A diamond painting pen is a handy tool that lets you precisely apply the diamond beads or diamond drills as many people call them, securely on the canvas. Learning how to use a diamond painting pen is the key to creating beautiful diamond paintings. The reason is that it will let you apply the drills exactly where you need to.
Do you need to use a diamond painting pen? Not necessarily. It is because you can use a pair of bent/angled tweezers to pick up the beads. However, using a painting pen is faster and less tiring on the hand because you do not have to put constant pressure on them.
In this article, you will learn the proper use of diamond painting pens and how to choose the right one for you.
What to Prepare:
- Diamond drills – When you buy a diamond painting set, it will already come with enough diamond drills to complete the painting. For instance, a 30cm x 30cm diamond painting should have at least 6,400 diamond drills.
- Diamond drill container and tray – The container is for convenient storage and organization of the diamond drills. The tray is for laying out the color of beads that you will be using so they are easier to pick up.
- Diamond painting pen – This is technically not a pen since you can’t use it for writing. Most sets come with a dual-tip pen. One end can hold 1 diamond drill and the other can hold 3 beads at a time.
- Diamond painting surface –For beginners like you, a canvas that is 30cm x 30 cm would be the right size.
- Wax
- Hobby knife
Instruction:
Step 1 – Lay down your diamond painting template on a flat surface
It is important to work on a large, flat surface, like your dining table. This will make it easier to apply the diamond beads.
To make it easier, I suggest that you take a hobby knife and carefully cut the plastic covering the adhesive into small grids, following the lines on the canvas. For instance, I like to cut the plastic into 20 x 20 squares. Peel off one square at a time and fill the grid before moving on to the next one.
Step 2 – Pour a few diamond beads onto the tray
Choose the color that you will be applying onto the canvas and pour some of it on the plastic tray that came with the kit. The tray is small and has grooves on the surface. The grooves are just wide enough to create neat rows of diamond drills.
Shake the tray a bit to ease the beads into the grooves. You will need the tray because it just makes it easier to pick the beads.
Step 3 – Apply a bit of wax onto the pen
The diamond painting kit comes with a small patch of wax. Grab your diamond painting pen and then apply a bit of wax onto the tip. Put just enough to make it easier to pick the beads. Putting too much wax might contaminate the adhesive of the canvas.
Step 4 – Poke at the beads
Once enough wax is on the painting pen, you can poke at a diamond bead. The bead will then stick to the wax, allowing you to place it precisely on the canvas. If you will be filling up a large area with the same colors, use the end that can pick 4 beads at a time to make it quicker.
Step 5 – Place the bead on the canvas
Now that you have a bead on the tip of the pen, place it on the canvas where it is supposed to go. Since the adhesive is stickier than the wax, the bead will easily come off from the pen and remain on the canvas.
After that, repeat steps 4 to 5 until you fill the area with beads. Reapply wax as needed.
Choosing the Right Diamond Painting Pen
Aside from using the pen that came with the diamond painting kit, you can purchase a separate pen for applying the beads. There are many different types that you can choose from, depending on your technique.
Here is a quick guide on choosing the right pen for you.
Standard Pen
This is the diamond drill pen that usually comes with all diamond painting kits. These pens are quite easy to use even though it is quite basic. To use this drill pen, apply the wax to the tip and then pick up the beads. The problem with this pen is that you can only pick up one bead at a time, so it will take a lot of time to finish one canvas.
Wax Pen
You can buy a diamond painting pen that already comes with the wax on the tip. This kind of looks like the tip of a crayon. This is great because you do not need to dip the pen in the wax to pick up the beads. Using this type of pen, you are eliminating a step in the diamond painting process, which will save you a lot of time.
However, you will need to keep the point of this pen sharp, so you can use this tool accurately. There is usually a special sharpener that comes with every wax pen.
Wheel Pick-up Pen
This type of pen is used for filling up large spaces that use the same color. This pen has a unique tip, which is not technically a tip, but rather a pick-up wheel. You will need to apply wax on the individual pick-up tip and then use it to pick up multiple beads at a time.
This tool can save a lot of time and effort since you will be laying down multiple beads at a time. You can also use this for removing beads off the canvas if you made a mistake.
Unfortunately, this type of pen is only useful for applying the same color. Also, this pen is kind of tricky to use properly. You will need to practice a bit to get how to use this properly.
Multi-placer Pen
A multi-placer pen, just like the wheel pick-up pen, is ideal for use when applying multiple beads of the same color. However, unlike the wheel pen, you can only pick up 3 to 5 beads simultaneously. Although this is much slower compared to the wheel pick-up, the multi-placer pens are a lot easier to use compared to the wheel pick-up pen.
Helpful Tips
To help you further, here are some essential how to use diamond painting pen tips:
- Don’t pull off all the adhesive backing all at once – Use a hobby knife to carefully cut the plastic covering the canvas into smaller grids. Peel off one grid at a time and work on that one first before moving to the other grids.
- Apply 1 color at a time – Although you might be tempted to pour different color beads into the tray, that is not advisable. Using one color allows you to concentrate on placing the beads where they are supposed to go.
Conclusion
Diamond painting can be quite relaxing, mainly because your task is quite repetitive. However, if you know how to use diamond painting pen, and you are quite good at it, then your piece will always look amazing. You also have a high chance of getting stunning results if you use the information here when it comes to using the pen or other tools.