I have a lot of duplicate coloring books!  Some were purchased intentionally, some were purchased by accident.  Often in a forgetful moment, I may have bought a book that I had forgotten that I had pre-ordered or sometimes I haven’t noticed that I already had one in the cart and then added another. I blame pre-menopause for this 🙂 Why do I need two?  Easy answer, I love the artwork and want one to either practice in and then another to use when I feel I have improved or I want one to color in and one just to look at the pictures in 🙂
Here is my Top Ten Coloring Books that were so nice that I intentionally bought them twice.
- Twilight Garden by Maria Trolle.  In all honesty, I bought this book thrice :). I purchased the original Blomster Mandala then Twilight Garden the English imprint and then another copy of Twilight Garden to practice in.
- Secret Garden By Johanna Basford.  This was the first Johanna Basford coloring book I purchased.  As soon as I attempted coloring in it, I realized there was more to coloring than my childhood memories. When Secret Garden was on special on Amazon I purchased another copy to do “real coloring” in and use my first copy as my practice book.
- Animal Fantasy Season Coloring Book.  This cute Japanese coloring book is one of my favorite books to look at. One day I’ll color it in …….but at the moment I love looking in it.  When Amazon Japan decided that they were no longer going to ship to Australia I rushed to buy a second copy before the cut-off date.  One for practice and one for real coloring.
- Kapka Stesti Coloring Book (Drops of Happiness) by Lenka Fi.  Lenka was kind enough to provide me with a review copy of this book but I liked it so much I purchased a digital PDF so I could print it out on whatever paper I fancied.
- Girl with Poem by M.o.m.o Girl.  I fell in love with M.o.m.o Girls’ artwork from the moment I saw it so I had to break the budget and buy this book twice.
- The Moonlit Vale by Annie Stegg Gerard.  Annie’s artwork is just stunning but very detailed so I knew that I would need a practice copy with this one.  I actually purchased two copies of the book and the pdf of The Moonlit Vale keeping one clean copy of the book as an “art book”.
- The Time Garden by Daria Song.  I absolutely adore Daria Song not only for her illustrations but her beautiful coloring and collages. I was lucky enough to pick up a second copy at a thrift shop of The Time Garden (in pristine condition).
- Tenderful Enchantments by Klara Markova.  I love Klara’s coloring books and I always like to have one pristine book and one for coloring in.  I always save the Czech edition as my “art book” and use the English edition as the coloring book.  Klara has now stopped making two versions of her coloring books so I guess I’ll just buy two English editions.
- Fairy Miracles by Klara Markova
- Enchanted Faces by Hannah Lynn. I first purchased this coloring book as a paperback and then purchased the PDF so I could print it out on my choice of paper.    Nowadays, I usually just buy Hannah’s books as digital downloads as it works out cheaper for me in Australia (plus I can print on my own paper).
So that’s my Top Ten coloring books that I loved so much I bought twice.  I would love to hear if you have ever liked a book so much you bought two or more copies of it.
Happy coloring x
Lea
Hello Lea, would you be able to do a video on the types of paper you print your colouring pages on, where to buy them and approx prices, plse? Also, hints on how to stop the printer ink from bleeding when colouring. I usually spray with a workable fixative, but it’s not always successful. Thanks, Lea.
Helen
Hi Helen, how absolutely lovely to hear from you. I hope you are keeping well! If you have a laser printer then the ink should stay set. Unfortunately, I have a cheap inkjet printer :(. What I do is print the page the night before so it will dry and if that doesn’t do the trick (or it is greyscaled with more ink) I spray with fixative or hairspray. The paper video for pencils was actually uploaded last year and you can see it here – extended version with timestamps https://youtu.be/_LdTLRk7BFc or shorter version here https://youtu.be/VgHtrZGsQew or on the blog here – https://wp.me/p76mxe-47B. Below the video you will see the outlets that I purchased paper from. I do not include prices as these tend to change over time. The most expensive paper when I purchased was the Strathmore and the cheapest the Reno Art. Hope that helps, Lea
Hi Lea, I have any double Books of Johanna Basford. I am from Germany and so I bought the original version and the German version. Ivy and the Inky butterfly I only have the German version because of the story.
awww lovely! Your collection must look fabulous! I am glad that I am not the only one that buys duplicates of coloring books! Stay safe. Happy coloring x