31 Christmas Window Designs – cute but with uneven quality on faces printed one side of the page

Creative Haven Vintage Christmas Windows Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

By: David Bodo

Rating: 4 of 5

This is an interesting coloring book by David and La Jeana Bodo. The concept is vintage Christmas windows. What surprised me is that the drawings were much more like a cartoon than a realistically drawn window scene. While some fall into the category of vintage, others are simply window displays. There are displays of old time scenes and displays of elves surfing with Santa snoozing in a hammock – all in one book.

For me, the one drawback in this coloring book is that the features on the various faces were not drawn with the same detail. Some are quite detailed, others much less so, and finally, others have no detail at all. Given that the size of the faces were similar, I don’t think it was an issue of lack of space but rather a choice or something that was left undone.
The drawings are detailed and some have intricate and small areas to color.
I’ve noticed that the paper quality over the last few months 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.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
31 line drawing designs which represent Christmas window displays
The designs are printed 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 stop well before the perforations. The window and window coverings make up the frame at the outer edges of each design.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper
Water-based markers bleed through in spots (somewhat heavier than with previous paper in the Creative Have line) 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 this paper. I was able to get good pigment (color) lay down, layer the same color and multiple colors and to blend easily using a pencil style blender. I tested both oil and wax-based pencils with 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.