Introduction to the Pinka Stories

Pinka is a favorite character in Grandma Van books.

A Grandma Van story usually begins on Facetime. (Some of my grandchildren live FAR away from me.)

If a story is successful on Facetime, it gets converted into a little printed storybook. Some of the stories are worthy of being made into little story books. Others, as my granddaughter Rowan has told me, are "Good... but not GREAT....."

Pinka began appearing in storybooks about three years ago. She is ready to spread her wings and entertain other children. I plan to publish quite a few little Pinka storybooks, ready for you to print and enjoy. All are small enough to fit into an envelope. They are great to mail!

Before we get to the stories, let's take a look at the instructions for making a Pinka of your very own.

Resin Owl

Acrylic Paint: bright pink, white, black, yellow or gold

Paintbrush

As preparation for this article, I bought a set of twelve resin owls last month (February 2022), for $14.98! The original set had only four owls. I bought them in 2019.

Using acrylic paint, paint the entire figurine white. Allow this to dry. If the resin owl has dark spots or darker paint, you may need a second coat of white.

Mix two different shades of pink. Pinka's belly is bright pink. Her head and wings are a lighter pink. Allow these to dry.

Paint the feathers around the eyes white. Paint the eyes black. Add a tiny white dot. Paint the beak and toes yellow or gold.

On the left is the Pinka figure that has been appearing in Facetime Stories since June 2019. On the right is the newly-painted Pinka I made for this article.

Pinka does not need to be perfect.

BTW: My grandchildren do NOT like "replacement Pinka." The original Pinka is much-loved!

Gather some props and put Pinka into a story!

(As I share the Pinka Stories here on Instructables, I will include some hints for storytellers.)

When I told this story for the first time, I had a set of blocks shaped like buildings. I also had a little wooden tractor and a blue plastic crate.

I used my iPad, mounted on a stand, and began this story:

One day, Grandma asked Pinka if she wanted to be in a story. Pinka said,

“Yes…. but I want to be the ONLY ONE in the story.”

So the story began.

PINKA AND THE CRATE

One fine day, Pinka decided to drive to town. Here is Pinka, driving her tractor.

Soon Pinka came to a crate.

It was a big blue crate.

It was right

in the middle

of the road.

Pinka flew over to take a look at the crate.

She stood on the edge of the crate.

She bent forward to take a closer look….

Oh! No!

Pinka fell into the crate.

There was a little bit of space above Pinka’s head, but

side to side, the crate was EXACTLY Pinka-sized.

Pinka could not move her wings.

“Help!” cried Pinka.

But there was no one there to help. Pinka was the

only character in the story.

“Do you want me to let another character come into the story now?”

asked Grandma.

“Yes!” answered Pinka.

So Mavis came walking down the street.

She saw the crate.

She saw Pinka IN the crate.

“Are you stuck?” asked Mavis.

“Yes!” answered Pinka.

“Please help me.”

Mavis tried to push the crate-with-Pinka-in-it over.

But it was too heavy.

So Mavis took a strong rope.

She fastened one end to the crate.

She fastened the other end to Pinka’s tractor.

She started to drive.

“How is this going to help me?” cried Pinka.

Mavis did not answer.

She was busy driving.

She was aiming at a BIG bump in the road.

Over the bump went the tractor.

Then over the bump went the crate-containing-Pinka.

The crate-containing-Pinka flipped up on one side.

Then Pinka came rolling out of the crate.

She landed on her tummy.

Pinka stood up.

She shook her pink feathers.

She shook her pink head.

She was glad to be out of the crate.

She was glad that she was NOT the only character in the story.

Pinka and Mavis rode off in the tractor.

Pinka said to Mavis, “I learned two things today.”

“What did you learn?” asked Mavis.

“I learned to be very careful around Pinka-sized crates,” answered Pinka.

“What else did you learn?” asked Mavis.

Pinka chuckled. “I learned that a story is always better if you have a friend in it!”

THE END

The original Pinka and the Crate was written before I retired. I had a lovely printer available at work. It printed well on both sides of the paper. So I made little folded 16-page booklets and mailed them to Malcolm and Rowan.

I am now retired. I don't have a class A printer. But my granddaughter Julia is ready to receive little storybooks by mail.

So the Pinka story has been re-written in another format: the one-page cut-and-fold "minizine" style of booklet that works well if you can only print on one side of the paper! (Make TWO of these for a sixteen-page story!)

The building blocks that appeared in the original story are SOMEWHERE in my basement.

But I could not find them when I re-wrote the story for Julia.

But changing the props didn't really matter.

An even BIGGER change: We now have MANY more owls in our stories. Pinka's friends include Malcolm Owl, Rowan Owl, Simon Owl, Adam Owl, and Julia Owl.

In the story, the character "Mavis" is now replaced by whichever Owl is the namesake of the grandchild-for-whom-the-book-is-written.

SHARE!

THAT is what I plan to do!

Bonus: I still have the template for Pinka and the Crate on my Mac. I still have the blocks and the tractor. I have owls in various colors. If you would like a PERSONALIZED copy of this story, contact me in the comments below. It may take me a few days.... but I'll send you a PDF.

NOTE: This offer is good for the first 12 people who comment. Since I've never had more than three comments on any Instructable article, I'm not too worried.

Pinka may take a while to catch on. I'm not worried. I will trust that she will eventually be found by anyone who needs her.

Oh....and here's a copy of Julia's storybook:

I've been writing articles for Instructables since October 2017. My original page is published as luann2425. There are a few Pinka stories on https://www.instructables.com/member/luann2425/

But I am going to make THIS page a Totally Pinka Page.

Many thanks to Instructables.com for providing amateur authors and makers with a platform for sharing their work!

Until next time....

LuAnn (Grandma Van)

P.S. Grandma Van came about when yet another grandchild (Simon) could not pronounce "LuAnn."

"Van" is so much more fun!