Hobbies are a great way to pass the time and develop a useful skill set. It is an engaging method of keeping your mind alert and stimulates brain activity. A hobby option you can consider is Diamond Painting using diamond beads. Diamond beads are made from plastic and must be stuck onto a picture template using items in the kit.
Here are some useful tips to help you along your hobby journey. Make sure to follow them!
Get yourself a sturdy flat surface to provide canvas support.
A desk would be the most appropriate place to start this hobby.
Make sure you have a comfortable chair that will ease back pain as you will be investing hours in this newfound hobby.
Don’t have a desk? Find other substantial objects.
If you want your canvas to stay straight and hold its shape, you should find some hard object to help you-a large clipboard or a kitchen chopping board that give the best support. Keep away from fragile items that may affect the outcome of your artwork.
Use paperweights
In windy situations, the canvas could flap, and all progress made could be lost! To avoid these destructive occurrences from happening. Paperweight or any other heavy item can be put at the ends of each corner of the canvas.
Have the right tools
Pasting one diamond at a time will be a slow and strenuous activity. Several applicator tools can paste several diamonds at a time. This will speed up the process and make you feel like you are achieving a goal every day.
Small empty boxes play a role.
Imagine coming to the end of a puzzle and finding a piece is missing. If you do not want this to be the case, get a safe place to put your diamond beads. I suggest small boxes as the safest place to stay on track and not have to suffer heartbreak!
Jewellery organisers can be utilised.
Having an assortment of colours can be troubling if you need to search through all of them for one specific colour. For this, we suggest getting a container having many different compartments. This way, selecting the right colour will give you no hassles.
Organise and identify diamond colours
Make a key to distinguish a number that matches a colour. This will allow you to mark the spaces with just a number to denote its colour. Colour matching with numbers is a technique that will help reduce mistakes when applying the beads to the paper picture template.
Place a coloured diamond to separate colour sections.
When starting the process of this artwork, it can be confusing, and you are bound to get confused and put the wrong colour beads in the wrong section. A way to ignore this accident is to place one or a few coloured beads in that portion to mark the colour scheme.
Place a drying agent with the diamonds to avoid sticking together.
Some silica gel sachets or a highly absorbent paper sheet will help keep each diamond bead separate and not too sticky to touch. Sticky dots will remain stuck to your fingers even after placing it, and you do not want this to happen.
Remove the sticky sheet little by little.
Removing the sticky peel all at once will result in dust settling on the paper. Also, the form will lose its sticking capability, and the diamonds will not remain on it. Peel a small bit off at a time, not too much.
Make use of toothpicks.
Toothpicks can assist you in placing some beads in very hard to reach places where there is no room for errors. The pointed tips are made to cater to the precision that will not ruin your work of art!
Be gentle when placing the diamonds!
Various artwork hobbies are famous for requiring a delicate set of hands; diamond bead painting is one of those hobbies. Apart from having the necessary skills, you must have a firm touch and precision to make the right steps and succeed in this challenging activity.
No replacement diamonds
The diamond kit comes with a fixed number of diamond beads, and in case you lose some along the way, there will be no replacements, and this will affect the outcome. Do not lose them, or you cannot finish the puzzle.
Use other tools for precision.
Since precision is a vital characteristic you must possess to do these activities, we strongly advise getting a competent range of tools to lead you along the way. Go ahead and try new tools if you want.
Take breaks to remain focused.
Becoming mentally fatigued or suffering from body ache will affect your productivity, make sure you try to give yourself enough rest to assure you are fully equipped and capable of completing the task at hand.
Fix the diamonds firmly
The last thing you will want is the diamonds to come out by themselves because they were not stuck properly. Make sure every bead is securely pasted to the paper, and check twice just to make sure.
Rinse off the extra glue
Too much glue can cause terrible problems for an artist. The best way to stop these problems in their tracks is to use water to rinse off all the extra glue on the beads.
Work from top to bottom
Strategically, it is best to start at the top rather than the bottom. If you start from the bottom, your hand might damage the arranged diamonds that have already been set down.
Remove excess air that creates bubbles.
Once the design is finished, you can use a metal scale to remove all excess air that may be creating unattractive air bubbles between the diamond beads.
Admire your hard work!
Now that you are done, nothing to do but sit back and enjoy the rewards of your hard work! Go ahead and even get the picture framed and put on the wall.