The first thing that I needed to do was get my hands on a balloon. I found a package of serviceable balloons at the Dollar Tree (for $1). The balloon is going to end up being the interior of the piggy bank, so blow it up to whatever size you want your bank to be.
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| A balloon |
The next thing I did was mix up some goo for making papier-mache.
I used a 1 cup of flour, and 1 cup of water (a 1:1 ratio of water and flour), and I let my daughter help measure, pour, and mix. We also needed a bunch of paper. We found some old drawings that my daughter had done on large newsprint paper, and we cut it into strips.
***This next part can get MESSY, especially if you are doing this project with a 3 year old***
I gave my daughter an old undershirt to wear as a smock, and then we covered our workspace in as much paper as we could find, in order to help catch drips. Then we got to work, dipping the paper in goo, squeezing off the excess, and then applying it to our balloon.
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| A balloon covered in papier-mache |
After we covered the balloon, we put it outside to dry overnight.
The next day, after making sure that all of the paper was dry, I punctured the balloon, and removed it from the paper cast. This allowed me to find thin spots and holes.
Then we scrounged up some household items to make the rest of the body parts.
Legs: 2 wine corks. I thought these made the legs look too long, so I sliced each of them in half, at an angle. This gave me 4 identical short legs.
Glue the four feet in place. It isn't important to use a lot of glue. They only need to stay in place well enough to papier-mache over them. I suggest gluing them right-side-up, so that you can make sure that all four feet touch the ground at the same time. If you glue them feet-in-the-air, you'll probably end up with a tripod pig.
Snout: Plastic kombucha bottle lid
Glue it in place. I put mine over the hole that was left from where the balloon end was tied off.
Tail: A short piece of pipe cleaner
I wrapped one end around the base of a brass tack, added a little glue, and then stuck it in the back of the pig.
Ears: A cereal box. I had my daughter trace around a serving spoon to make the basic shape, and then I added a tab at the base, to connect to the pig body.
I then used 4 brass tacks (2 on each ear, as marked with those little circles) and a little glue to attach the ears to the top of the body. The reason I notched out that little triangle part of the tab was so that I could add a little curve to the ears. Just bend the two tab ends closer together until you get the desired amount of ear curve, and then pin them in place.
After that, you need to do one more round of papier-mache! This time around, I only mixed up 0.5 cups of flour and water (still a 1:1 ratio). My daughter and I covered the ears, tail, feet, snout, and any other holes or thin spots that we found. We put a little extra paper on the belly as well, since that part is going to need to withstand the most coin abuse.
Then, we once again put the pig outside to dry. In the morning, it looked like this:
I probably could have just started painting, but I decided to add a layer of gesso first (since I had some hanging around). This helps to stiffen the surface, prepare it to take acrylic paint, and will also help make sure that my final colors look like they are supposed to. I also sliced a little opening in the top for coins to drop through.
The gesso dried pretty fast, and once it did, we were ready to paint. We mixed a light pink color for most of the body, and then added a darker pink for the ears and snout. I added a little light molding paste to the paint to help smooth out some of the bigger lumps, and to add a little more support to the structure. Once the pink paint had dried, we used a tiny bit of black to add some snout lines and some eyes.
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| We used a pencil eraser as an eye-stamp |
My daughter named the pig Helisa.
Total Time - About 2 hours, plus lots of drying time
Total Cost - $1 + a bunch of junk that you probably have around your house
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