Daily Archives: September 21, 2016

Creative Haven Steampunk Mandalas Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

By: Marty Noble

Rating: 5 of 5

I have both of Marty Noble’s previous Steampunk inspired coloring books. Those are figure and machine drawings versus the mandala format of this new book. I recognized many of the elements from the first two books as incorporated (in smaller form and format) into the mandalas in this book. Because of the circular format, many of the designs represent cogs and clocks which evokes steampunk as well.

The designs are all in circular format and includes gears and clock workings, guns, hot air balloons as well as elements of fashion (such as hats, wrist-lets, feathers, gloves and goggles.)

The designs in this book are detailed and contain intricate and small areas to color. I used my ultra-fine point markers and pens to color the clock mandala as my first project. I’ll post a photo of it as well as samples from the book.

This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium. I will list, in the comments section below, the coloring medium I use for testing and for coloring.

31 Steampunk inspired mandalas in circular format

Printed one side of the page

Paper is white, medium weight, slightly smooth and has perforated pages.

Glue Binding but you can remove pages at the perforation easily

The designs stop well before the perforations

Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper

Water-based markers bleed through in spots and leave colorful shadows on the back of the page

Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page. India ink pens can bleed through if you apply heavily or with with multiple layers.

Coloring pencils work well with this paper. I was able to use both wax and oil based pencils equally well. They lay down good color, layer the same color and multiple colors and blend easily using a pencil style blender. Hard lead pencils, like Verithins, leave dents on the back of the page.

I either use a blotter page under my working page or I remove pages from the book to color. I like card stock for my blotter page but a couple of sheets of heavyweight paper works as well.

Creative Haven Animal Whimsy: A WordPlay Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

By: Jessica Mazurkiewicz

Rating: 4 of 5

This is a coloring book with designs of animals made up of words. I’ve done this type of pattern with cross stitch before but never with coloring. The projects are fun and fairly fast to color. There is plenty of room to add embellishments or blending if you choose to do so. The words describe the animal and take on the shape of the animal as well.

There are lots of animals in these designs, including: elephant, cat, rabbit, horse, wolf and more. I chose to do the design of the rabbit as my first project. I’ve been visited by a number of them over the spring and summer as they sampled my garden vegetables. I’ll post a photo of my first project as well as samples from the book.

This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium. I will list, in the comments section below, the coloring medium I use for testing and for coloring.

31 Animal word play designs

Printed one side of the page

Paper is white, medium weight, slightly smooth and has perforated pages.

Glue Binding but you can remove pages at the perforation easily

The designs stop well before the perforations and have a framing line around the outer edge

Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper

Water-based markers bleed through in spots on the back of the page

Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page. India ink pens can bleed through if you apply heavily or with with multiple layers.

Coloring pencils work well with this paper. I was able to get good color, layer the same color and multiple colors and blend easily using a pencil style blender. I tested both oil and wax-based pencils with similar results. Hard lead pencils, like Verithins, leave dents on the back of the page.

I either use a blotter page under my working page or I remove pages from the book to color. I like card stock for my blotter page but a couple of sheets of heavyweight paper works as well.