How to Diamond Paint

 My friend introduced me to diamond painting at our school's makerspace. I was at first put off by the smallness of the "diamonds." They can be small circles of plastic or gems. The image is printed on a piece of vinyl or plastic and overlaid with an adhesive surface. You have to remove the plastic and place the "diamond" with a wax tipped tool. It seemed very labor intensive and tedious.  However, once I watched some students working on pieces, I thought the end result was really cool. 

Sea Turtle

Art Cats

Said friend got me a set of cats in famous paintings coasters for my birthday. I started to get to work immediately and was hooked.  I got my twelve year old niece a kit and she took off with it. As we finished pieces and got more kits, we upgraded our supplies somewhat. 

I ordered this organization kit with small plastic jars for the diamonds from Amazon. It also came with other trays, additional wax, and labels for the jars. There is a straightening/flattening tool and a funnel to get the diamonds in the jars without spilling them. They are very light and easy to dump/spill. 

We also got work trays from the TikTok store that have three usb ports. It came with a fan, light, and a spare usb port. I like to rest this on my lap as I work. The legs are collapsible and padded. The light comes in handy, but I typically use a more powerful light also. 

Diamond painting can by tricky until you get the hang of using the wax tool and not spilling the diamonds! More on this innovative craft to come!