Take a look around your diamond painting workstation.

If you are like us you have canvases and diamond painting tools everywhere.

You probably also have thousands of leftover diamond dots.

Probably millions.

We do too.

They're everywhere!

Drawers, cups, counter tops, bags, boxes, etc...

There are single ones hiding in the strangest places.

And they travel after getting stuck to the bottom of a shoe or slipper!!

We don't know anyone who throws them out either.

So, what to do with them then?

That is one of the eternal diamond painting questions.

We heard this in your feedback.

We also suffer from the same issue.

There are hundreds of blog posts with dozens and dozens of ideas.

We've read many of them.

You probably have too!

We conducted a survey and it indicated that many of you may still be looking for ideas.

We put our thinking caps on for this one and wanted to come up with something unique.

Actually, we think about diamond painting all the time.

All.

The.

Time.

The other day we decided to test a theory.

Do you really need a diamond painting kit to do a diamond painting?

My daughter and I found out the answer is no.

What?

Wait a minute....

You don't need a diamond painting kit to do a diamond painting?

That's right.

We took an ordinary piece of paper, stenciled in a design, sprayed it with some Scotch tacky glue and made a diamond painting.

We only used one main line as the guide.

Once we got started and figured out a few techniques it wasn't that hard and we think the end product turned out great.

We made a YouTube video of what to do with leftover diamond dots.

Here it is.

This could literally change the way we think about diamond painting kits.

The possibilities are endless.

Imagine using a large poster board.A colored one would be even better.

We might even try printing out some paint by number designs on regular paper and trying those.

Talk about thinking outside the box.

What about printing out one of your favorite photos at Walgreens or Target and then overlaying it with diamond dots.

Do you have a partially ruined canvas?

Cut out a 5x7" square from that and use it to paint a design freehand.

Or use a sharpie to draw on it and then diamond paint in your design.

A sharpie on a canvas does not change the stickiness.

We know.

We tried it.

Any way we hope you are as jazzed up about this idea as we are!

Here are some techniques to help you get started on your own diamond painting kit.

- Start from a corner and work only up and down or left and right.

- Spray only as needed.

- On subsequent sprays, cover the completed portion with a piece of paper of something.

- Go slow and deliberately.

Simple designs work best but that doesn't mean you can't do complicated designs.

Try it out.

We think you will like this next section.

How do I seal a diamond painting?

Like we said, we love diamond painting.

We’re always working on the next project.

Aren't you always working on that next diamond painting project?

There's always one on the desk.

One ready to get started....

And one in the mail on the way!

Actually we probably have a lot more than we can handle but we keep on ordering them.

Can't stop.

Too much fun to get one in the mail.

The other day we decided to see what happens when you seal a diamond painting.

Now to be honest with you we don't think diamond paintings ever need to be sealed.

We've never seen one lose its grip on the gems.

It always seems to us that these little diamond dots are permanently fixed to the canvas.

However, we get a lot of questions about sealing a diamond painting.

How do you do it?

What should you use to seal a diamond paintning?

Will sealing a diamond painting cause it to lose its sparkle?

Do you have to seal a diamond painting before you frame it?

Do you or should you seal a diamond painting?

And so on.

The other day my daughter and I took a trip to Walmart to see what type of sealants they had in their craft section.

We had no idea what we'd find and truth be told we weren't even sure what we were looking for.

We did know we wanted to get some Mod Podge because we had heard about that before.

We bought a few cheap brushes and several types of sealants / glues and decided to test them on one diamond painting.

We thought it would be cool to do a video on side by side comparisons.

We used 4 different brands.

Mod Podge for paper

Mod Podge gloss

Aileene's Tacky glue

and Elmer's clear glue

Here's what we found out.

Sealing a diamond painting is easy.

Open up the sealant and apply with a brush.

Wash the brush.

Let sealant dry.

Like we said.

Simple.

Easy.

Fast.

We also found out all the sealants worked fine.They all filled the cracks and crevices and seemed to hold the gems firmly in place.

We did notice a reduced sparkle, but not by much, with all the sealants.

We folded, bent and rolled the diamond painting afterward.

Not a single drill fell off.Not even from the area we had not used any sealant.

Our conclusion.Elmer's glue clear was the best because it was the cheapest and did the same job.We also noticed it had just a little better sparkle than the other sealants.

We made a YouTube video of how to seal a diamond painting and you can view it here.

We've also summarized the results in a chart.

We are going to keep working on diamond painting experiments and projects like this.

They're fun and we hope they are beneficial to everyone.

We are working on framing ideas next so stay tuned for more.

Bonus Section:Amazing Diamond Painting Tips and Techniques For Professionals

The other night I decided to crank out a bag of diamond dots on my latest project before I went to bed.

I figured it wouldn't take long and it would help me sleep.

It's hard to fall asleep sometimes when there is an open diamond painting just waiting to be done....right?

So, I sat down and promised myself it would be one bag and one bag only.

We all know in diamond painting that one bag soon turns into three and then five and it's not until someone reminds us of the time that we stop.

This time I did only do one bag.

But this one bag taught me three simple things that I'd thought I'd pass along to you.

1.Lighting matters.

I did the whole bag with just ok light.Boy was I surprised when I got up and checked my work the following day.

Everything was crooked and I had placed several diamonds in their spot upside down.

It was awful.I spent more time fixing than I did placing them.

That got me thinking about lighting.

I had the lights on like I normally do, but I didn't place the lamp like I normally do.

What was the difference?

Take a look at this picture of diamond painting lighting differences.

The diamond painting on the left is with the lighting directly overhead.

The one on the right is with the light coming in from the side.

Look at the tiny shadows on the one on the right.

It makes all the difference in the world.

If you can, place your light directly overhead.

2.Diamond painting technique is important

That night I was little tired and to be honest my hand was cramping up from all the previous diamond painting I had done during the day.

That got me thinking about three of my favorite activities.Golf, flying and surfing.

In all three, one of the fundamentals is relaxation.

In golf, your swing must be fluid and you want to grip the club only as tightly as necessary to keep it from flying out of your hands.

It is important not to squeeze it too hard.

In flying that concept is even more important.

And in surfing, watch how the pros pop up on their surfboard.They are expending minimum energy and effort to do so.

The same can be said with diamond art.

Instead of stabbing at the diamonds and then jabbing at the canvas with the diamond painting pen, I started tapping the top of the diamonds with the lightest touch possible and then placing the diamond dots the same way.

Within seconds I could feel all tightness in my shoulders and back melt away.

Try it.

I call it diamond painting like a pro.

3.There is a right way and a wrong way to shake the tray.

I have a huge area on my current diamond painting requiring one color diamond so I am constantly trying to get the diamonds to line up in the tray so I can use the multiplacer.

It is very frustrating to get into a groove and then have to stop only to shake the tray again.

It was driving me crazy.

I was shaking the tray wrong!

I would load the diamonds and then slightly shake from side to side.

It works ok, but....

I found it works 100% better if I place the tray firmly and flat on my work desk and then shake it from side to side.

While keeping it firmly on my desk and while gently shaking from side to side I tilt it slightly forward.

Eureka!!

It works like magic.

Check out our diamond painting video tips and techniques video here.

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Thanks for reading and we hope you enjoyed the article.

Do you agree or disagree?

Do you have some of your own tips for sealing a diamond painting?

We'd love to hear from you.

Feel free to spread the word and share with your friends.

Head over to Diamondxpres today and order some of the best diamond painting kits in the world.

Thank you.

By Lynn Hamilton at Diamondxpres