Author Archives: Iiiireader

83 Beautiful Fairies with Imaginative Hairstyles printed on both sides of page

Posted on March 2, 2016 by Iiiireader

Fairy Shampoo: An Enchanted Coloring Book

By: Jo Su-Jin

Rating: 5 of 5

Fairy Shampoo is a hand-drawn coloring book that has 83 different fairies with fun and whimsical hairstyles. The artist created this coloring book to showcase long and flowing hair. What has resulted is a wonderful book to color. At the back of the book, there is an index which shows a thumbnail of each of the designs. The book is divided into four chapters:

Chapter 1: Fragrance of Dreams

Chapter 2: Fragrance of Friendship

Chapter 3: Fragrance of Love

Chapter 4: Fragrance of Freedom

In each chapter, the focus is on the fairies hairstyles. Most of the hairdos are of flowers entwined amidst the hair or even replacing them altogether. There are also sea creatures, butterflies, dragonflies, leaves and dreams. It is a delightful book to spend time with and showcases the wonderful talent of the artist, Jo So-Jin.

The designs in this coloring book are printed on both sides of white, non-perforated paper. The designs are limited to one page and some of them merge into the binding. The binding is glued rather than sewn, so you will have to cut the pages out if you wish to remove them. If you do so, you will lose some portion of the designs that merge into the binding. I was able to break the spine slightly and get the book to lay flat.

I test my coloring books with various coloring medium (list below) and here are the results of those tests:

All alcohol-based markers bleed through the paper quickly. All water-based markers and India Ink artist pens leave a colorful shadow on the back of the page. Gel pens work well with this paper, don’t bleed through, and do not require additional drying time. Coloring pencils work exceptionally well with this book. The soft lead pencils go on thick and cream and blend easily. The hard lead pencils go on with good color and do not make dents in the back of the book.

If you choose to use markers with this book, you will mar the design on the backside of the page you are working on. I would suggest that you use a blotter page of thicker paper below your working page to keep ink from seeping further into the book.

These are the coloring medium that I use for testing. If there is something else you feel I should be testing, please let me know and I will see if I can add it to my growing pile:

Markers: 1) alcohol-based Copic Sketch, Prismacolor double ended markers (brush and fine point), Sharpies (fine and ultra-fine) Bic Mark-its (fine and ultra-fine) and 2) water-based Tombows dual end markers (brush and fine point), Stabilo 88, and Staedler triplus fineliners

India Ink: Faber-Castell PITT artist pens (brush tip)

Gel Pens: Sakura, Fiskars, Uni-ball Signo in the following sizes – 0.28/0.38/0.5/1.0 and Tekwriter

Coloring Pencils: Prismacolor Premier Soft Core, Derwent Colorsoft, Prismacolor Verithins, Caran D’Ache Pablo Colored Pencils and Faber-Castell Polychromos

Posted in Adult Color Books | Leave a comment

A Charming and Whimsical Imaginary Country printed on both sides of the page

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Iiiireader

Romantic Country: A Fantasy Coloring Book

By: Eriy

Rating: 5 of 5

Romantic Country is the imaginary country that artist Eriy created in her childhood. Based on these designs, it is a charming and whimsical land to visit. The artist named this land Cocot.

What is interesting about the designs is the back story on how the artist created them. Apparently, these were the first ink studies she had done and while she remembered to buy ink, she forgot to buy a pen! Being resourceful, she used what was on hand a toothpick. Approximately 700 toothpicks were used to create the designs in the book. The unusual drawing tool gives the lines in the book a faded appearance and provides lines that vary in thickness. These add to the charm of the designs rather than detract from them.

The artist tells the story about the town at the front of the book and then follows up with a detailed description the subject matter of each design at the back of the book. The fantasy land (and the book) are separated by their areas. There are several maps and five chapters. In all, the story adds an event more delightful layer to the coloring book. It makes it a story book of coloring designs rather than simply a coloring book.

The book has a removable dust cover. While there are no elements to color on the inside of the dust cover (a missed opportunity), there are areas to color on the actual brown cover which is attached to the book. The designs are printed on both sides of non-perforated cream colored paper. The ink tones seem almost sepia in nature but it may be because of the toothpick tool.

