Daily Archives: January 13, 2017

Colour Your Own Historical Maps (Colouring Books)

By: British Library

Rating: 4 of 5

I have collected antique maps for more than twenty years. I enjoy having a piece of history framed and part of my home. I was very happy to find this coloring book as it meshes so well with one of my hobbies.

I really like the coloring books in many ways but found that many of the intricate elements are so small that it takes (me, at least) an extremely sharp and hard pencil (such as Prismacolor Verithins or Tombow Irojiten) to be able to color them. I wish that the book had been made in a larger format such as the artist editions that many designers use so that the details could have been enlarged.
Apart from that, the book is extremely nice. The paper quality is super and the subject of the maps well done. In addition to the 22 designs (printed one side of the page), the inside of the front and back cover has color thumbnails of the maps the designs are based on.
The book is presented in landscape with a white smooth cover with a colored map depicted on it. It has a few gold metallic accents as well. The binding is glue notepad style so you can easily remove pages in whole if you wish to do so, perhaps for framing. The back of the book includes a heavyweight card board page which gives a wonderful and stable surface to color on.
Each map is printed in landscape mode on the page and has a framing line around the outer edge. I really like this as it gives a defined stop for coloring and makes the finished project that much better. In addition, there is a small blurb at the bottom of the page about the map, its cartographer and a interesting information pertaining to one or the other.
The designs are well printed and I am finding them interesting to color now that I have chosen the medium I list best for my skill set. I don’t suggest this coloring book for anyone who has fine motor or vision issues due to the intricate designs.
The paper quality is very nice. It is white, heavy weight (almost light card stock), and somewhat smooth. Alcohol-based markers bled through the page. Water-based markers, India Ink pens and gel pens did not bleed through. As I mentioned, I preferred colored pencils for my projects. The paper has enough tooth to give good pigment and I was able to layer and blend well with it as well.

Floribunda: A Flower Coloring Book

By: Leila Duly

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a beautifully published book with gorgeous floral illustrations. The inside of both the front and back covers have color botanical depictions of the flowers that are included in the designs should you wish to color their natural tones. While there are no framing lines at the outer edges, all of the floral elements are finished at the edges so there are no dangling elements left to deal with.

The cover of the book is hinged with a secondary cover beneath it. The actual pages are glue bound but with the type of binding that allows you to remove pages easily and in whole (think of a notepad type of binding.) The paper, which is a light weight card stock, is a light cream tone with a slight amount of roughness to it. The paper is such a nice quality, it will be easy to remove and frame these if you wish.
My various coloring medium all worked well with this edition. I tested a variety of alcohol-based makers with the paper. The paper works fantastic with these markers with only the slightest amount of bleed through. I would still use a blotter page of card stock below my working page to keep seeping ink from marring the rest of the book.
Water-based markers, India ink pens, and gel pens did not bleed through at all. The gel pens required more drying time than usual. Both oil and wax based pencils worked well with this paper with go=ood pigment, layering and blending.