I have made a lot of diamond paintings and have learned so many things along the way, and wanted to share the secrets that no one told me before I started this hobby.

Here’s a link to the diamond painting I show at the beginning of the video that I made for Finn. Astronaut diamond painting: https://tinyurl.com/mshw63db

1. You need to make sure you flatten your diamond paintings before starting. The best way to do this is to put the diamond painting face down on a towel, then put a damp (not wet) towel on top of it and iron it until the lines from folding it are gone. If you don’t do this, you might see the creases in the finished painting and you don’t want that.

2. Diamond paintings are not made to fit the frames that are made in the USA, so I recommend you find a frame that is big enough to hold the frame either top to bottom with a little extra room (2″ extra border is best) for a matt or from side to side…the frame won’t be big enough normally, on both top to bottom and side to side. In my case, the frame is longer top to bottom than the diamond painting (2″ longer) but too narrow side to side, so what I did, was measured the excess top to bottom which is about an inch from the top and an inch from the bottom. You need to measure from side to side, the diamond painting and figure out how wide the frame is side to side (in the opening of the frame) and then subtract 2″ for the border. Then using a ruler on your diamond painting, and the measurement you just came up with, figure out how much you need to eliminate from the painting so it will fit in the frame. If you have a centering ruler, it’s a lot easier to do this, but what I do, is start by laying a piece of washi tape on your plastic covering near the right side of your focal image and then using your ruler, put another piece of washi tape on the left side and if you don’t like what you’ve eliminated, move the washi tape pieces using the same measurement until you do like where it lands. Then I would put washi tape over the plastic covering from top to bottom so you know where to stop laying diamonds..Don’t cut off the excess diamond painting until you are finished, and then you’ll want to leave about a 1 1/2″ border to wrap under the painting. Here’s a video I made showing you how to frame them https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZYDnykxUZA

3. The bigger the diamond painting, the better the image. If you get a smaller diamond painting it will be more distorted and you have to stand back to get it in focus. I was sent a 50 x 50 cm diamond painting from a photo of Finn from Coodeals.com and it’s a great size for only his face. If I had gotten a smaller painting, his face would be a little distorted and you’d lose a lot of the colors.

4. I only use round diamonds as I have found square diamonds can sometimes be smaller or bigger and they will make your project wonky since you’re making straight rows and the diamonds butt up against each other. I haven’t had that problem with round diamonds.

5. People all have their way of doing diamond paintings….I always start in a corner and work my way in as if you start in the center and work your way out, you have a better chance of getting your arm or sweater/shirt stuck to the unfinished areas of the diamond painting. With my system, you only take the plastic covering off the corner area where you are working so you are always protecting the unfinished portion of the painting.

6. Framing—find your frames at thrift stores and find the largest frames that will work…measure your diamond painting in inches before you start and find a frame that is at least 1″ larger than top to bottom or side to side, and then re-read my #2 note above as it will help you. Once your painting is finished, cut off the excess (in my case it’s the sides) leaving about 1 1/2″ to roll under on all sides. You’ll angle cut the corners so you can get a clean fold on them and use tear tape under the edges and fold right to the edge of the last row of diamonds making sure you don’t see any of the unfinished canvas. You can also use hot glue to glue the sides down. I always use poster board for my matt and simply cut it to the size of the board that is the back of the frame but you could also trace the glass and cut the poster board to the size of the glass. Glue the poster board to the back of the frame then lay the diamond painting on it and use a very small amount of tear tape or hot glue, lay the painting where you want it then put it into the glass part of the frame, making sure it is centered. Don’t glue it down until you’re sure it’s centered properly.

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