31 lovely flower designs – printed one side of the page

Charming Flowers

By: Juliana Emerson

Rating: 5 of 5

This is another coloring book in a series of flower inspired books by Juliana Emerson. The coloring book, as usual, is fun to color and includes a wide variety of flowers both by themselves and also in vases. I must admit that now that I’ve seen Ms. Emerson’s “Fantasy Kingdom” coloring book, I’m hoping that she will do more with fantasy and figures in the future. The flowers are pretty but I’m really impressed by the fantasy book.

The designs have a nice level of detail but are done without backgrounds. That makes them a quicker to color project. The designs all have framing lines which provides for a more finished looking project.

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:

31 Flower designs in the book

Printed one side of the page

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

The designs do not merge into the binding.

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 photos of designs from the book: