15 (not 16) Little Witch Garden designs – printed one side of page

Penelope’s Garden

By: Dea Lenihan

Rating: 4 of 5

This is a slightly older coloring book (originally published in 2016), so I was very surprised to find that there were only 15 unique coloring designs in the book while the product blurb mentions 16. If it was originally a mistake, one would have thought it would be corrected by now. Because of this and the lack of a framing line at the outer edges, I reduced my rating by a star. I suggest that the artist take the opportunity now to either correct the book or the description.

The designs are cute and are of a little witchy style girl. She is shown in a number of poses along with the flora and fauna that inhabit her garden. While you get 15 unique designs (including one which is more of a tag style page), you get two copies of each for a total of 30 coloring pages.

The designs are detailed and have a great hand-drawn, sketch like quality to them. Because of that, the lines can be thin/thick or light/dark depending on how the artist was coloring that day.

I want to note that the Amazon owned company, CreateSpace is now being folded into KDF (Kindle Direct Publishing.) These independent artist books will move along into the new group shortly if they have not already done so by now. According to what I’ve read, the same warehouses and printing presses will be used. No mention is made of paper but one assumes that it will be the same as well.

I don’t know if the copy I received was printed by CreateSpace or by KDP, but I can say that it is the same paper I am used to receiving (for years now) from CreateSpace. That is: thin, white, slightly rough, and non-perforated. I will continue to check books as I receive them and will note, in new reviews, if the quality changes.

This is what I found in this coloring book:

15 little witch garden designs in the book (2 copies of each are included).

Printed one side of the page

Paper is white, thin, slightly rough and non-perforated.

The designs do not merge into the binding. There are unfinished elements at all outer edges of the designs. I wish that a framing line had been placed at those edges for a more finished look.

Glue Binding

KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing – formerly CreateSpace) Paper/Media Quality

Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page quickly.

Water-based markers bleed through in spots.

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

Coloring Pencils work fairly well with this publisher’s paper provided you don’t press extremely hard while coloring. I find that I can layers the same color for deeper pigment or multiple colors and blended easily with a pencil style blending stick. This is true of both oil and wax based pencils. I have also found that hard lead pencils leave dents through the paper.

I like to use a blotter when working in this type of book. I use a page of card stock or several sheets of heavyweight paper under my working page. It keeps seeping ink and marring dents from ruining the pages below.

Here are some sample illustrations from the coloring book: