Fans of Polish tattoo artist Po drugiej stronie snu (still in my “to do” stack but you may have seen it in my Coloring Book Collection videos) might be interested in her second coloring book, Ticket to Dreams.
Some colorists may recognise the cute little bunny above from the new Ticket to Dreams Coloring Book that was recently used by the artist and her publisher for a coloring contest. Ticket to Dreams features a variety of animals all in Karolina’s distinctive style.
You will notice that, this time, Karolina has an English title for her coloring book. There are other changes as well.
Quick Summary:
- Ticket to Dreams coloring book is spiral bound
- The paper has thicker paper so that you can use watercolors on it weighing in at 250gm
- Images have been printed on BOTH sides of the paper
- There are 3 images at the rear of the book printed on single sided paper
- A blotter page has been included to test out your mediums
Ticket to Dreams Coloring Book Video Flip Through
Karolina Kubikowska’s publisher has created a video flip through of the Ticket to Dreams coloring book which you can see below:
Karolina has definitely found a new fan with my hubby who loves her dark, mysterious and very black imagery, as do I. Ticket to Dreams is full of that same dark imagery that we fell in love with when Po drugiej stronie snu was released. There is an air of magic about Karolina’s work that makes it so appealing. Every time I look at her art on Instagram, I think if I was ever in Poland, I’d have to get a tattoo from Karolina and have her art work permanently stamped on me.
Am I reviewing Ticket to Dreams?
The short answer is no.
The publisher’s site is set up for customers that are based in CZ and SK and although they ship internationally this is not on the “Shipping policies” page. If you are an international customer, you need to select either of the European choices of CK or SK. Once you have done that, write a note stating which country you are from. You will then receive an email reply telling you what the shippings costs are. You cannot calculate the shipping costs yourself, you must wait for the email to be sent to you. Once you have that information, you will then be able to pay for the book by the only option available on screen for international customers, bank transfer.
Perhaps my expectations of how ecommerce sites should run are colored by my background in teaching ecommerce and digital marketing, creating online courses, authoring books on the subject and consulting with businesses to set up their systems. My expectations of a shopping experience are perhaps unreasonable and based on my own experience. But as I have always told my students, “people want to buy stuff …make it easy for them to do that”.
Not wanting to wait, I moved on to the artist’s site to make my purchase. The artist has modern shopping cart equipped with all the usual methods of payment ie pay pal, credit card etc. that international customers are familiar with. From the drop down menu you can select your country. My only niggle with this system was that the shopping cart was not set up to display the quantity of stock on hand. After quickly adding the book to my basket I proceeded to checkout. At checkout stage I was trying to get the payment button to work that appeared stuck. Quickly refreshing the screen, a word appeared that I had to translate. I think you can guess what the word was…it translated to “sold” on screen but what it really meant was “out of stock”.
To me, shopping for a coloring book should be an easy and pleasurable experience. In this case it was 6 days of waiting for replies to messages/emails and staking out websites. Not fun and very frustrating. Anyone that knows me knows that one of the things that I value is my time. If my time has been wasted it’s all over for me. So to spend so much time, trying to buy one book, and coming out empty handed, was too much for this time conscious gal. I consoled myself by buying a few more coloring books elsewhere.
The artist, has advised me that new a stock of books is arriving this week so if you wish to order it, I would suggest you stake out her site as, no doubt, the demand for Ticket to Dreams will outweigh the supply for this coloring book as you would expect for an artist as talented as Karolina
You can purchase Ticket to Dreams Coloring Book here:
If you are purchasing from the artist direct, keep up to date with when the books are available by following her on social media. As Ticket to Dreams Coloring Book is spiral bound it means the process of printing a new batch takes longer, so if stocks again sell out this weekend you will likely have to wait a week or two, until a new supply arrives. You may wish to keep track of the time in Poland and use a World Clock to work out what time the books may be released again.
When the book is available you will see a picture of it on the artist’s site on the front page and in the “Books” category.
If you do not wish to stake out the artist’s site you can purchase from the publishers online bookshop where normally the Publisher would receive the books from the printer before the artist.
