A Woozle Pinata

Sorry if I took a long break already.  I've been busy making my daughter's pinata for her first birthday.  I'm making a "Woozle" from Winnie The Pooh.  As you guessed, her first birthday theme is Winnie The Pooh. Her birthday theme was planned before she was born...well...8 hours before she was born.  My water broke after I bought a bunch of 1st birthday Winnie The Pooh supplies on clearance.  I also thought it was a bit morbid to beat Winnie The Pooh in Pinata form.  I might get accused of animation discrimination.

I just looked up different tutorials on how to make a Pinata.  It's not really labor intensive just time consuming to wait for the layers to dry with the paper macheStep 1: Frame the objectI used posterboard to make a frame and kept in mind it doesn't have to be perfect because I am going to put layers of newspaper on top of it.  I decided to place a hook for the rope in two spots for better support and to make it look like the Woozle was flying.  I am also adding the tail last.My husband used some wire he had laying around.  I also used packing tape and staples for the posterboard.I didn't photograph it but in the inside i did reinforce certain areas with cut outs of harder cardboard.  I did this as I layered the paper mache on so I could feel the parts of weakness.

Step 2: Cut out strips of newspaper

I have a stack of newspapers I saved from couponing so this was easy.  

Step 3: Mixing the paste

The mixture that worked best for me was 1 cup of water, 1 cup of flour, and 1/2 tablespoon of salt.  I do it in this quantity because of what I actually use and then had to wait for the layer to dry.  If I let the paste sit too long, sometimes it wouldn't be as effective as a paste, so I did smaller batches than I had researched online.

Step 4: Layer on the newspaper strips

You may have to cut some strips smaller.  Make sure you don't only go in one direction.  You're securing the paper mache so think of reinforcing the strips to hold together.  Make sure you also let the layers dry.

Now I haven't finished just yet but I will post the finish product hopefully by the end of this week.  People had suggested paying someone to custom make it starting at $30 depending on size, but I didn't want to spend $30 for something kids will tear to pieces.

What about my time?  Honestly, it took me probably 15 minutes to frame it (if I weren't distracted), and the first layer took 20 minutes and the next 3-4 layers took 15 minutes each.  It's not difficult and I personally love a little arts and crafts time and the challenge of it.

So until next post...

If anyone is reading this and has additional questions, please let me know.