I’m making a vintage airplane for my son’s birthday party. First pinata I’ve ever made. I can’t quite picture how to cover it. I’ve attached a photo of the body. I haven’t paper machéd it yet. I will be adding the two biplane wings and fun as well as the wheels after. I hope you can picture this, I was unable to attach a photo but I can email some. Any suggestions and critiques would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.
Answer from Piñata Boy
The first thing that comes to mind is to use double-stick tape and just tape down layers of flat crepe paper, without snipping it at all, to give the plane piñata a more aerodynamic look. It sounds like there will be a lot of detail in the piñata, so a flat crepe paper decoration will look natural on the plane piñata and won’t distract from the other details. I don’t use glue when attaching flat crepe paper because glue soaks through the paper and when it dries it leaves a visible residue (this is hidden when using fluffed crepe paper). The way I attach flat crepe paper is to lay down pieces of double-stick tape all over the papier mâché, then press row after row of crepe paper onto it. Sometimes double-stick tape doesn’t adhere well to papier mâché, and it can get frustrating to work with because it sticks to your fingers better than it does to the piñata. I sometimes use a pencil tip to press the tape down onto the papier mâché. If you do use double-stick tape, be aware that it comes in two kinds — Temporary and Permanent. Use the Permanent tape. From my experience the adhesive on Temporary double-stick tape doesn’t stick to anything.
Depending on the shape of the plane and the wings, you can also try using another type of paper. Crepe paper comes in sheets, which might make for a cleaner-looking surface and faster decorating than using crepe paper strips. You might also try tissue paper, although sheets of tissue paper are more transparent and also tend to show folds and wrinkles more than crepe paper does. Colored craft paper or even wrapping paper can also be used. These might be more resistant to having the glue soak through, so using a different type of paper might allow you to use glue instead of double-stick tape, which would make decorating easier. Good luck!