We had a lot of fun at Caoba making these Spider Piñatas for the Day of the Dead, so we thought we’d share…
Fig 1 Materials
Fig 2 Covering the body
Fig 3 Making the fringes
Fig 4 Attaching legs to body
Fig 5 Fringing the body
Fig 6 The head
Fig 7 The finished spider….BOOO!
You will need: A balloon, a couple of newspapers, paste (made with 1 part water, 2 parts PVA), black and orange crepe paper, Sellotape (lots), string for hanging, small sweets and treats*
*Try to avoid choking hazards for young children
To make the spider’s body inflate the balloon and tear up a couple of newspaper sheets into small pieces. Stick the pieces down so that they overlap slightly. Apply two more coats, allowing each layer to thoroughly dry out in between.
Once the body is dry cut off the balloon end to let the air out and leave a hole to fill with sweets. Make a hole in the top centre of the body and thread through some string to make a hanging loop.
Make the crepe paper fringes by cutting the folded sheets into strips about 7cm wide. Then make half-width cuts along the long edge of each strip
Make a leg x 8: take 2 sheets of newspaper and roll up on the diagonal making a firm tube. Fold over one end by about 2cm and tape down. Bend the tube in the middle to make the “knee” joint.
Wrap each leg with black fringing using the tape to hold each end in place.
Attach the legs to the body by taping the folded ends to the underside of the body (hole at the front, this is where the head will eventually go). Use LOTS of tape to keep each leg in place.
Cover the body with more crepe paper fringing. We used black and orange to create a particularly dangerous-looking spider.
Finally the head: Scrunch up a couple of sheets of newspaper into a tight ball with a stalk at one end. Wrap lots of tape around the stalk. Cover the head with another sheet of paper and then a sheet of black crepe paper. Decorate the head with a face to suit your spider’s personality.
Slot the head into the hole in the body and tape into place. Don’t forget to put the sweets in first!
!Ya esta! A Spider Piñata.
Thanks to Nick for doing all the hard work in putting our workshop together.