Well everyone has seemed interested in how I put the pinata that me and Mark did - I took some photos on my mobile in the process so apologies for the lack of quality but I hope you get the idea...
Simple all you need for the whole thing is
bag of balloons (up to 20)
about 2 bags of flour 1kg each (the mix is 3 cups of water to 2 cups of flour)
about 3 old magazine or newspapers I got a ton from my sister
A large surface table
sponges
Yellow red and green kids paint I used crayola paints that were easy to wash off.
Scissors
String & thread
So Ill try and go though the process - you must start at least a week before we JUST got it done in time.
1) Blow up balloons not too large but make one the largest it can go for the head - keep layering the balloons at least twice all the way round totally cover the strips of paper in flour/water paste and keep going (can be very tiring - take about 1-2 hours when you start up)
2) when you have left it all to dry and harden completely you need to pip the balloons take them out and empty any residue or loose flour into a bin let out the air gently and pull out the balloon slowly. After that take a cup to draw arround I used a red scripture pencil and used the balloon hole to centre my cup. You then need to use your scissors to go from the centre and cut it in segments (like a pizza) and cut round, it should look like the pieces below - this applies to ALL the balloons - the head obviously will be larger but should all look uniform.
3) Mark then put the parts on the table in the shape we wanted them roughly. Then the fun part - stringing it together, we used wool but any thick string to hold onto the structure should be fine. I started from the tail and used a marker pen to mark points on each side - the open circles we cut from the previous step goes onto the back of the next part of the caterpillar. you string it together by punching holes with really pointy scissors rotating the blade about an inch from the end then you put the string into the open end of the piece to come back out then into the back of the next piece and bring it out of the other side and make sure it is tied up securely - keep repeating until you get to the head. The head is the same but you need to turn it so the hole is facing upwards or when its on the table it will be on its side.I hope that make sense!!
4) then you need to put more paper mache arround the "joints" where it was strung together we did one half one night then the other half the other side. Make sure all string is covered and securely in place.
5) Then you need to make holes like you did before but put them wherever you want we did them in 6 places like you see below dont cut out the parts just leave them to fill with sweets and confetti then you can cover it over with Ducktape and put MORE paper mache to keep it all the same.
6) Get loads of sweets I bought 6 bags worth and I still didnt have enough. If your worried that the confetti bits will get on the sweets I bagged the "loose" ones in little plastic bags the ones already covered I left to fall out naturally.
7) I didnt cover the head "hole" until the end just because thats the largest part - but it sure was impressive when it was smashed up!
8) start to paint do one half early morning and the other half the evening. We used sponges and dabbed it on we did different shades on each body part some were more dark green others had more yellow etc - dont worry about the newspaper coming through it adds to it. The head needs red and a little yellow
9) Make head parts from cardboard like a cereal box (thats what we used) we made it look 3D but you can do what you want we did antenna eyes nose and feet - Mark then put on the features with hold all glue and ducktape then strung on thin thread to put on the legs so they could "dangle" in the air. The he put on tons of string arround the top end of the body in several places. Please see below photos.
10) Finally enjoy it - dont cry if it gets smashed up its MEANT to be fun and when you see the happiness on peoples faces all the hard work will be worth it. TRUST ME poor caterpillar now is a beautiful butterfly.
It was lovely to do this as a baby had her first proper laugh last night when we hit the pinata so I would say pretty special wouldnt you?
