I have never made a piñata before and I am wanting to make a curious george piñata wearing a hat can I get directions on how to do this? Thanks, Brandy Jacobs
Answer from Piñata Boy
A Curious George piñata is what I call a “structured piñata,” meaning it’s made up of a bunch of separate parts that are attached together to make the whole. Looking at the photo you sent, you can see that Curious George is made up of a few pieces — the head and belly can be made from balloons covered in papier mâché. The arms and legs can be made from paper towel tubes or wrapping paper tubes, also covered in papier mâché to harden them up a little and make sure they hold their shape. The hat can be made separately, probably out of thin cardboard, and the hat probably doesn’t need to be covered in papier mâché — you can just decorate right over the thin cardboard.
Once you have the pieces in mind, you get started making them. When they’ve all been covered in papier mâché and allowed to dry, you can use masking tape to hold them together, then cement them in place with a couple layers of papier mâché strips. You will probably need to assemble him a little bit at a time — for example, first attach the head, then the legs, then the arms, and let each step dry out in between.
Building a structured piñata takes a little more time because there are more periods of applying papier mâché and waiting for it to dry. I recommend you get started right away — since there is a lot of papier mâché work involved, a couple rainy, humid days can really slow down the progress on a structured piñata.
When the entire structure is assembled and dry, it should look like a papier mâché sculpture. It might be rough or bumpy in places, but that’s okay because you’ll hide all the imperfections in the decorating.
Good luck!