top of page

Materials Guide & Reference Library

How Many Drills Do I Need?

SECTION 1 - Observation

Most diamond painters eventually encounter the same problem — running out of a colour before the artwork is finished.

It rarely happens evenly.


One shade finishes early while others remain unused.

This usually occurs:

  • Near gradients

  • In background fill areas

  • In heavily dithered regions

  • After correcting misplaced drills

 

Even when charts are mathematically correct, real placement behaviour is not perfectly predictable.

 

Small variations accumulate across thousands of placements.

Add paragraph text. Click “Edit Text” to update the font, size and more. To change and reuse text themes, go to Site Styles.

Add paragraph text. Click “Edit Text” to update the font, size and more. To change and reuse text themes, go to Site Styles.

Section 2 - Mechanism

Drill charts calculate quantity based on pixel count.

But pixels ≠ drills used.

Real usage differs because:

  • Placement pressure varies

  • Some drills are rejected visually

  • Some drills flip or mis-seat

  • Some are replaced during straightening

  • Some colours visually demand correction

 

Additionally, drill materials have different densities and weights.

 

Therefore:
1 gram is not a fixed number of drills across materials.

Acrylic, resin, crystal, AB, and metallic drills all contain different counts per gram.

Charts are accurate mathematically — but incomplete physically.

SECTION 3 - Studio Method

We treat drill quantities as a tolerance system, not a perfect calculation.

For every colour:
We intentionally supply more than the chart requires.

This prevents:

  • Dye lot replacement mid-project

  • Colour shift in gradients

  • Visual patching

 

Our restocker calculations and reference tables are based on actual measured counts rather than theoretical pixel totals.

The goal is not minimum supply — the goal is uninterrupted completion.

Section 4 - Mechanism

Instead of finishing a canvas with substituted shades or waiting for replacement drills:

You finish the artwork using the same colour batch.

This produces:

  • Consistent gradients

  • Correct colour balance

  • No patching zones

  • No visible repair areas

 

The artwork looks finished because it was completed continuously.

SECTION 5 - Practical Takeaway

  • Drill charts are a guide, not an exact usage value

  • Different drill materials contain different counts per gram

  • Gradients consume more drills than flat colours

  • Corrections and straightening increase usage slightly

  • Extra drills prevent colour mismatch repairs

STUDIO NOTE - CONTEXT & LIMITATIONS

The DMC palette remains the foundation of diamond painting and is essential for universal replacement and availability.

We intentionally include additional drills per colour in our kits.

Not because charts are inaccurate — but because real crafting behaviour differs from mathematical models.

The aim is continuity, not minimal packing weight.

The reference tables below exist so you can plan confidently when ordering additional drills — especially across different materials.

It fills the visual gaps between existing colours so artwork can retain depth while remaining fully compatible with the standard system.

This reference explains why two patterns of the same image can look fundamentally different despite using the same material format.

bottom of page