While sealing a diamond art painting is extremely fun — you may not know every single aspect of that process right away. After all, it’s now always obvious how to perform basic stuff when it comes to diamond painting. For instance — you may not know how to seal a diamond painting. And that’s a basic necessity if you want your diamond paintings to last you a long while.
With that in mind, we’ll present you with a step-by-step guide on how to seal a diamond art painting. We’ll also go over the different types of sealers and every way they can benefit a particular diamond art piece.
Different Sealers for Diamond Art Paintings
When it comes to the different types of available diamond art painting sealers — we can differentiate between two main kinds you can use. There are the sealers that you apply with a brush — and there are those which you use a spray bottle for. We’ll go over the sealing process that you need to use for both types.
Brush Sealer
If you’ve ever applied varnish onto a wooden surface, you won’t have too much trouble with this type of sealer for diamond art paintings. As you might expect — this is the most thorough kind of sealer, in the sense that it provides a huge amount of protection for your gorgeous diamond art.
With the paint brush, you apply a solid top layer; one that will quickly seal any gaps found between individual diamond drills. And that’s your best guarantee that they’ll stay firmly in place for a while. Though, you should keep in mind that there are different levels of consistency and varied finishes available on the market.
So, what’s your key takeaway here? Well, the fact that brush-on sealers represent an excellent way to provide protection for wrap-around frames. Remember — this type of frame does not give you any kind of protective cover akin to a glass frame. That’s why varnish-esque sealers represent the best possible option here.
Keeping all of this in mind — there are quite a few benefits to brush-on sealers for diamond art paintings. This type of sealer is great in terms of waterproofing and for the cleaning of your diamond painting; plus, it makes your painting far more durable and sturdy.
However, there are a couple of noticeable downsides here. Namely, the fact that you won’t be able to manipulate your painting as easily as you would if it was sealed in another way. For instance, you can’t really roll it or bend it once it’s dry. And speaking of drying — you need to wait for about one night for this kind of sealer to dry completely.
Applying Brush-On Sealers
These are the steps that you need to take in order to apply a varnish-like sealer to a diamond art painting.
- Firstly, you have to ensure that the painting is already clean; any imperfections will mean that your sealer won’t work as well as you’d hope. So, check to see if there’s any dirt or dust on the painting — clean it with a soft brush if need be.
- Before you start applying the sealer, make sure that your painting is rooted firmly in place. You can stick it to a surface using tape which is applied to edges and onto a surface of your choice.
- You don’t want to see any unevenness in your painting. With that in mind, take a look to see if all of the drills are firmly in a single place. If any are popping up, put them in their correct position. This is pretty crucial, because you can’t fix any mistakes once you’ve applied the sealer once!
- Take a craft brush and dip it into a can of brush-on sealer. Now, here you need to ensure that you’re using the right amount of sealer; there must not be any dripping or else you’ll have a mess over your painting. Also, take care while handling the brush and the container for the sealer because it’s (logically) incredibly sticky.
- You can now begin applying the sealer; do so with broad strokes across your diamond painting. Also, you should be careful while applying so that the amount is pretty even across the entire surface. Of course, the goal here is to fill every single gap found between diamond drills.
- Once you’ve applied the first coating, you want to go back and check if there are any coarse uneven parts; brush these down. Act quickly in order to avoid any globs or lumps once the sealer has set in.
- Finally, remember that this kind of sealer may need some time to harden. With that in mind, let it sit somewhere where it’s guaranteed not to be disturbed.
Spray Sealers
Now that we’ve covered the best way to seal a diamond art painting with a brush sealer — it’s time to take a look at the other big option: spray sealers. As the name suggests, this kind of sealer arrives in a spray can. Now, we’ll tell you right away — this kind of sealer is more versatile, but it’s far less effective than the brush one.
The reason for that is simple — with the spray can, you’re only providing protection for your diamonds; the space between them is left largely untreated. Though, you also get the option to choose between a bunch of different finishes here; such as pearl shine, matte, plain, extra shiny, etc.
So, when should you use a spray sealer? If you ask us, it’s ideal to use these if you’re going to put your diamond painting in an additional glass frame; that allows you to protect them sufficiently while also displaying them. Just make sure that you use non-toxic sprays that are meant for this type of hobby.
Considering all of this, the benefits of a spray can sealer is that it does wonders for preserving the shiny appearance of your diamonds; in combination with a glass casing, it will also provide protection from stains. Also, unlike the brush variety — the spray can sealer is better at stopping your diamonds from becoming decolorized after a while. Plus, it’s definitely easier in terms of application, and it doesn’t take ages to dry.
How to apply spray sealer
- First of all, you still need to secure your diamond art painting, just as you would with a brush sealer. Just find an appropriate flat surface and place the diamond painting on it firmly using some tape.
- Check to see if all of the diamond beads are perfectly intact and in the place where they need to be. Also, the surface of the painting must be entirely even. The same goes for any potential dirt or dust — clean the painting gently but thoroughly, using a soft brush.
- Take the spray can with the sealer and start applying it onto the painting — make sure that you spray the contents of the can evenly. As you can see, the application is incredibly simple. All you need to do in the end is to let it dry; though this doesn’t require too much time either — about an hour will probably be sufficient.
Wrapping Up
As you can see, there are a couple of different methods that you can use to seal a diamond art painting. But regardless of whether you use a spray sealer or a brush one — we recommend trying out both methods across two different projects. This will allow you to truly get a feel for what suits you the best!