side temporarily to keep it in position.

4. One by one, remove the double adhesive tape on the frames and press the frames down to the diamond painting canvas.

5. Get the “U” nail and insert it on the corners of the frame to further secure assembly.

6. Get the backboards and insert it between all of the frame’s corners until it’s tightly placed.

Diamond Painting Separator - From time to time, you can find diamond drills sticking together, particularly diamond drills that were used before after getting picked up by a sticky pick up tool or has been fallen off of a sticky canvas. This tool is very convenient in those inevitable situations.

How to use the Diamond Painting Drills Separator:

1. Take off the cover of the separator and pour the clustered up diamond painting drills in. It won’t properly work when it’s full, so just fill it until it’s half full. Put on the lid and close the separator.

2. Hold the top side handle with one hand and the body with the other and start twisting gently. Repeat the process until all drills are separated.

Special Diamond Drills Storage Jars - These are special containers to keep your diamond drills organized. There are many kinds of containers that you can use for storing away your diamond drills. Some are premium made and some look a lot like tic tac containers (which makes a lot of sense to use for keeping diamond drills).

You can also make use of what you have around the house to store your diamond drills in.

This article may have missed out on some new diamond painting tools or accessories. This article will be updated often as soon as there will be new effective diamond painting tools in the market.