This is my first attempt making a piñata. I started with cardboard and have applied 3 light layers of paper mache. The structure is no longer flat. It’s began to sink in or cave in. What would cause this and how can I fix it?
Answer from Piñata Boy
It’s hard to make a piñata with a large flat side without having it sink inward. This happens because when water from the wet papier mâché soaks into the material underneath it (usually thin cardboard), the cardboard stretches slightly and the weight of the wet papier mâché causes it to sag inward, so the surface is no longer flat. Often this slight sagging is completely hidden by the decorating, but if you’re decoration for that side is paint or something that will lie flat along the side, it won’t hide the sagging.
The best way to prevent sagging is to prop up the surface from underneath while the wet papier mâché is drying, but even this sometimes doesn’t work because the surface will still absorb water from the papier mâché. It becomes wavy and then dries that way.
One approach you can take to flattening the sides again, depending on how old your players are, is to cut out a new side from thin cardboard, cement it around the edges with papier mâché, and then decorate right over that. This will thicken the walls by the added layer of cardboard, but it will lay a flat piece across the sagging surface and hide the sagging. You can decorate the sagging surface with paint, for example, before covering the surface with another layer of cardboard, so that if the outer layer is torn it will reveal something other than ordinary papier mâché.
If this won’t work for you then I suggest using a decorating technique such as crepe paper or tissue paper that will give a ruffled surface and hide the sagging sides. On a surface this large and flat you will probably want to use a variety of decorating techniques, and that will also help hide the imperfect side underneath.
I wish I had a better answer for you, but sagging like this is one reason I prefer to use balloons over cardboard, and why I avoid making piñatas with large flat surfaces.
Good luck!