ot: easy mandala book?
 

I'd like to buy a mandala coloring book for someone (mid-fifty-ish) who is in end-stages of cancer. Any recommendations of a good starter/easy book? Nothing too big.

Crayons, markers or coloring pencils?

I'm going to send it along with an Amazon gift card.

Other gift ideas welcome. We have very different tastes in books and movies, and much else. We both enjoy crystals and the rainbows they make. She has many hanging in her windows. Diabetic, not much appetite and not very strong now.

I don't have any book recommendations for mandalas, but look forward to seeing some. On other fronts:

The Easy Kaleidoscope Stained Glass Coloring Book is pretty. It's set up so once the page is colored you can post it in the window for a stained glass look. DS and I noticed that the paper wasn't really set for our markers. (It took a looooong time to dry and smeared easily until then. It might have been the easy-clean up kids' markers, though. IDK ) Colored pencils worked much better, but weren't as vibrant on the window. We didn't think of trying crayons. Now that I do, though, it would have been more vibrant than the colored pencils. There was also one with Art Nouveau stained glass windows.

Then there's Ruth Heller's Geometrics. Another one that I want is the Secret Garden coloring book by Basford.

Here are three titles I bought (along with a 24-pack of Crayola colored pencils--though I'd recommend a larger variety):


Adult Coloring Book: Stress Relieving Patterns Paperback – March 28, 2015
by Adult Coloring Book Artists (Author)

Detailed Designs and Beautiful Patterns (Sacred Mandala Designs and Patterns Coloring Books for Adults) (Volume 28) Paperback – September 18, 2014
by Lilt Kids Coloring Books (Author)

Balance (Angie's Extreme Stress Menders Volume 1) Paperback – February 22, 2015
by Angie Grace (Author)

I don't use a formal coloring book, I just print off free mandalas from the web from printmadala.com . I use crayons, markers, colored pencils, watercolors, finger paints, ... whatever my kids are using to color their coloring books is what I use to color my pictures.

I'm sorry your friend is perishing. Prayers for you both.

I'm sorry, too. Sending healing thoughts to both of you for strength and peace.

Dover press has one for about $4.00 at Barnes and Noble. Not quite sure if it would be considered easy or not. Can you give us a bit more info on what you mean by "easy"? Is the problem she's having with attention span, or fine motor skills, or something like that?

I'm so sorry your friend is going through this. I think the mandalas is a great idea. I'll keep her in my thoughts.

Like Stung, I've mostly downloaded free pages but I recently grabbed a book of mandalas at AC Moore for about $5 for my mom. I'm using my 50-pk of colored pencils, I'll only use crayola brand, I'm a snob that way. ;)

You could also download the free ones & create your own book, that way you could pick & choose what you like the best. With some patterns that I really liked, I printed a few copies so that I could do them in a variety of colors.

This might not be the ideal gift for your friend, but I'll mention as something I love to do myself and also something I exchange with friends with similar interests. I'm into graphic arts, and love to design and color all kinds of abstract and less abstract images in the computer. For "easier" approaches, there are free softwares for mandalas -- coloring, and you can also make your own. Then save and/or print them out. Attempting to work with manual art supplies for me actually makes me more nervous than otherwise, probably because I'm not good at it... but the digital art is very relaxing for me.

If you are interested, it's easy to google "online mandala coloring", for example. Here are two tools that I think are pretty easy. They can also be used in the traditional way: print out and color with one's choice of tools.

Print and color mandalas online
Online Mandala Coloring Therapy

Nice gift idea btw, and best wishes to your friend :)

Many thanks to all of you! I greatly appreciate the suggestions, thoughts and support.