31 Beautiful Kimono Designs by Ming-Ju Sun – printed one side of the page

Japanese Kimono Designs

By: Ming-Ju Sun

Rating: 5 of 5

This is an older Creative Haven Coloring book. It is also a reprint of an even older Dover Coloring book. The advantage to the newer Creative Haven book is that the designs are printed on only one side of the page.

I want to warn buyers to beware if they purchase this book on Amazon. For some reason, as of the date of this review, Amazon has merged at least two coloring books by Ming-Ju Sun together. I know this because my review of Art Deco fashions shows up on this product page. Make sure you see the book cover associated with this book when you put a copy in your cart.

I really enjoy Ming-Ju Sun’s costume books but none as much as those based on the Japanese culture. The sweep of the kimonos are elegant and the look of the ladies is lovely. There are designs with a single individual and ones with multiple ones as well. A really beautiful look at the art of Japanese fashions.

I’ve noticed that the paper quality seems to change quite frequently on the Creative Haven line. Because of that, if you buy one of these books, it may be slightly smooth or slightly rough depending on when and where it was printed. I’ve found that coloring medium, including pencils, work similarly with both slightly rough and slightly smooth paper from Creative Haven. In this case, my coloring book pages are slightly rough.

This is what I found in this coloring book and how my coloring medium works with Creative Haven books.

31 Japanese Kimono Designs included in the book

The designs are printed on one side of the page

Paper is the usual Creative Haven quality: white, medium weight, slightly rough and has perforated pages

Glue Binding but with perforated pages so removing a page is fairly simple

The designs do not cross over the perforations

Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page

Water-based markers bleed through in spots and show 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 when I apply more than one layer of ink.

Coloring pencils work well with Creative Haven paper. I am able to get good pigment (color) lay down, layer the same color and multiple colors and to blend easily using a pencil style blender. Both oil and wax-based pencils have similar results. Hard lead pencils, like Verithins, leave dents on the back of the page.

I suggest either removing pages from the book to color or using a blotter page under your working page. I like card stock as it keeps ink from seeping through and damaging the pages below.

Here are some pages from the book, along with a colored sample also in the book (cover):