I haven’t been so active on Twitch or my website as I would have liked lately because we’ve been remodeling the whole house… but recently I was able to gain my office space back so here I am!
Lately I’ve been having fun revisiting my childhood by playing with Perler beads and making coasters and keychains but now I’ve also entered into the world of Diamond Dotz! The colors and sparkles are so beautiful! I must have every color now!
Diamond Dotz isn’t a new thing… it’s been around for a few years and I actually bought a kit painting on clearance that I never did because it felt like such a big project to start. Actually when I went to Ukraine several years ago, it was common to see paintings of all sizes done with various gems and amber in a similar fashion. I even purchased a small one of the Virgin Mary as a souvenir for my grandma.
As I said, most of the kits I saw were too big and ambitious for me to start with and not in any designs I was really that interest in so I decided to make my own by creating a grid system in Adobe Illustrator that matched the pre-cut 4×6 and 5×7 sheets I bought. I purchased the ones with adhesive already attached to make my first attempt as easy as possible.
Here is the pattern I made! I’m providing it free on here for anyone who happens upon my page to try. Enjoy! I will probably post free patterns again in the future so I’ll try to tag them all the same.
Feel free to make my pattern yourself and sell if you want. I only ask that you credit the pattern to me 🙂
I posted up the original on my Etsy and it includes the frame. I’m ok with keeping it but if someone were to buy it that’s cool too! This project took about 3 evenings to complete. I spent 1 night coming up with the design and researching Diamond Dotz, and 2 nights actually completing the design… so roughly 3 to 4 hours a night so I’d say for me this was a 12 hour project as a newbie who has never done Diamond Dotz before. It’s a project small in scale so I think it’s perfect for a beginner who wants to get their toe wet and not be intimidated by a giant design.
What I really like about working on these as opposed to Perler bead art is that it hurts my hand a lot less. I barely have to use any pressure to apply these beads whereas with the mini Perler beads I like to work with cause strain on my hand from pinching all the tiny beads with my needle nose tweezers. This isn’t to say I won’t still play with Perler beads. I think Perler beads are better for making physical useful items like coasters, keychains, 3D relief paintings, etc. Diamond Dotz is great as wall art. I encourage any hobby enthusiasts to give it a go, especially if you love retro games and pixel art.
I’ll try to be a little more active on this blog from now on as I finish up the website. Stay tuned!
