Thursday, May 7, 2009

The Attack is Imminent

The party is tomorrow and, no, the pinata is still not done. I knew this would happen. I work best under pressure. But, it is ALMOST done. I used more newspaper and masking tape to create the legs and then stuffed a newspaper cone with more wadded up newspaper to make the tail. Everything was attached to the body with more masking tape! And, lo and behold, Godzilla was able to stand on his own! I didn't really plan that, but hurray!! I again covered the new parts with more papier mache. Unfortunately, the first layer on the tail tore, so I had to fix that once everything else had dried.

Finally, I was done with the papier mache part and got to start decorating the pinata. I discovered that this is my favorite part. I used crepe paper streamers and cut through several layers of the roll to get a stack of pieces that were about a foot in length. Then I cut slits in the strips about two thirds through the streamer every half inch or so. (There are very good instructions for this at Pinata Boy.) Using Elmer's glue, I started at the tail and glued the strips to the pinata working my way from the bottom up.

Then I remembered that I'd better cut a hole in the pinata so I'd have a way to fill it! I used a regular paring knife to cut a square in the back. I also made a bunch of slits in the bottom part of the body to weaken the pinata a bit. Papier mache is surprisingly sturdy, and I'd hate to have the guests spend all day trying to break an unbreakable pinata!

I continued to cover the pinata with the crepe paper strips from the bottom of the back of the pinata on up. Then I did the front, the arms and legs and finally, the head. For the nose and mouth that I didn't want to look so "fluffy", I used unfringed crepe paper and just wrapped the parts with it.

I did have a bit of trouble with some white spots showing through the crepe paper. Perhaps, I could have put the strips of streamer closer together or even painted the entire thing black before glueing on the crepe paper, but hey, it's a pinata! By this time tomorrow, it will be in a million pieces!

So, I now have a fully covered Godzilla pinata. The only things left to do are add the eyes, paint the claws, put in teeth and do the
plates (I'm told they are plates and not spikes) down the back.
Now, all I ask is that you all pray it doesn't rain tomorrow. I don't particularly want 6 year old boys beating up a pinata in my living
room!






2 comments:

goodkarma said...

those kids are going to think this is the coolest thing ever. 'cause it is, you know. you rock.

aonbelay said...

OMG! This is amazing! What a fun mom! All that work to have it destroyed. I don't think I would have the patients for that sort of thing.