Embroidery with rhinestones (diamond) has gained wide popularity recently and has almost overshadowed the usual methods for everyone, involving the use of threads of floss and beads. The embroidery technique allows you to create beautiful paintings, decorate clothes, shoes and home decoration.
Rhinestone embroidery as an art form
Those who are still unfamiliar with diamond embroidery will be interested to know that with the embroidery itself, involving the use of needles, floss thread or beads, it has nothing to do. The essence of the technique is to lay out small (square or round) diamonds of different colors and shades on a base drawn according to a certain pattern. The result is pictures of indescribable beauty, which can be regarded as real works of art.
Particularly beautiful are the works for the calculation of which Swarovski crystals are used.
The history of technology dates back to ancient Greece. In the 5th century BC, craftsmen laid mosaic drawings on walls and floors, using precious stones as material for their work. Popular motifs at the time were images of flowers and animals.
A little later, they learned about diamond mosaic in Italy. With its help, palaces and temples were decorated, used for interior and exterior decoration of residential buildings and office buildings.
The idea to replace expensive materials with cheap plastic and glass rhinestones belongs to resourceful and economical Chinese. Thanks to them, everyone can purchase a set and try their hand at creating diamond paintings.
How to embroider - techniques for beginners
You can purchase an embroidery kit at any needlework store . For work, it is necessary to provide suitable conditions - a perfectly flat surface and good lighting. The step-by-step calculation process is as follows:
- Set unfold and lay out its contents on the table. For convenience, the canvas can be attached to the table with binders or glued to a soft double-sided tape.
- Bags with rhinestones must be laid out in front of you by numbers or pour their contents into special containers that are sold separately.
- It is not necessary to remove the entire film from the canvas, the glue side can dry out, because of which the rhinestones will go unevenly. The film must be gradually bent from the angle from which the work began.
- Rhinestones are captured with tweezers and applied to the canvas in a box with the same number. It is necessary to ensure that the rows are even, otherwise the overall appearance of the picture will suffer. A long and wide ruler will help align the rows, which you need to apply both horizontally and vertically.
- After all the cells are filled with rhinestones, the picture needs to be covered with gauze and walk on it several times with a rolling pin to fix it.
Beginners can pay attention to such recommendations of professionals:
- crystals can be laid out in rows, stripes or staggered;
- you need to press the rhinestones to the canvas until a click is heard, signaling that the element is securely fixed;
- partially filled paintings look worse than those that are laid out completely.
The finished picture must be placed in a frame and covered with anti-reflective glass. Otherwise, dust will collect on it, which will ruin the whole appearance .
Where is rhinestone embroidery used?
With the help of ready-made kits for embroidery with rhinestones, you can do it yourself:
- The picture. Landscapes, still lifes, images of animals and even reproductions of works by famous artists can be “embroidered” with your own hands, using small shiny rhinestones for this. Such paintings will fit into any kitchen interior, decorate the living room and diversify the decor of the children's room.
- The icon. Sets for laying out icons with diamonds involve filling the space around the face of a saint . The face, hands and other parts of the body usually remain untouched - printed on canvas. The icon created using the diamond embroidery technique can be a great gift for parents or godchildren and take pride of place in the home iconostasis.
- Decor for clothes or shoes . The rhinestones remaining after working on the paintings can be used to decorate clothes. They can "embroider" both adult and children's clothing. Rhinestones can be laid out in a pattern or in a chaotic manner.
- Decoration of cards, Christmas decorations, etc. Small rhinestones are an excellent material for decoration. With their help, you can transform old Christmas tree decorations, update photo frames, decorate flower vases and pots, and other interior items.
Especially interesting are pictures of rhinestones made from photographs. With the help of a special program, any image can be converted into a color or black-and-white scheme that can be used both for cross-stitching and for laying out diamonds.