The binding of the book is sewn rather than glued, so you can remove a few pages at a time by snipping a few threads. Eleven of the designs spread across two pages and, in my book, align very well. Fifty-eight designs are printed on one page. Many of the designs merge into the binding but if you remove pages by snipping threads, you should be able to remove them without loss of any of the design. I was able to get the book to lay flat by breaking the spine. There is a bonus fold-out poster included at the back of the book. My copy was fairly bent up. It appears to have been done in manufacturing as the cover of my book and the package it arrived in was pristine.

I tested this coloring book with a wide range of coloring medium (though, I must admit, I did not try a toothpick!) Here are the results of my tests and a listing of the coloring medium I used in testing:

All of my alcohol-based markers bled through the page immediately. My water-based markers and my India ink artist pens left shadows of color on the backside of the page. My gel pens did not bleed through but required a little extra drying time than ordinary. My coloring pencils worked exceptionally well with this paper. The soft lead pencils went on thick and creamy with little effort. They blended exceptionally well. My hard lead pencils went on distinctly and did not leave indents on the back of the page. I plan to use primarily coloring pencils and some gel pens with this coloring book. If you use any form of ink, be sure to use a blotter page below the page you are working on. The ink will certainly mar the design on the back of the page but the blotter page will keep the ink from seeping further into the book.

These are the coloring medium that I use for testing. If there is something else you feel I should be testing, please let me know and I will see if I can add it to my growing pile:

India Ink: Faber-Castell PITT artist pens (brush tip)

Gel Pens: Sakura, Fiskars, Uni-ball Signo in the following sizes – 0.28/0.38/0.5/1.0 and Tekwriter

Coloring Pencils: Prismacolor Premier Soft Core, Derwent Colorsoft, Prismacolor Verithins, Caran D’Ache Pablo Colored Pencils and Faber-Castell Polychromos

Posted in Adult Color Books | Leave a comment

47 Beautiful Designs Straight from the Sketchbook of Laurel Burch printed on one side of perforated paper

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Iiiireader

The Art of Laurel Burch(TM) Coloring Book: 45+ Original Artist Sketches to Color for Fun & Relaxation

By: Laurel Burch

Rating: 5 of 5

The Art of Laurel Burch is a coloring book filled with 47 of the beautiful designs of the late Laurel Burch. I have been a fan of Ms. Burch for many years. I have purchased many items with her great designs and fantastic color palette from socks with horses to cat calenders to purses with mermaids and much more.

Many of her design themes are included in this coloring book but the focus is mostly on horses and cats with, unfortunately, very few dog or mermaid designs. I hope this means that this book is really just a volume one and that we will see more coloring books showcasing Ms. Burch’s great talent.

That the designs are taken directly from her sketchbook is evident in the varying thickness of lines. It appears that some designs were done in straight ink pen while others were drawn with markers. That makes the mix a little more unusual and a little more challenging in determining which medium to use to color the various designs. Not a problem but rather something to think about each time I sit down to color in the book.

The book includes (on the inside of the front cover) some representative color images of her designs. The inside of the back cover provides a view of the colors which Ms. Burch typically used. I may decide to go as bold with my colors or I may re-interpret her designs for myself in a different range of colors. That is the fun of coloring you get to decide for yourself.

Some of the images in the book appear to be cropped, possibly for the sake of fitting on the page. Others do not have all of the details included that I recall seeing in other products. At least one design in my book has very faint framing lines surrounding it which probably should have been removed before publishing.

The cover of the book is lovely with a beautiful glossy rendition of Ms. Burch’s artwork with elements picked out in gold foil. The designs are printed on one side of perforated medium weight paper. The binding is glued rather than sewn but you will want to remove pages at the perforations rather than cutting them out. All of the designs stop well before the perforations so you will not lose any portion of the design if you remove it from the book. I was able to break the spine slightly to get the book to lay fairly flat. Once pages are removed from the book, they are sized so that they can be framed in 8 x 10 inch frames. I plan to use a blotter page (chip board or other heavyweight paper) under the page that I am working on to keep ink or dents from ruining the next design.

I tested a wide variety of coloring medium on this coloring book (see the end of this review for a full list) and here are the results of my tests

All alcohol-based markers bled through the page. All water-based markers and India ink artist pens left distinct shadows of color on the back side of the page. My gel pens left a slight darkening on the backside of the page but not enough to show color. All gel pens except the Uni-ball Signo pens took a much longer drying period than what I usually find to be the case. My various coloring pencils worked through to type and brand. My various soft lead pencils went on well and blended well. They were not what I would call thick and creamy but they had good coverage. My hard lead pencils make distinct marks but also left indents on the back of the page.

