pinata '09: a tutorial

this year, we once again made a pinata for easter. i felt like i sleep-walked through the process, exciting as it was. it was so fun, especially to watch bee, who did almost 50% of the work. but i think this was probably the 20th pinata that i have made in my life, plus that time when i taught a class on pinata making. so, my hands simply went through the steps, just like they had so many times before. 

the steps are as follows...

give yourself a good week for the whole project.

gather up your supplies: a balloon, about a weeks worth of newspaper- half ripped into 1" strips, half for lining your work surface time and time again, elmer's glue, flour, water, masking tape, a metal clothes hanger, paint and whatever else you can dream up to decorate the thing.

begin your pinata by paper-mache-ing over a balloon. blow your balloon up nice and big. 

make your paste by combining about a 1/4 cup of elmer's glue, 1/2 cup of flour and about 3/4 cup of water. the paste should be thick, but not too thick. think tomato soup.

dip strips of paper into the paste and layer over the balloon. keep going until the whole thing is covered. you can leave the balloon knot out if you want. i would recommend it.

let the pinata dry for a day or so. leave it by a heater or in the sun to dry quicker. 

add another layer on to add strength.

give it another day to dry.

add any "parts" to make your pinata look like what you want. you can just use newspaper to make the basic shape of your parts. use masking tape to secure the parts. use as much masking tape as you need. go wild with it.
add another layer of paper-mache, including a good layer over your new parts. 

let it dry.

now you can fill it up! if you left the balloon knot open, you can slice into it in the shape of an x. then you can pry it open a bit and fill it. put anything you want in there. i put eggs with little prizes in this one. but, the eggs broke, so i wouldn't do that again. 
now you can also fashion your hanging device. i used the balloon knot as the top, which i recommend to simplify the hanging. if you have a hole already at the top, insert a bent hanger into the slot and tape it like crazy. 

next paper mache over the holes and any tape with several layers.
next up is painting and decorating. you can use paint for sure but also feathers, sand, glitter, fabric, yarn or anything else you can dream up.

bee painted ours like a blue bunny.

grab some rope, a tree and a whiffle bat and you're off! oh and don't forget a group of spunky kids to whack the thing!

and if you're wondering, the whacking part looks something like this:

notice the smile. it's fun!