Do you ever feel like the language of diamond painting needs decoding?
When I started my first diamond painting, I was hooked on the hobby right away. I headed online to watch and learn more about diamond art, and it didn’t take me long to realize that these crafters speak their own special language. Whether you’re new to the art form or just getting involved in the online community, here’s a list of commonly used acronyms, slang, and phrases to help you crack the diamond painting code.
NAVIGATION: # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Glossary
#-A-B-C
- 310 – numeric code for the color black; black drills
- AB – Aurora Borealis; drills with a special iridescent coating to make them extra shiny
- Color Blocking – a section of the canvas with a large grouping of a single symbol/color
- Confetti – a section of the canvas containing many symbols/colors; opposite of color blocking
- Cover Minder – a small object with an attached magnet used to hold the canvas cover in place while applying drills
- Crystal – special drills that appear clear or translucent, usually with a silver backing
- Custom – a special order canvas or kit created from a personal photo or piece of art
D-E-F
- DAC – Diamond Art Club; a popular source for high-quality diamond paintings and accessories
- Destash – online reselling of a new/incomplete diamond painting or kit from one’s collection
- DMC – Dollfus-Mieg et Compagnie; a French textile company that created the color code system for embroidery floss and yarn; diamond painting drill colors correspond to the DMC color code chart
- DP – shorthand for diamond painting
- Drills – small multi-faceted resin squares or circles used in diamond painting; another name for diamonds
- Drill Vacuum – a small battery-operated handheld vacuum used to pick up spilled drills on a tabletop or floor (Click here for our recommendation)
- Electro – special drills with a metallic finish
- Fairy Dust – drills with a special glittery coating for extra sparkle
- Finish – a completed diamond painting; may refer to number of completions in a time period (e.g. 3 finishes this year)
- Full Drill – a style of diamond painting in which the entire pattern or picture is covered in drills
G-H-I-J
K-L-M
- Kitting – the process of opening, sorting, and organizing drills and tools and prepping a canvas; can be followed by “up” in reference to the process before starting a painting or “down” in reference to the process after finishing
- Lightboard/Lightpad – a thin flat rectangular device filled with small LED lights; used in diamond painting to place under a canvas to help illuminate the symbols and improve visibility (Click here for my recommendation)
- Multi-placer – a metal or plastic tip for a diamond painting pen or stylus that picks up multiple drills at once (Click here for my recommendation)
N-O-P
- Partial Drill – a style of diamond painting in which only a portion of the pattern or picture on a canvas is covered in drills
- Pasting Area – the portion of a canvas that is covered in adhesive where drills are placed
- Putty – an alternative to wax for use in diamond drill pens; commonly used to hang posters and other lightweight decor (Click here for my recommendation)
Q-R-S
- Release Paper – non-stick paper, usually parchment, used to cover adhesive on a canvas; can be used to subdivide canvas into small sections
- Snack-size – a small-sized diamond art canvas that can be completed in a single sitting or a short amount of time; e.g. these kits from PaintGem
- Special/Special Shaped – drills/rhinestones with unique shapes typically found in partial drill diamond paintings;
- Stash – an individual’s collection of diamond paintings that have yet to be started
T-U-V
W-X-Y-Z
- Washi – paper adhesive tape that is easily removable; often used to tape around the pasting area of a canvas where adhesive may overlap a blank area, or taped onto the cover to divide a canvas into smaller sections
- WIP – work in progress (Click here to see posts about my WIPs past and present)