These are the coloring medium that I use for testing. If there is something else you feel I should be testing, please let me know and I will see if I can add it to my growing pile:

India Ink: Faber-Castell PITT artist pens (brush tip)

Gel Pens: Sakura, Fiskars, Uni-ball Signo in the following sizes – 0.28/0.38/0.5/1.0 and Tekwriter

Coloring Pencils: Prismacolor Premier Soft Core, Derwent Colorsoft, Prismacolor Verithins, Caran D’Ache Pablo Colored Pencils and Faber-Castell Polychromos

Posted in Adult Color Books | Leave a comment

37 Designs which proclaim some of the names of God printed on one side of the page

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Iiiireader

Color the Names of God (Color the Bible)

By: Marie Michaels

Rating: 5 of 5

When I first saw this coloring book, it reminded me of a poster in the church I attended when, as a young adult, I first became a Christian many years ago. The poster was a real testament to me because it listed all of the names of God. I remember sitting in Bible Study and contemplating those names and trying to understand His infinite presence. Fast forward more years than I care to remember and I get the same feeling when I am coloring in this book. There aren’t that many coloring books I have that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I will color each and every page. This is one of those books. It goes beyond coloring for me and speaks to my spirit.

The artwork is a combined effort of three artist (Nicole Wallace, Chris Dugan and Terry Dugan.) Their publishing name is Marie Michaels. Each of the designs has a name of God as the central focus. Along with that is translation of what the particular name means (examples: El Olam The everlasting God, Adonai Lord and Master, and Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End), a Bible verse and cite, and finally an illustration that ties all of it together. The illustrations range from flowers to geometric and are fun and fairly easy to color.

The translations used in this coloring book are: New American Standard Bible, New King James Version, Holy Bible New International Version (NIV), and the Holy Bible New Living Translation.

The designs are printed on one side of medium weight perforated paper. The binding is glued. All of the designs either have a framing line around the outside or have finished elements. I really appreciate the care the artist takes by doing this. It saves me time, trouble, and ink. It also gives me a natural stopping point which gives my projects a better overall appearance. I was easily able to break the spine of the book to get it to lay flat for coloring.

I test many types and brands of coloring medium on each coloring book I review. This is what I found with this book:

All brands of markers, whether alcohol or water based, bled through this paper. All other mediums, including coloring pencils, left a shadow on the back of the page and a bit of a dent, too. The gel pens did not require extra drying time. The soft lead coloring pencils went on thick and creamy and were extremely easy to blend. I use a heavier piece of paper (card stock, chipboard, etc.) under the page I am working on to keep from damaging the next designs.

These are the coloring medium that I use for testing. If there is something else you feel I should be testing, please let me know and I will see if I can add it to my growing pile:

India Ink: Faber-Castell PITT artist pens (brush tip)

Gel Pens: Sakura, Fiskars, Uni-ball Signo in the following sizes – 0.28/0.38/0.5/1.0 and Tekwriter

Coloring Pencils: Prismacolor Premier Soft Core, Derwent Colorsoft, Prismacolor Verithins, and Faber-Castell Polychromos

Posted in Adult Color Books | Leave a comment

Beautiful Hand-drawn Designs of English Wildlife but with printing and alignment issues printed on both sides of the page

Posted on February 28, 2016 by Iiiireader

Adult Coloring Book: Color and Relax – Unwind in the Wilds by Derwent (2302338)

By: Sarah Taylor

Rating: 4 of 5

This is a lovely coloring book depicting the wildlife of the British countryside as well as the surrounding flowers and plants. It includes foxes, owls, stags, birds, cows, sheep, rabbits, squirrels and more. The designs are drawn with firm, dark outlines and are made extra fun to color with enlivening doodles throughout the animals. There are a number of geometric, sort of wall paper designs and a few fun challenges (mazes, areas to color yourself, etc.) which makes the book a little bit of an activity book as well as a coloring book.

The designs in this book are printed on both sides of white medium weight, non-perforated paper. The binding is glued rather than sewn (which is unusual for a coloring book from the UK.) Many of the designs merge into the binding and some portion of them will be lost if you cut the pages from the book. I could not break the spine enough to get the book to lay flat. This could be a problem with designs that merge into the binding.

