Hi. I am making a tracker jacker nest pinata. (Hunger Games) It really looks more like a wasp nest in the movie. What crepe paper technique would be best? And how would you do the wire and hook? Thank you. Love the site!!!
Answer from Piñata Boy
The first technique that comes to mind is what I call the floral technique. You can see how it’s done on the Decorating with Crepe Paper page. This technique creates little open-ended crepe paper cylinders with the closed end glued to the piñata and the open end facing out. When I did this on the porcupine pufferfish piñatas, I squashed the cylinders very close together, and their open shape was closed up. Since you want a wasp nest effect, you would want to glue them on without squashing them together. When you’re done the crepe paper will stick out unevenly from the surface as it did on the pufferfish, but you can use sharp scissors to trim the length of the crepe paper to a constant length, and you’ll end up with something that looks very much like a beehive. Also, I used a pencil to create the crepe paper cylinders, but you can use a larger diameter object (such as a wooden dowel rod from any hardware store) to create larger “cells.”
When I used this technique on the pufferfish piñatas, I applied about 16 cylinders per square inch, and it took a very long time to glue them all on. In your case you wouldn’t be squashing them together the way I did because you want to see the open circles, so you’ll probably use 9 rather than 16 per square inch, and get done in almost half the time. If you use a wider diameter cylinder to make the cells more evident at a distance, you can speed this up even more.
I would make the hanging hook pretty much exactly as described on the Adding a Hanging Hook page. The easiest way is to put the hanging hook on the balloon before applying the papier mâché, but sometimes (especially with oddly-shaped piñatas) the hanging hook has to be inserted after the papier mâché work. In that case you just cut a slit in the side of the piñata and insert the hanging hook out through the top from the inside. Then tape up the opening with masking tape, add a layer or two of papier mâché, and decorate over it. Or don’t cover the masking tape with papier mâché, and you’ll have a weak spot if your players are young and might need the help smashing it open.
Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor!