Click the grid to add or remove stones —
Type a word. Watch it turn to rhinestones.
Dotwork is a free generative type experiment that renders any text as a rhinestone dot matrix. Your words are sampled onto a grid and every filled cell becomes a faceted stone with a glint of light, set on velvet — or switch to pearl mode and the same word is strung in soft nacre.
It's the third experiment in a series by Abby Merz exploring where craft and digital design share a skeleton: the grid. Rhinestone transfers, cross-stitch, filet crochet, and pixels are all the same idea — an image built one unit at a time. Its sibling, Meshwork, turns text into filet crochet lace; its ancestor, Gridlace, is a lace-inspired pixel serif font family.
Type anything in 01 – Text (line breaks welcome). Choose the sans or serif, or upload your own OTF, TTF, or WOFF — fonts are processed entirely in your browser and never uploaded anywhere. Tune the stone count with resolution and ink pickup in 02 – Grid, choose a stone-and-velvet palette in 03 – Stone, and toggle the stone border, hand scatter, and sparkle glints in 04 – Finish. Click or drag on the grid to place or remove stones by hand. Export gives you a print-quality PNG.
The dot grid doubles as a hotfix rhinestone placement chart: every stone is one gem, spaced on a regular grid. Chart a name or phrase for a jacket, tumbler, or denim piece, count your stones from the readout, and place them row by row. It reads just as well as a diamond painting, sequin, or perler bead layout — every dot craft speaks grid.
Dotwork is free. Exports are yours for personal and creative projects — a credit or link back is always appreciated. Fonts you upload stay on your device, and the words you type aren't stored anywhere.
Made by Abby Merz — portfolio · posters at MERZ Print Co · Meshwork, the lace sibling