Miscellany
Cracked Piñata
After blindfolding Nathan and spinning him around, armed with a pvc pipe, he managed to give the honeysuckle shrubs a good whacking and the found the piñata. It took several good hits, which dented it severely, before finally a small section broke loose on the bottom.
Maybe I needed only 3 layers of papier-mâché instead of 4.
Inside were starburst, fun sized butterfinger bars, a platoon of toy army men, and four parachute guys.
Piñata Production
For Nathan's birthday, I decided to make a piñata. I had a general understanding of the papier-mâché method and wasn't planning on trying anything fancy with the shape (unlike some people who make enormous rainbow striped zebra piñatas).
I put down about 4 layers of papier-mâché, but the suspension problem seemed tricky. So, I thought and thought about ways to do it, and then a friend of mine suggested putting paper plates inside with holes on them. Genious! I poked 3 small holes into the upper portion of the shell. Then I cut out 9 squares of cardboard from an old macaroni and cheese box and poked small holes into those. Then I used a wide-eyed needle and pliers to pull knotted string through the three layers and the shell. It feels quite secure.
Then the decorating. I'm supposed to be cutting tiny tissue paper fringe? Really? That sounds incredibly tedious. Instead, I cut a few different colors of tissue paper and a sheet of aluminum foil into 1.5 inch squares. Then I glued these squares onto the shell so that they look like blue and silver bird feather snake scales.
The breaking of the pinata has yet to occur, so I won't go into the secrets that are stashed inside.
Overall, I'm very pleased with the final product.