A colorist has advised me that the shipping costs were more favorable from the artist’s site than the publisher’s site. Unfortunately, as I never reached the shipping stage, I am unable to confirm that.
| Artist Direct | Publisher Bookstore |
When purchasing from Karolina’s site make sure you select the language and currency that are appropriate for you at the top left of the page:
If you decide to purchase from the Publisher’s bookshop make sure you select either Czech or Euro options from the top right of the page for currency and either Czech or English language options.
You can follow Karolina on Instagram here
Happy coloring x
Lea
Wow, I’m exhausted from you trying to get this book..I am not familiar with her work. The pages look awfully dark Lea, what medium would be best used. Not that I’m even going to buy it…lol. Just curious!!!
Maybe she will read this and send you a couple freebied.
Connie
What the……? No, just NO. You’re right, neither site is customer friendly. In fact, it feels as though neither the publishers site nor the author really cares a whit if you actually purchase the book. Like you, I like to make my purchases and be finished with it. This is one book I won’t be purchasing. Very sad. (Also, I know a lot of people think spiral bound coloring books are the best thing since sliced bread. I however, prefer anything but spiral bound. I was iffy on this book to begin with, but the purchasing hassles killed any desire.)
Ah, well. I’m not hurt that you won’t be reviewing the new book. Once your bank balance has bounced back from the computer woes, I feel certain you’ll find some absolutely must have Japanese (or from wherever!) coloring book that we will all drool over.
I actually agree with you on the spiral binding. The spiral bound books I have on the shelf, I’ve had to move to their own spot as the binding tears the jackets on adjacent books. I’m hopeful that this book will be reproduced in the same format as the first one personally, and on book depository etc then I’ll buy it (hubby loves the art work). I think the problem is that the publisher clearly underestimated the demand for this book (which actually has inspired a little project for me so it’s not all bad) 🙂 I comforted myself at Amazon Japan quite happily 🙂
I also have tried to buy the book without success. On the artist site it is still sold out. The publisher site is only in CZ, I can’t change the languange in English. And I don’t trust google translate to much to place my order in CZ, a language I don’t understand. I tried to contact Karolina Kubikowska via her website, but received only a link of her facebook. The publisher website isn’t customer friendly and not suitable for international buyers. I hope the book will be soon in stock on the artist website. I’m going to buy the first book and later the second book (I hope so).
I ended up buying from Karolina’s site. I totally agree with the comments about the publisher’s website it is not user friendly at all. It did take me a few attempts to get the book, as it was constantly sold out, and I was constantly disappointed 🙁 I finally ordered it and it took a month to arrive in Australia. You might be able to find Po drugiej stronie snu at Amazon or Ebay in your area (it is out of stock on Book Depository). Happy coloring x
Dear Lea,
Did you say that you bought the book Ticket to dreams from the artist website. When did you buy it? I have checked her website a couple of times without success. I now tried an attempt to buy it on the publisher site, very difficult when you have to translate every word. I made an account and placed the book in the shopping cart. Than it went wrong, I was not able to fill in my country, so I put that behind the name of my city. Than I wanted to finish my order, what to do with shipping and payment? I filled in a contact form about wanting to buy the book, and not being able to finish/ placing my order. You say it is only possible to pay by bank transfer, I have never done that, is that save? I think I’m going to cancel that order. I always pay by Mastercard or Paypal, not by banktransfer. I only use banktransfer in the Netherlands. On Karolina’s website I bought her first book Po drugiej stronie snu, it was for me cheaper than on Amazon. How many weeks did you wait before the book Ticket to dreams was in stock? Every time I check, it says sold and the price has changed from €13 to €14, the shipping is still the same.
