With diamond painting you really need a solid flat surface to work on and the bigger the piece the more space you’re likely going to need. then you could simply print ‘as if it was a cross stitch chart’ and work from that visually, symbol by symbol, but you need to ensure the size is correct. It also helps if the software shows the size of the pattern in cm but if not, divide the size in ‘stitches’ by 4 to do the conversion. We see the same issues that exist in cross-stitching but even more prevalent - people purchase a conversion of an image into diamond painting without seeing a true mockup of how the final piece will really look.

Square drills are easier to align and should ‘snap’ into place and they also give a better solid coverage finish so would be the drill of choice if you are using a blank canvas using a chart rather than pre-printed charts as there are no gaps between drills with square ones.

Using intricate diamond beads that you can place within each artwork to bring designs to life, discover the fantastic, relaxing new technique of diamond painting. It’s important not to peel back too much at once - you don’t want to risk exposing a large area until you are ready to work on it in case you accidentally stick a piece of paper to it for instance. LoveCrafts Group Limited (or its affiliates, including LoveCrafts Makers Limited) 2023, registered in England and Wales (no. You draw in color, perhaps print in symbols-on-color, and finally stitch cross by cross onto fabric. We all love our cross-stitching but it can represent a serious investment of time, effort and materials - although the results are often amazing and well worth it.

So in the 2021 Premium edition onwards, we have added new menu items that create images or PDF files set to the right size without asking.

We have also added the option to download a special chart optimized for diamond-painting which will print the pattern at exactly 1:1 size so that you can put it between the canvas and a light-box and see the symbols projected through - giving the flexibility of custom charting with the ease of use of a pre-printed-like canvas. This is a higher resolution version of the image so produces a finer detail than diamond painting can for the equivalent size. To enjoy all that Hobbycraft has to offer, please enable cookies or check whether another programme is blocking them. There are subtle differences though as this describes the number of facets on the drills and so the 5D newer drills give a higher sheen finish. However the technique owes a great deal to counted cross stitch, to the extent that even the color ranges of the available beads resemble those of standard DMC silk shades.

Here are some images comparing cross stitching to diamond painting, both of these were charted with the thread-bare app. Over time, although we say 'make the size 1/10inch', we have learned that this is difficult to follow for some people.From the images above you can see that the diamond painting has a higher sheen due to the faceted drills and the colors seem very vivid and the coverage is denser than stitching which has a more delicate finish. And some provide printed charts identical to cross stitch charts, leaving you to apply the diamonds to a substrate of your own choosing. Pre-printed is obviously easier as you just have to position the tiles onto the right symbols but blank canvases are pre-divided into 10x10 grids which make using a pattern relatively straightforward. Whatever you are using each canvas comes with a protective paper to cover the sticky surface underneath.