Thirteen of the designs spread across two pages. In my book, the pages were not aligned well. It seems to be a printing issue rather than an alignment issue. I found that the elements at the center of the each side of the binding doubled slightly. That left me with a design that could not be aligned properly. This may be particular to my book or it may be a general issue. I am thinking a more general issue as the images were sized a particular way rather than printed improperly on the page.

Because of this alignment issue, the problems with trying to get the book to lay flat, and because most coloring medium bled through the paper, I detracted a star from my rating. The designs are absolutely five star but the execution of the printing and the paper had problems. I still like my coloring book and will certainly color the single page designs.

I test all of my coloring books with a wide variety of coloring mediums. I will list those at the bottom of this review. This is what my test results were:

All alcohol-based markers bled through this paper easily. The water-based markers either bled through or left a distinct color shadow at the back of the page. My India ink artist pens also left a shadow at the back of the page. My gel pens left a shadow of indistinct color on the back of the page. All of my coloring pencils performed fantastic. The book is published by Derwent and is supposed to be especially good with Derwent Coloursoft pencils. I found that Prismacolor Premier Soft Core and Faber-Castell Polychromos worked just as well on this paper. My hard lead Prismacolor Verithins laid down nicely and did not leave a dent on the back of the page.

These are the coloring medium that I use for testing. If there is something else you feel I should be testing, please let me know and I will see if I can add it to my growing pile:

India Ink: Faber-Castell PITT artist pens (brush tip)

Gel Pens: Sakura, Fiskars, Uni-ball Signo in the following sizes – 0.28/0.38/0.5/1.0 and Tekwriter

Coloring Pencils: Prismacolor Premier Soft Core, Derwent Colorsoft, Prismacolor Verithins, and Faber-Castell Polychromos

Posted in Adult Color Books | Leave a comment

74 Beautiful Birds

Posted on February 28, 2016 by Iiiireader

Millie Marotta’s Wild Savannah: A Colouring Book Adventure

By: Millie Marotta

Rating: 5 of 5

I have enjoyed all of Millie Marotta’s previous coloring books (Animal Kingdom and Tropical World). Her coloring books are of the natural world around us. In Wild Savannah, Ms. Marotta circles the globe with animals from various grassland areas. This includes the traditional African wildlife but also animals of Northern Australian, South America, and even Asia. By taking this point of view, the coloring book is filled with diverse and interesting animals and, for me at least, it makes me stop and think about the areas that the animals inhabit.

There are so many animals in the coloring book, including zebras, elephants, rhinoceros, lions, flamingos, various insects, hippopotamus, and much, much more. There are many designs which either focus on or include birds. Of the 74 designs in the book, five of them are semi-duplicates of the opposite page. As with her other coloring books, Ms. Marotta has included a few of these duplicates which do not contain the high level of detail of their twin. This allows the doodle artist or the blending artist a canvas to make those designs their own.

This particular book is the UK version. The US version will be released in a few months. I will do a comparison of the two coloring books at that point and will include my comments about any differences that I find in the comments section below. I would edit the text of this review but currently there seems to be an issue with editing reviews with photos.

The book is in the larger square format that is typical for many British coloring books. The book cover is very pretty. It has touches of color and gold foil on the front of the cover. You could certainly color the remainder of the design if you so choose. The inside of both the front and back of the cover have a fold out flap and artwork similar to that of the front of the cover is printed for coloring fun.

The designs are printed on both sides of white heavyweight, non-perforated pages. There are also 14 designs which spread across two pages. The pages in my book were well aligned. There are 60 single page designs. Some of the single page designs and all of the two page designs merge into the binding of the book. As the binding is sewn rather than glued, you can easily remove several pages at a time by snipping a few threads. I was able to break the spine and get the book to lay flat for ease of coloring.

I generally test many types of coloring medium (a list is included below) and this is what I discovered in testing this book:

All alcohol-based markers bleed through the paper easily. All water-based markers either bled through (especially Stabilo) or leave distinct shadows of color on the backside of the page. India ink artist pens also leave a color shadow. My various gel pens left a slight darkening on the backside of the page noticeable but I could not tell the color of each just that they were there. My coloring pencils did the best of the various medium. They went on well and blended well; however the soft lead pencils were not quite as good a coverage as I have had with other books. My hard lead pencils went on true to type and did not leave an indent at the back of the page.

