This week I began printing out the books I made for and gave to my grandson over the past four years. Why did I do that? Why keep a set of those homemade spiral- bound picture books at my house?
Reason No. 1: I can show them off to people who visit. FUN!
Reason No. 2: I can read them again to my grandson when he visits if he is willing to listen. FUN!
Reason No. 3: I can pass the entire set to my survivors. It’s true that all the books can be seen in my computer files, but others will not have to search those files. FUN to think about! Reason No. 4: I can enjoy seeing the products of my “inventiveness” once again as I print out and assemble the books. FUN!
Reason No. 5: I can gloat at the fact that a 24-page 8”x10” glossy full-color book costs me about $4 to produce. The paper is from Costco. I refill the ink cartridges with bulk ink, and I still have the spiral binding machine I used as a teacher years ago. FUN!
How will I display my books? I may decide to keep the books where they are now – on a shelf of the cabinet that holds my pop-up cards. However, I would really like to hang all the books on one of our living room walls. Good luck to me!
So far I have written 20 books. I cannot say that I have illustrated the books because I get most of my images from Google Images. I use Adobe Photoshop Elements to “combine” the pictures, and then I add the text. Of the 20 books, five are about my grandson’s visits to Los Angeles and our visits to his house. Fifteen are about other themes, such as “Evan’s Book of Vehicles,” “Evan-R2 and His Troops on the Desert Sand” and “Evan’s Book of Relatives.”
As I write the books, I improve in my artistic skills. I may even be improving in my literary skills as well. Certainly, I enjoy the creative element. There is almost nothing I cannot have images do in a story. For example, I can upload an image of a Star Wars character, put my grandson’s face on him, and rotate his left arm so that he will be easily holding a glass of chocolate milk. I can erase the symbol on his chest and add a picture in its place. Playing with these alterations reminds me of Mr. Potato Head. You could stick any part of him on any other part. FUN!
Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at Robertebsen@hotmail.com