Zatera Ul

MFH said that he would like a pinata for his birthday, since he’d never had one when he was a kid.

No problem. It helped that I found a few unused balloons at a bag sale on Saturday. The rest is just papier mache: newspaper strips + flour and water paste, paint, and string for hanging it. The newspaper strips get pasted to the balloon; let dry after each layer. The directions I read suggested doing three layers. Fill it by cutting a hole in the side, take the punctured balloon out while you’re at it, and cover the hole with a little more papier mache. Then you can paint it or cover it with tissue paper. I made a three-balloon bird (head, body, and tail), and painted it up to be a Foofybird, since MFH stands for My Foofy Husband. I started it Monday, and the paint has just finished drying now. Total working time: about three hours, mostly because of the foofy shape.

It’s not very sturdy, since I only did two layers of papier mache. But the head and tail are still attached just fine, and I didn’t load much weight into it. Also, I learned that it’s best to keep it someplace with stable temperatures–balloons expand and contract with temperature much more easily than wet papier mache does. My first layer split in a few places as it was drying on the porch.

MFH gets to destroy it tonight, and see what’s inside.