for example the little mermaid half body and the bottom half is the pinata?also how to get the shape of its body with balloons??
Answer from Piñata Boy
In a piñata like this, the tail section is the candy compartment, and the top section is just a flat decoration.
Typically what you would do for the top half is print out the image of Ariel’s head and torso, and ideally you’ll have both the image and the mirror-image for the other side. Then trace around the image onto heavy cardboard. If the hanging hook is attached to the cardboard top then this cardboard is going to have to support the weight of the entire filled piñata, so use sturdy cardboard, not posterboard or thin cardboard. To make the overall piñata you’ll create the tail section out of balloons and papier mâché and attach the cardboard top to that, and then decorate.
There are a number of ways you could go about making the mermaid’s tail section. An easy (but more expensive) way would be to go buy a dolphin-shaped Mylar balloon from a party store and simply apply papier mâché over that to get the tail shape you want. Or you could put a few layers of papier mâché on a party balloon, then add a cone of thin cardboard to one end and cut out some dolphin tail flukes from cardboard. Tape all the pieces together and cement them in place with papier mâché and you’ll have a rough mermaid tail, ready for decorating. At this point you would tape the cardboard head and torso in place, and cement it on with many layers of papier mâché to ensure that it doesn’t detach during the game.
I didn’t take any pictures of the construction of this dolphin piñata, but you can imagine what it looked like inside — the head and body of the dolphin were three ordinary party balloons. I attached them together with tape and created a newspaper and papier mâché “bridge” to connect the balloons and create a smooth dolphin body. Then I added a tail cone and flukes, along with fins and a snout, and decorated over it all.
Good luck!