Keeping your diamonds straight is a common challenge for many diamond painters, especially when working with square drills. You might be wondering if there's a better way or a technique to follow. If you're asking yourself these questions and aren't quite sure how to begin, you're in luck because I'm here to help!
One of the best tips I can share is using the checkerboard pattern. This technique involves placing your square drills in every other box. Start by putting a drill in the first box, skip the next, then place another in the third box, skip again, and so on. After finishing that row, move to the next one and place your drills in the empty spaces from the previous row. For example, skip the first box, then place drills in the second, fourth, sixth boxes, and continue the pattern.
When you finish the section, your canvas will have a checkerboard appearance, just like in the photo below. That’s how this helpful method got its name.
Now that you've completed the checkerboard pattern, the next step is to fill in the gaps and place the remaining drills. This method helps make your diamonds straighter and also reduces the chances of gaps forming between them.
There’s something so satisfying about hearing that little click when the square drills snap into place. That sound gives you a sense of accomplishment and adds to the joy of working on your kit.
Here's another photo of Cindy's work after she filled in all the gaps in the checkerboard pattern. As you can see, her diamonds look neat and perfectly aligned.
Cindy also shared a helpful tip—she used tweezers when placing the initial checkerboard drills and then switched to a diamond painting pen to fill in the gaps. The tweezers helped her position the drills more precisely during the first step.
This method is especially useful when you're working on a large area with the same color. But as Cindy's work shows, it can also be applied beautifully to areas with multiple colors.