Sincerely,
Fam
Hi Fam, I finally purchased Ticket to Dreams on 18 March – it was constantly out of stock at Karolina’s website and initially when I tried to buy it, it ran out of stock while I was in the process of buying it 🙁 It took about a month to get to Australia. I could have purchased from the publisher’s site but the shopping cart and customer service was archaic so I preferred to wait. Like you, I don’t do bank transfer and feel that it is an out of date system in 2017, particularly with international customers. It was extremely frustrating going back and checking constantly for the book but I think Karolina put a spell on me because I had to have it 🙂 I have had it for a few weeks now, but with my mother passing away, I haven’t had time to review it yet. Personally, I’m not a fan of the spiral binding and I’m going to have to find a spot where that doesn’t tear my other coloring book covers. The pictures are divine though! Happy coloring x
Yesterday after not been able to buy the book “Ticket to dreams” on the 2 websites Karolina recommended on her Facebook page, I contacted Karolina on her website. She made me a special offer for the leftover books still she still has in her shop. She send me an email with a link so I could buy it on her website by Paypal. But it also helps that I bought her first book “Po drugiej stronie snu” on 5 may. I’m so happy that I finally was able to buy both her books. I love her art so much and it is so much different from the other books that are on sale.
Sincerely,
Fam
That’s fantastic news Fam! It’s a gorgeous book and I hope you love it! Happy coloring x
I have received my order Ticket to dreams today. The other book Po drugiej stronie snu I received on friday. The shipping did take only 1 week, very fast shipping when you order it from Karolina Kubikowska website. The books arrived with mint green ribbon and confetti in the package (also with autograph from the artist, what I don’t find important). That special offer I got for the book wasn’t that special, the same price as what you pay when you buy the book from her website. The paper in the second book is very tick and almost suitable for every medium. I found the paper of the first book very thick, but the paper of the second book is thicker. I had to count the pages, that is the same for both books. The illustrations are beautifull of both books. I like the book Ticket to dreams the best. I hope she will make 3rd book, what will be easier to buy with normal binding (like her first book).
Sincerely,
Fam
I have both books too (Just haven’t reviewed them yet lol) but my packaging was not as pretty as yours! Personally, I’m not a fan of the spiral binding as it tears at covers of other books when placed on the shelf so it has to be separately stored 🙁 I do hope, like you, that there is another book but I really hope that the purchasing options are not so frustrating and are more thought out for her fan base than the Ticket to Dreams book launch. Hope you enjoy coloring them x
A spiral binding isn’t ideal for putting books on your bookshelf, because it doesn’t look pretty and you can’t read the title on the spine of the book. But that is the problem with special books. I have also very big books that doesn’t fit on shelf and need be put flat on top of the bookcase to protect them against damage. But when you collect books like me for the past years, you come across books that are not ideal for storage. I love books since I was young. I have all kind of books: art books, nature books, fairy tale books, books with illustrations, etc. Coloring books I have been collecting since march 2017, but most part for the illustrations and the art.
I have a massive collection of books, all different types from tech books, business, cook books, home decor, you name it lol. My coloring book collection though has got so big that I can’t fit any of the others in the shelf anymore! Happy coloring x
I have finally deceided to remove the spiral binding from the book Ticket to dreams. I have replaced it with the mint green ribbon, where it came with when I received my order. You don’t have to use every hole. Don’t make it to tight, otherwise the book can’t be opened and lay flat. Or use a binding that you can loosen when you are coloring the book. Burn the ends of ribbon, so it prevends it against fraying. You can use other binding material, but make sure it will not damage the paper. Now I can put the book next to the other book of Karolina Kubikowska, without having to worry that it will damage my other books and it looks better on the bookshelf.
Sincerely,
Fam
Thanks for the tips Fam! I’ll probably end up doing that once I get around to reviewing it as I do not want it damaging my other books when on the shelf! Happy coloring x
Karolina Kubikowska new book Imaginary friends is now available on her Etsy shop. I have just received my copy on 16 octobre. The book is bigger than a4 size and printed single sided. You can also buy her other books on her Etsy shop. The book is amazing, but Ticket to dreams is still my favorite book of her 3 books.
Sincerely,
Fam (from the Netherlands, Fammie’s passion)
You are so lucky you have already received yours! Mine seems to have been in transit forever! Hope you enjoy it x