The Ultimate Diamond Art FAQ with Links
(A continuing series of excerpts from my Amazon Kindle Book)
Previous Question Answered: Drills - the Heart of the Art Part 2
Next Question to be Answered: Diamond Painting Canvas Issues Part 1
How do I find the special shapes styles?
This is a question that I wish I had a better answer to. As common as a lot of them seem to be, they are darn hard to find, especially in the necessary color. One of the methods I have used is to take a picture of the odd shaped drill that I’m looking for and let Google Lens find it for me. Sometimes they can be found at specialty bead shops, often in the nail art section but usually in collections with other shapes that don’t tend to be used in diamond art. I have even found some of the more unusual special shapes on Temu before they sold out. In fact, whenever I run across similar special shapes in the diamond art size range, I acquire every color I can. That way, if I can’t find the exact color, I just may have a similar color or shape that I can substitute instead. Here are some suppliers of various drill styles, shapes and colors:
--- Diamond Painting Pro https://diamondpaintingpro.com?sca_ref=10996985.UefHaQBtHx
--- Diamond Painting Drills https://diamondpaintingdrills.com
--- Diamond Drills USA https://diamonddrillsusa.com individual colors in many styles
--- DP with Sparklers https://dpwithsparklers.com A lot of metallic pearls also in larger sizes
--- Shimmering Canvases https://shimmeringcanvases.com
--- Munimade https://munimade.com
Is there such a thing as special shapes for square drill projects?
Yes! There are bars, bricks, and blocks made from cut glass crystal to add depth, dimension and texture with even more shine and sparkle, and they work in both round and square projects. Bars cover a line 1x4 spaces long in a square project or 3.5 spaces long in a round one. You can stretch that out to 4 spaces by centering the bar over the round circles. Blocks cover a 2x2 square. Bricks cover a 3×2 rectangle. At this writing there are 30 colors of bars (mostly metallics plus 4 opaques); 45 colors of blocks, including AB; and 9 AB bricks. They do not follow the DMC coding system. https://diamondpaintingdrills.com/product-category/bars-blocks-and-bricks/
There are also flame drills that are specifically sized for square drill projects. Since these drills are made from cut glass they can ONLY be made in a round shape. https://diamondpaintingdrills.com/product/flame-crystal-drills-set-of-4-rd-sq/
Do they make black light drills?
Yes! A black light merely provides the energy to create photoluminescence, or fluorescence on objects that have colors that naturally react to UV light wave frequencies, such as some fish, insects, mammals and paint colors and fabrics. Some drills will naturally show up brighter under a black light, but they may not glow in the dark. And there are some drills that are specifically sold as UV drills as noted above.
I don’t want to buy 447 different colors when I only need one to finish the project. How can I find the right color and style of the missing drill?
You can buy specific individual colors by searching for the DMC color number, type of drill, and shape. For example: ”910 Crystal round drills”. This book would get unwieldy if I even attempted to add those who sell individual drills, and not all sellers sell all colors. Most don’t keep an inventory of all 447 colors, so for some of the less common colors, you just may have to bite the bullet and buy a bulk collection. Diamond Art Club has even more colors, but they also formulate their drills from the Pantone color charts https://www.pantone-colours.com) as well as the DMC (https://www.thread-bare.com/tools/closest-dmc-thread-color-lookup) and have several proprietary drill styles. If you would like to add some of their specialty drills to your collection, you will need to contact them directly at http://diamondartclub.com
Of course, with all these colors and styles of drills, you’re going to need a lot of labels for all of the storage bins you’re going to be filling up. They are also useful for marking your zipper bags, and for when you are “kitting up” (getting drills organized to start a new project) and need to slap a new number or symbol over your in-progress working organizer. https://amzn.to/4vcN1Oj
Or you can go all out and grab a variety of stickers in all shapes and sizes that are specifically related to diamond painting – a book of 8000 stickers to be exact! https://amzn.to/4tsXUdI
Ok, we bought all these backup sets, now how do we keep track of all these colors so we can easily find the shade we need?
This is where a full-color DMC color chart inventory logbook comes in handy. You can use double-sided glue tape to glue sample drills on each color bar so that you know exactly what number is assigned to that color. This is extremely important when you have drills from Michael’s Make Market, Hobby Lobby or Diamond Dotz kits, because they all use their own color codes. No official DMC conversion chart exists for Michael’s or Hobby Lobby. For AB drills only, Diamond Art Club uses a proprietary 101-149 numbering system, which requires specialized conversion charts when sourcing drills from aftermarket suppliers. And many of the lower cost manufacture-less canvases have no color code at all, other than the one used to match the symbols on the canvas, so you are forced to guess if you have any more of that color, or if it is a new one. This non-standard coding makes having a DMC color chart very important, so that you can find replacement drills from other sites and benefit from their sales and discounts. Plus, using a single coding system reduces the need for additional storage containers over time and lowers the chance of confusion when assigning similar numbers to containers from different companies. By sticking with one coding method, you avoid mix-ups and simplify your numbering tasks. The DMC book is also extremely handy when you run across drills you have spilled somewhere, or found while sweeping the floor, and can’t remember what kit they came from.
https://amzn.to/3PWetzL
If you use Diamond Dotz kits and can’t find a logbook that has the conversion chart, there is one on the company’s website that you are free to use: https://eu.diamonddotz.com/diamond-dotz-to-dmc-conversion-chart
If we run out of a particular color, how do we know if we have that same color somewhere in our stash or storage?
Again, the above full-color DMC inventory books are a great resource to have, especially if you can glue in a known sample drill for reference. The reason for gluing in a drill is because the printed ink colors won’t match the drills exactly, (it’s an ink vs plastic color thing) so it is best to have a known drill by the correct color number as a reference. One way to make sure you have the correct drills for each code number is to purchase a set of extra beads that already have the DMC codes on them. And then use those to match up with your book. As stated above, not all projects provide DMC codes for their diamonds, so you’re on your own to match what you have. One caveat! Sometimes the colors that you buy do NOT match the DMC chart, and it’s not a batch issue, it’s just so far off as to be obvious, like receiving a green instead of a yellow with the same number. So, always use the printed DMC chart as your authoritative guide, and change the labels on your storage containers if you must. You can also use one of the various online DMC search tools such as https://www.thread-bare.com/tools/closest-dmc-thread-color-lookup but that link first requires that you know the number of the color you are looking up.
I am totally stumped trying to figure out this drill color code! What do you suggest I do?
If you absolutely must know what the exact color is and nothing else will do, you can always purchase a handheld color identification device known as a spectrophotometer. But that might be a bit of overkill in this hobby. My suggestion would be to use the closest color you CAN find, even if it means removing a few that don’t quite match or try a different color in that area altogether. But if you insist on exact matching, here is an option for you, but it does not specify the minimum object size that it can detect a color on. You may need to put several drills in a large patch for proper detection.
https://amzn.to/4cJ3e6I
This one can detect colors on an item as small as 2mm but it’s going to be pricey: https://amzn.to/48Gj27U
Previous Question Answered: Drills - the Heart of the Art Part 2
Next Question to be Answered: Diamond Painting Canvas Issues Part 1
I have been doing diamond art for over 10 years. My book was published under my pen name. You can contact me through my blog here at https://ei-kan.blogspot.com if you have any additional questions to add to this section or to notify me of any dead links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualified purchases. This book is available in its entirety on Amazon Kindle and there are some discount coupon codes for up to 15% off your purchases at select websites near the end of it And yes, I earn a few pennies from a few other sites mentioned as well, but not all.
