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Net Galley
Daily Archives: October 27, 2016
31 Beautifully Drawn Designs based on items at a Farmers Market – printed one side of the page
Creative Haven Farmers Market Designs Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)
By: Marty Noble
Rating: 5 of 5
I own a number of coloring books by Marty Noble. Most of those are either fashions, mandalas, or storybook style designs. I was very curious to see how she would create designs that dealt with a farmers market. I grow vegetables and fruits and shop at our local farmers market, so it was important for me that the book got it right.
It is beautifully done. There are fruits, vegetables, seed packets, jarred/canned goods, herbs, flowers and more (even chickens). The items are portrayed realistically but are elevated by way of Ms. Nobles wonderful style. It is a beautiful book to color in and it takes me to a visit to a farmers market something that I will appreciate more and more as the winter days start closing in.
The designs are detailed and a few contain some intricate and small areas to color. For the most part, they are fairly open and will be easy to color without resorting to tiny nib pens or markers or sharp pointed pencils. As usual, Ms. Noble has provided lots of space for shading and accenting in the designs. I appreciate that as it allows me to either color it as-is or add my own touches to make it unique.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper.
31 Farmers Market inspired designs by Marty Noble
Designs are printed one side of the page
Paper is white, medium weight, slightly smooth and has perforated pages.
Glue Binding with perforations so you can remove them one at a time.
The designs stop well before the perforations
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper
Water-based markers bleed through with colorful spots and 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 when I use more than one layer of color.
Coloring pencils work well with this paper. I was able to use both wax and oil based pencils equally well. I was able to get good color and to get deeper pigment by layering the same color. I found that I could layer multiple colors and blend easily using a pencil style blending stick. Hard lead pencils leave dents on the back of the page.
I generally prefer to use a blotter page under my working page to keep ink from seeping through but you can also 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.
Posted in Adult Color Books
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62 Christmas Designs and 16 Recipes printed one side of the page
Southern Living Christmas at Home: A Lifestyle Coloring Book
By: The Editors of Southern Living
Rating: 5 of 5
I have bought the Southern Living Christmas holiday guides for years. I always love to look at the beautiful decorations and get inspired for new looks at my home and with my trees (inside and outside.) When I saw that Southern Living had a Christmas coloring book, I was hoping that it would be similar to the guides.
Great news is that it is. In fact, on the inside of the front and back cover, there are some photos of the real decorated rooms which inspired some of the designs in the book. The designs range from fun to elegant and cover a wide variety of design concepts.
There are 62 designs in the book and they portray everything from Christmas trees to fireplaces to table settings to wreathes. I especially like designs which are food related as those have recipes on the back of the page. I like that as the pages are perforated and if you remove pages, the recipe will stay with the design.
The only slight drawback about the book is the thin paper. It is thin enough that it shows through shadows of the designs on the next page. If I could do so, I would drop my rating to 4.5 for this issue but instead, I rounded up (as I always do) to a 5 star rating. Otherwise, the book has exceeded my expectations and I am very happy with it.
Here is what I found while coloring in the book and testing my coloring medium on the pages:
62 Decorative Christmas designs plus 16 recipes
Printed on one side of the page (though recipes are printed on the back of the food design pages)
Paper is very thin, white, somewhat smooth and perforated.
Glue bound
Some designs slightly cross over the perforations but nothing essential to the design would be lost if you remove a page from the book.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper rapidly.
Water-based markers bleed through in spots except for the brush end of Tombow dual end markers. Those leave shadows on the back of the page.
India ink pens leave shadows on the back of the page and can bleed through in spots if you apply the ink heavily or in multiple layers.
Gel pens leave colorful shadows on the back of the page. They do not require additional drying time over what is normal for gel pens.
Colored pencils work well as though the paper is somewhat smooth, it still has enough tooth to grab pigment. I tested both oil and wax-based and had good results with both. I was able to lay down good color, layer the same and multiple colors, and blend easily using a pencil style blender. Hard lead pencils can leave dents through the paper.
I either remove pages from the book or use a blotter page of card stock to keep seeping ink and dents from damaging the pages below my working page. A couple of pages of heavyweight paper works well, too.
Posted in Adult Color Books
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