Daily Archives: May 5, 2016

Faith in Color: An Adult Coloring Book, Premium Edition

By: Paige Tate Select

Rating: 5 of 5

This is the premium edition of Faith in Color. I don’t have this in the original version but I have another book by this publishing company which utilizes their standard paper. There is a huge difference in the type of paper, how it works, the color and the fact that the pages are perforate. Another great thing about the premium version is the addition of the smaller designs.

This book contains 31 larger designs and 10 smaller ones. The small ones are printed two to a page and you have to cut them on the provided cutting line to separate them from each other. The larger design will fit an 8 x 10 inch frame and the smaller design will fit a 5 x 7 inch frame. The smaller designs are smaller versions of some of the large format designs.

The designs are all Scripture-based with verse citations; however, I cannot provide the specific translation information as it is not included in the book. As with my other books by this publisher, the Bible verse is what is the stand-out from the page thought the hand-drawn illustrations are lovely and are fun and easy to color as well.

It appears that all but one of the designs from the first book are included in the premium edition (though they may be ordered slightly differently.) There seems to have been a verse that was duplicated in the first book (with a different picture) and one of those two is not included in this version.

I have had a lot of fun coloring my first three designs in this book. I used a combination of alcohol-based markers, Tombow water-based brush end markers and Sakura gel pens (for the glittery stars.) I found that I could easily use all of these coloring mediums though the one that I used Tombow on primarily has a tendency to curl but can be flattened out.

As with all of my Christian inspired coloring books, coloring in this book was both enjoyable and a chance to think on the Words and to apply them to my life. I find that whatever I choose to color is an answer to something whether I knew it or not when I choose the design. As with all things in life, I find that I am spiritually led to what I need to know.

This is the overview of what I found in this coloring book:

31 Large Format and 10 Small Format Scripture Based Designs in for a total of 41 coloring opportunities
Printed on one side of perforated, white, slightly rough medium weight paper
Designs do not merge into the binding area
Glue Binding
Book can open to fairly flat position though I removed my pages from the book for coloring
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the paper
Water-based markers left shadows of color on the back of the page
Gel pens and India ink pens left indistinct shadows on the back of the page
Coloring pencils work well with the paper with the soft lead going on well both with a light hand and a firm hand. I was able to blend and layer well with a wide variety of brands of coloring pencils. My hard lead pencils provided good color and did not dent the back of the page.

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

By: Betty Schaffner

Rating: 5 of 5

It is hard to believe that this is a coloring book reprinted from the 1960s. The style of the designs and the subject matter is so contemporary that it fits in with many of the more abstract coloring books that are being released today.

The designs are printed in a horizontal format book (wider than it is long) with come of the designs turned on end. There are abstracts as well as designs that have the doodle style that is so popular today.

The designs are printed on one side of the page. The paper is white, medium weight, fairly smooth and is non-perforated. The designs all stop before the binding area. The book is bound by two staples, so if you want to remove the pages from the book, it should take little effort and you will not lose any portion of the designs.

My first project is a still life of fruit with doodles in the apple and pear. I used my Tombows water based markers with the brush end to color the design.

Alcohol-based markers do bleed through the page. However, water-based markers, India ink pens and gel pens do not bleed through. Coloring pencils work fairly well with the exception of blending. Soft lead pencils all have good color and layer well; however, when attempting to blend colors, the original color stays heavy in the original spot and only blends slight at the edge. This true of both wax and oil based pencils. Hard lead pencils do not dent the back of the page.

I was provided an initial digital sample of four pages via Netgalley. The publisher then provided me with a free copy of the finalized book for test and review purposes.