Many beginners who take up diamond painting face a common dilemma: Why do some diamond paintings look unattractive and lose their stones easily, while others are sparkling, exquisite, and long-lasting? In fact, the difference in the quality of diamond paintings hinges on three key factors: the shape of the diamonds, the application tools, and the canvas material.
Today, we’re bringing you a comprehensive guide packed with practical tips. We’ll thoroughly explain the mainstream diamond types and how to use different tips on your diamond-setting pen. We’ll help you understand the standards for high-quality diamond paintings, avoid common pitfalls, and easily create perfect DIY masterpieces!
I. Detailed Explanation of All drills Types in Diamond Painting
Diamonds used in diamond painting come in a variety of styles, and the luster, texture, and final appearance of different diamond types can vary dramatically. Each type of diamond is suited for specific applications, and choosing the right one can significantly enhance the finished piece’s quality.
1. Basic Styles: Square drills / Round drills
These are the two most common basic drills used in diamond painting. High-quality basic drills utilize a multi-faceted optical cutting process, offering light transmission far superior to ordinary, low-cost diamonds. Poor-quality drills have dents and uneven shapes, they totally ruin your artwork’s look!
Round drills
A versatile option on the market, these feature 13 finely cut facets with a smooth, full curve that produces even and soft reflections. They are forgiving of mistakes and easy to apply, making them the top choice for beginners. They adhere quickly and emit a soft, gentle, and soothing sparkle, suitable for a wide variety of atmospheric artwork. The only drawback is that there are slight gaps between the rhinestones.
Square drills
An advanced, refined option with 9–13 precision facets. Their sharp edges and seamless arrangement allow for perfect alignment and full coverage of the canvas. The finished piece is exceptionally flat, with a clear, three-dimensional image. The edges are clean and crisp, with no gaps. If you’re seeking a high-definition texture and an exquisite hanging artwork effect, square rhinestones are the top choice.
2. Intense Sparkle Effects: AB drills and Pearlescent drills
Both are accent drills designed to highlight key areas of the artwork, specifically used to decorate highlights and key color zones in diamond paintings to enhance the image’s depth and dimension.
AB drills
Featuring a natural rainbow iridescent effect, they refract different colors from multiple angles under both natural and artificial light, creating a translucent, intense sparkle.
Pearlescent drills
Featuring a low-saturation, gentle shimmer—without the intense, dazzling colors of AB drills—these have a natural matte finish. Their subtle, sophisticated luster is non-glaring, making them ideal for paintings with soft or vintage color schemes. Their understated texture is both elegant and timeless.
3. Niche Specialty Styles: Fancy drills / Glow-in-the-dark drills
Fancy drills
Unlike standard square or round rhinestones, these feature special shapes such as hearts, teardrops, five-pointed stars, plum blossoms, and marquise cuts. Used only for accent details, they add a lively, three-dimensional touch to the artwork.
Glow-in-the-dark drills
These rhinestones absorb and store light during the day, then automatically emit a soft glow at night. Perfect for starry skies, nightscapes, and moonlight-themed artworks, they create a truly immersive atmosphere.
It’s worth noting that DM offers custom options for all types of drills, helping crafters create their perfect diamond painting!
II. Choose the Right Diamond Painting Pen Tip in a Second
Many people find applying diamonds slow, crooked, and straining on the eyes and hands—all because they’re using the wrong pen tip! By pairing your diamond painting pen with different tips, you can easily double your efficiency and achieve a neater finished product. Here’s a detailed guide on how to use each tip model:
1. Single-Tip Pen (1 pen tip)
A basic, versatile option offering extremely high precision. Ideal for details, corners, small areas, and irregularly shaped drills . A must-have for beginners and for finishing edges—it helps avoid mistakes when applying rhinestones over large areas and ensures perfect handling of hard-to-reach details.
2. Multi-drill tip (3/6/9 pen tips)
A high-efficiency, speed-application option that can pick up multiple drills at once. Ideal for large, solid-color areas. Once you’ve mastered it, you can apply drills in bulk, saving both time and effort.
3. Wide-face flat-press tip
Designed specifically for finishing touches. After applying rhinestones to the entire artwork, gently roll the flat-press tip over the surface to ensure each drills adheres more securely and lies flat.
III . Diamond Painting Accessories
Creating a diamond painting is easy, but to save time and effort, you’ll need some helpful accessories.
1. Diamond Trays
Available in two styles: magnetic and flip-top. These make it quick and easy to pick up and organize diamonds. When used with a diamond pen, they significantly improve application efficiency. Large magnetic trays, in particular, can hold a large number of diamonds at once and make them easy to access.
2. Diamond Storage Box
Featuring a multi-compartment design, it allows you to sort and store diamonds by color code separately. This prevents color mixing and makes organization hassle-free.
3. Adhesive Paste
High-quality adhesive paste has moderate stickiness, leaves no residue, and holds the drills securely in place. Every DM diamond painting comes with a small white diamond tray, adhesive paste, and a diamond pen.
IV. Why DM’s Diamond Paintings Look & Feel So Much Better
DM has upgraded both the diamond material and the canvas craftsmanship, enhancing the quality and texture at the source.
1. Top Polished Drills (No Cheap Defects)
All our drills are made with ultra-clear premium resin and perfectly polished. Every single drill is the same size with clean, neat facets.
l Super shiny & crystal clear: Full, even facets reflect light perfectly. Your finished piece will pop with gorgeous sparkle.
l Fade-proof color: We use deep color dyeing, not cheap surface spray paint. The colors stay bright and vivid forever.
l Perfectly uniform: No wonky shapes, no dents, no missing corners, no size gaps. All drills fit super tight and smooth. Beginer can get a flawless flat finish easily.
l Great matching: All our drill styles work perfectly together — round drills, square drills, AB drills, and special shaped drills.
2. Upgraded Soft Velvet Embossed Canvas
Most cheap diamond paintings use stiff, hard canvas. It creases and wrinkles super easily, cracks over time, and you can’t fold or store it without permanent bad folds. DM uses premium soft velvet embossed canvas for every one!
l Soft & flexible: The velvet fabric is smooth and bendable. You can roll it up or fold it for storage. It never gets hard creases or wrinkles, even after shipping and repeated storage.
l Precise embossed dots: Our custom embossing makes every dot deep and clear, perfectly aligned.
l Strong, clean glue: We use high-quality eco-friendly glue with steady, perfect stickiness. Drills stick tight and never fall off, and there’s no messy extra glue oozing out.
l Luxury finished look: The soft matte velvet has a subtle premium glow. Your diamond painting will hang flat and neat with zero wrinkles — perfect for home decor or gifting!
3. Fully Customizable For Your Unique Design
l 1:1 exact photo replica: Send us your favorite pictures, and we’ll recreate them. Custom designs are strictly private. If anyone find your exact custom design on live stream, we’ll take it down permanently.
l Custom drill types: We use premium round drills by default. You can switch to square drills, special shaped drills, and more unique styles.
l Fully Customizable Sizes: We support customization for all sizes, from as small as 5x5 cm to as large as 60x90 cm.
l Communication of Requests: Feel free to request personalized modifications. Our team will respond with the utmost enthusiasm!
A Good Diamond Painting Is Recognizable at a Glance
The texture of finished diamond paintings never comes by chance, but from materials and craftsmanship. DM always adheres to strict material selection and fine workmanship, and rejects cheap and shrunken materials. Whether it is daily handcrafting for beginners, or gift-giving or collection, we have been bringing everyone the best DIY experience!
