What does Full Drill Mean in Diamond Painting (or Full Coverage)?

Diamond painting is a fun, soothing hobby that produces beautiful art you can display in your home. But before you get started, there are a lot of terms to know—and some of them can be a little bit confusing.

Wondering what the difference is between full and partial drill diamond paintings? This one is particularly confusing because while “drills” refer to the diamonds you place on the painting, “full” and “partial” refers to the coverage. Read below, and we’ll explain the difference between these terms so that you can see exactly what we mean!

What are Drills?

The first thing to understand is what “drills” are in diamond painting. These are the diamonds that you apply to the painting itself, giving it color, shine and sparkle. To do this, you’ll follow a pre-printed pattern on the canvas, pressing drills matched to the color codes on the canvas into the adhesive.

In diamond painting, you’ll run across two common types of drills: round drills and square drills. Round are rounded, like little circular gemstones, and square drills have flat edges so that each drill is flush with the next—they almost snap together when you place them.

Here is where there is a little bit of confusion. Some mistake “full drill” diamond paintings as those using square drills in their construction, but actually, full drill diamond paintings are something else entirely, which we’ll explain below.

Full Drill Versus Partial Drill Diamond Paintings

The difference between full drill and partial drill diamond paintings is not the shape of the drills, but the surface area of the canvas covered by the drills. A “full drill” diamond painting is one in which the entire canvas surface is covered in drills, be they square or round drills.

Partial drill diamond paintings will have blank spaces on the canvas where you will place no drills. For example, a partial drill diamond painting with flowers against a plain background might mean that you fill in only the flowers with drills, and then the background is left alone so that whatever color has been printed on the canvas shows.

Because of this, many diamond painters prefer full drill kits. Partial drill kits can be nice for beginners, and they can be pretty, too, but they just can’t compare with the sparkle and wall-to-wall shine that comes with a full drill diamond painting kit.

What Type of Diamond Paintings Does Dreamer Designs Offer?

Here at Dreamer Designs, our paintings are all full drill kits, which means that no matter which pattern you choose, when you’ve finished the project, it’ll be fully covered in diamonds—no bare patches in sight!