Diamond Painting

Diamond painting.

The newest craft craze around here is Diamond Painting. I noticed it first at Michael's Craft Store about a year ago. It took Hobby Lobby months to get them in, but you can get a few there now too. Amazon has lots and lots of them. This craft will require a steady hand, good vision, figure ground skill, ability to match a pattern to a key and close work. The Diamond Dotz brand is expensive and you can get them cheaper on Amazon by searching under diamond painting.

The canvas is a very sticky surface. You will get multiple different small bags, each a different color of diamonds, and each will have a number stamped on it.
The diamonds are really half diamonds so that they sit flat on the canvas. They are tiny, plastic and multi faceted, so when you look at your work under a light the diamonds really sparkle. Take note before you order if the diamonds are round or square. The vast majority I have seen are round, but some have square diamonds. The round can be picked up and put down easily. The square take more precision as they must be oriented in a certain direction before placing them onto a square box

The canvas has a grid of many small boxes printed on it. Each box has a symbol, letter or number in it. Down the side of the canvas is printed a key that will show you each symbol/letter/number and the bag number it corresponds to. You will put that color of diamond on that spot.

Also included is a pencil-type tool and a little square of wax. Push the tool tip into the wax and then touch it to the top of a diamond. The wax will make the diamond stick to the tool. Then place the diamond on a corresponding box on the canvas. Because the canvas surface is so sticky, the diamond will stay in place where you put it. Do this over and over until the picture is complete. You don't have to touch it to the wax very often, just when they don't seem to be sticking to the tool any more.

Some of the canvases are completely covered with diamonds, other pictures feature only certain objects that will be covered by diamonds and the rest of the canvas is printed. The words "full drill" in the description is supposed to mean that the entire canvas will be covered with diamonds.

Left: The canvas showing the grid on the entire surface - full drill. It does not show the symbols in the boxes.       Right: The original picture. This one turned out beautiful.

The picture comes with a piece of clear plastic over the grid, since it is sticky. I recommend not taking the plastic all the way off or you end you laying your hand in it over and over to stabilize/rest your hand as you work. If you do take it all the way off, remember which side was up. You would think both sides are the same, but I had someone take it all the way off and then we put it back on the wrong side and it stuck like glue. I didn't think we would ever get that plastic back off. It was a fight.

I work with a few kids that are absolutely hooked on this craft. I have kids from both level ASD2 and ASD3, down syndrome and moderate cognitive disability who love it. I tried it myself and found it tedious, in part because my eyes are not good enough to see the symbols in the small boxes from a distance. I guess that just comes with age. :( 

Try this:

• Work on visual discrimination, eye-hand coordination, visual scanning, figure ground, manual dexterity, fine motor precision, tool use, spatial relations, executive functioning skills, process skills,  play and leisure exploration and participation

If you're interested in checking it out further, click on the image below.