FAQ

How Do I choose which Drills to customize in my diamond painting?
Here’s a quick video on how I went about choosing which drills for this diamond painting on found on Amazon.

How many drills are in a package?

  • We package our AB bags based on counts of 2000 drills. We then add extra to make sure you are never shorted on your order.
  • Sampler Packs consist of 12 jars in a case. Each jar/color contains a minimum of 600 drills.
  • Standard DMC colors (not “special” drills) are packaged by the factories and contain approximately 200 drills. 
  • Color Shifting Flame Drills are glass rhinestones that are sized to replace either round or square drills. These stones are sold by the gross (144 stones).
  • Crystals are packed in jars containing a minimum of 4 gross.

What does AB mean?
AB is the abbreviation for Aurora Borealis. An iridescent coating is applied to the surface of the drill creating a beautiful rainbow effect over the base color of the drill. With some colors this tends more towards the silvery tones and with others more blues and greens. These flashes of colors will shift with lighting.

What is the difference between a “Drill” and a “Crystal”
In order to reflect the light, each shape has multiple planes or facets facing in different directions. As the light hits these facets, they appear to sparkle as the light bounce back at you. The round and square drills are the same as what you find in your diamond painting kits. Square drills will have a combination of 9 or 13 facets to reflect the light and round drills contain 13 facets in a quilted checkerboard formation. Crystal drills (including “Metallics”) are faceted like a rhinestone or diamond.  There is an arrangement of 14 facets with a flat top. This tends to make crystal drills more reflective. Crystal drills can be made of a solid material or silver backed creating a transparent drill providing a beautiful depth and additional reflectivity and sparkle.

Are drills different sizes?

Yes  – Square drills are smaller than round drills. Do not try to replace a square drill with a crystal drill unless it clearly states it is a square replacement.
Crystal drills are slightly larger than round drills. After 3 drills, you may find that the alignment is off. If the alignment/spacing of drills is more important than the overall effect you get from these beautiful crystals, these may not be for you. Please see the picture of 2,3,4 and 5 placed in a row.  
crystal alignment

Round Drills for a Square Diamond Painting – ie Flame Crystal Drills?
Flame Drills are cut leaded glass and are only made in the round shape due to the cutting process. Because they are so unique in their color shifting properties we do offer them sized for a square diamond painting. Yes you can fit a round peg in a square hole. No it does not detract from the overall look of your painting or create any spacing issues. However, just like with the crystal drills listed above, they may not be for everyone. Here is an example where round glass drills have been used in a square painting close up and at a distance. My square placement may not be the best, but it does give you an idea.

Crystal Drills don’t have DMC codes – how do I know which one to choose?

Because both crystal and crystal AB drills reflect light in a different way than standard drills, they can replace a range of colors. Topaz can replace many pale yellow and even limey tones. Black (DMC 310) can be replaced with Smoke, Black Velvet, Dragon Scale or Galaxy. It all depends on the look you are going for. Keep in mind these drills are for customizing your diamond painting – feel free to make it your own!You don’t have the color I need…

We are constantly adding to our collections of specialized drills but if we don’t have the color you need, this website is a fantastic resource for finding a good substitute. Please drop us a quick email from our “Contact” page as well to let us know what you were looking for.

The color drill I received doesn’t look like the image…
Please keep in mind that your screen settings may vary the color of our photographs. We recommend ordering by DMC # when possible or ordering a range of similar colors for the best match. This is where our sampler packs can be extremely helpful. Please also read about dye lots below.

What are Dye Lots?
The term dye lot comes from dye meaning color and lot referring to production run. This means that the color of a drill, even though given the same DMC standard code, can vary in color from one production run to another and from one manufacturer to the next. We can not guarantee that the color you order will match exactly as the drills you currently have or may have order from us in the past.

What do I do about dye lot differences?
If your painting is almost finished: Many times the color will match what you already have or be off only slightly – you may not even notice it in the painting if you ran short and just needed a few more. 
If you haven’t started your painting:
 You can replace all the drills needed for that color. All drill orders are fulfilled from the same dye lot. You will not get variation from one bag to the next IF placed in the same order.
You can mix what you purchased with what you have if the colors are close. The randomness will even out in the overall diamond painting.

Returns
All sales are Final. No refunds, returns or exchanges are accepted. In the event the wrong item has been sent to you, please let us know immediately and we will make sure to fix our error.