Column: A new hobby discovered — diamond painting

For the past few months that I have been at home, I found new activities to do for enjoyment or to simply pass time. During the summer of last year, I loved cooking a variety of desserts and meals, trying out new recipes from TikTok, and crocheted several plush dolls.

As the new year came, I decided to search for another activity, so I went on YouTube to search. Among the hundreds of videos I viewed and skimmed through, I came across one titled “보석십자수” (Boseoksibjasu) and immediately fell in love with it. Boseoksibjasu, or diamond painting, is currently a trending hobby in Korea, and after researching more about it, I realized that people also do it in the United States.

Diamond painting is a type of art that consists of small cubic pieces that are to be manually placed on an adhesive poster to form a large picture. On the poster, there are small numbers, shapes, or letters printed to correlate with the matching cubic color. Diamond painting is similar to paint-by-numbers, in which you have to use a specific color according to the number printed on the canvas.

Furthermore, each “painting” set is a kit that comes with the needed tools, which include a diamond pen picker, wax, and a plastic tray. The diamond pen picker needs wax applied on its head in order for it to pick up the cubic pieces. When I first tried the pen, I was confused about how to get it to function properly. As it turns out, there always needs to be wax on the pen, and it is essential to continually apply the wax after completing portions of the painting.

There are various sizes for diamond painting posters and canvases just as there are with typical paintings. Depending on the size, the quality of the image is determined; with a larger dimension size resulting in a clearer image. Such dimensions for diamond paintings include 20×30 cm, 40×50 cm, and 50×70 cm. Sizes vary from store to store, and some sellers may have square drills or round drills, which are the type of shape of the cubic pieces. Diamond paintings can either be purchased in-store, as places like Michaels or JOANN Fabric and Craft stores, or online on sites such as Amazon, Etsy, and AliExpress.

Like every art piece, diamond painting also requires time and patience. When you have free time or are looking for something to do, try out this activity by yourself or with friends and family, and be prepared to have an enjoyable time.