How-to make a character pinata

As promised, some time ago, here is the Pokemon pinata tutorial. Yeah! I hear you all cry. At last!

These instructions could work just as well for any character. It is the same technique I used for the Hello Kitty pinata.

Apologies at the start for any 'moody' cardboard pictures, I got a little carried away!

I hope this all makes sense, as I am a visual person and sometimes find it hard to write instructions. I like to be able to wiggle my hands around when describing things...so if you imagine I'm miming using a glue gun, scissors etc, it may help you comprehend my meaning.

Find a simplified picture of the character you want to make (in this case, Glaceon, one of the evolutions of an Evee, if you were wondering.) Try googling 'colouring-in pages' to get a nice clean image. 

I drew the outline free-hand but you could photocopy the picture up to the size needed. You need to draw and cut out two of the character shapes. If there are any protruding elements, like the tail and ears, cut them out separately. You only need one set of these.

(warning - gratuitous shots of cardboard ahead!)

(mmm, arty.)

Then cut out strips of cardboard roughly 10cm in width, enough to follow the outline of the shape. Make 2cm cuts along the length of the strips on either side. Bend the cut tabs on both side at right angles.

Using a glue gun, glue one side of the strip to the character shape. Keeping to the shape of the character work around any curves and corners. Secure corners with packing tape. Don't worry if it looks really messy.

Fill the pinata with the goodies, make two holes at the top and thread some ribbon through.

Glue the other shape to the cardboard strips. As you can see, I needed alot of packing tape to keep it all together but that really doesn't matter.

Cut strips of crepe paper or tissue paper about 6cm wide and snip a fringe on one side. Then, starting on the underneath of the pinata, glue the strips to the cardboard. Glue the strips closely together so you don't see any cardboard peeking through. Work your way up to the top, until the pinata is totally covered.

Then cover the add-on elements with the crepe paper, on both sides and glue them to the main body. Cut out eyes from card and glue them on as well.

Stand back and admire your handiwork...

then let ten small children beat it with a stick until it crumples!

xxx