These are the coloring medium that I use for testing. If there is something else you feel I should be testing, please let me know and I will see if I can add it to my growing pile:

India Ink: Faber-Castell PITT artist pens (brush tip)

Gel Pens: Sakura, Fiskars, Uni-ball Signo in the following sizes – 0.28/0.38/0.5/1.0 and Tekwriter

Coloring Pencils: Prismacolor Premier Soft Core, Derwent Colorsoft, Prismacolor Verithins, and Faber-Castell Polychromos

Posted in Adult Color Books | Leave a comment

Old Testament based Coloring Book filled with 92 pictures and sayings printed on one side of page

Posted on February 28, 2016 by Iiiireader

The Bible Coloring Book: Inspiring Scenes and Scripture from the Old Testament

By: Tammie Trucchi

Rating: 5 of 5

The Bible Coloring Book is the combined artistic efforts of two artists, Tammie Trucchi and Claudia Wolf. The artwork is a combination of Old Testament Bible verses (Ms. Wolf) and drawings that depict famous scenes from the Old Testament (Ms. Trucchi.) The translation used in this book is from the King James Version of the Bible. There are so many designs in this book, it is a real pleasure to shift through and decide which one to color next. The designs have intricate details and for the text illustrations, I found that using my Prismacolor Verithins worked best. I was able to get the control that I wanted and get into the smallest parts of the font.

I am really enjoying the coloring book. It is a beautiful way or directing my Bible reading. When I am coloring a scene or a verse, I pick up my Bible and read through it beforehand. That way I a immersed in the story and teaching while I am coloring. I have used a 365 day Bible before and find that this book is somewhat similar. I am coloring one scene and one verse per week and letting it direct my studies. I sincerely hope these artists will publish a similar book for the New Testament to round out my coloring and Bible study at the same time.

The designs are printed on one side of non-perforated white paper. The book is in a smaller format than most coloring books. The designs all stop well before the binding. The scenes have a framing line around them and the verses have all elements complete on the page. I really appreciate this care in design. It gives me a natural stopping point and saves me time and ink. I always try to mention when an artist takes this extra step. The binding is glued rather than sewn so you will have to cut pages out if you wish to remove them from the book. I was easily able to break the spine in order to get the book to lay flat.

My tests with various coloring mediums (see below for the full list) showed that all alcohol-based markers, water-based markers, India ink pens, and gel pens leaked through or cast a color shadow on the back of the page. My coloring pencils also showed a shadow but worked well with the paper. The soft lead pencils went on thick and blended well. The hard lead pencils left an indent at the back of the page. I am using a blotter page behind the page I am working on to keep ink and indents from harming the rest of the book.

These are the coloring medium that I use for testing. If there is something else you feel I should be testing, please let me know and I will see if I can add it to my growing pile:

India Ink: Faber-Castell PITT artist pens (brush tip)

Gel Pens: Sakura, Fiskars, Uni-ball Signo in the following sizes – 0.28/0.38/0.5/1.0 and Tekwriter

Coloring Pencils: Prismacolor Premier Soft Core, Derwent Colorsoft, Prismacolor Verithins, and Faber-Castell Polychromos

Posted in Adult Color Books | Leave a comment

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Author Archives: Iiiireader

Fairy Shampoo: An Enchanted Coloring Book

By: Jo Su-Jin

Rating: 5 of 5

Romantic Country: A Fantasy Coloring Book

By: Eriy

Rating: 5 of 5

The Art of Laurel Burch(TM) Coloring Book: 45+ Original Artist Sketches to Color for Fun & Relaxation

By: Laurel Burch

Rating: 5 of 5

Doctor Who Coloring Book

By: Price Stern Sloan

Rating: 5 of 5

Color the Names of God (Color the Bible)

By: Marie Michaels

Rating: 5 of 5

Designs to Color Book 1: The Original Coloring Books for Adults

By: Betty Schaffner

Rating: 5 of 5

Adult Coloring Book: Color and Relax – Unwind in the Wilds by Derwent (2302338)

By: Sarah Taylor

Rating: 4 of 5

Millie Marotta’s Wild Savannah: A Colouring Book Adventure

By: Millie Marotta

Rating: 5 of 5

The Bible Coloring Book: Inspiring Scenes and Scripture from the Old Testament

By: Tammie Trucchi

Rating: 5 of 5

Doodle Devotional, Volume 1 – Psalm 23: An Adult Coloring Book Bible Study of Psalm 23 (Doodle Devotionals)

By: Keren A Threlfall

Rating: 5 of 5

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