Pinata!

Back in early February, I decided to do something very crafty and make a pinata. Really, I was just frustrated because I couldn't buy a computer-shaped pinata anywhere.* Anyway, here are the photos from my week of craft (Yes, it took me a whole week) and a bit of how to.

How to (and in some cases not to) make a pinata, take 1: The first thing I did was take a box (I used the one from Axis and Allies that I found in my basement) and cover it with plastic bags. Then I ripped up strips of newspaper (1 inch width) and made a mixture of flour and water (I can't remember how much of each but it was easy to find online). I also got some wire to use to hang the pinata. I covered five sides of the Axis and Allies box (I only covered half of the longest side) with one layer of newspaper. Within the layer, I wove the wire (Please note: This worked horribly and I would not do it again.**). Then I waited a day and made a second layer. On the third day, I eased the box and plastic bags out of the hardened newspaper, added a third layer, and started closing up the pinata. This didn't work so well either because the pinata started to loose its shape without the box inside. On the fourth day, I put two more layers on the top.

Here's what the pinata looked like after
I'd put all of the newspaper on.

Here you can see how warped the pinata got
when I tried to close up the top.

How to make a pinata, take 2: Once I had the paper mache part done, it was time to make the box look like a computer. I bought silver tissue paper and cut it into strips. Then I took each strip and made the bottom half of it frilly. My brother had the brilliant idea of taking a screen shot of a computer desktop.

I cut the desktop into strips so that it would
still look pretty while people were hitting it.

Here's the final product. Notice how it is hanging
by the wire that's stuck inside the paper mache.
If you ever make a pinata, don't do that!

Here's what the pinata looked like
after my friends and I bashed it.

Can't tell that we whacked it, can you? The wire came out of the pinata early. I think it would have been able to take many more hits had it stayed up in the air longer. So that's my pinata. Made for a pretty boring post, but a hell of a party!



* Hasn't anyone seen Office Space? People should be capitalizing off of workplace angst by making pinatas shaped like printers, fax machines, and computers. Who's with me on this?
** Somewhere I read the following and I think it would work better. Poke two holes far apart from each other on top. Stick something, like a plastic coffee can lid, on the inside of the pinata and put the string through the holes in the pinata and holes in the plastic lid.