The meditative art of diamond painting

Move over, adult coloring books — there’s a crafty new competitor in town. It’s called diamond painting, and it involves carefully placing thousands of colorful resin diamonds on an adhesive surface to create a glittering mosaic. There’s no art expertise required, either — all you need is some patience to create your own sparkling masterpiece.

The process is similar to the classic paint-by-number method or counted cross stitch, with coded squares that correspond to specific diamond colors. Using a wax-tipped stylus, diamond painters pick up the tiny diamonds from a special grooved tray to place the diamond in the correct spot. But be prepared to repeat the process many, many times — for a 16 by 16-inch diamond painting, you’ll have to place well over 25,000 stones.

Kits are available in a variety of sizes, but according to Diamond Painting Guide, crafters should keep in mind that smaller canvases will be much less detailed and are best suited for cartoon-like images or landscapes without significant detail.

Diamond painting kits are available at a variety of price points online, from small projects that will run you around $10 to larger projects with higher price tags. You can also order custom diamond painting kits with your own personal photos and images. A small kit with an eight-inch by eight-inch canvas costs about $20, while a very large canvas can cost well over $100. Other additional costs include storage for your in-progress diamond paintings and accessories like extra tools or framing supplies.