A couple of years back, Kat Munro got an idea while watching television.
A giant piñata was in the middle of a street, spilling out candy, for a commercial.
At the time, the Port Moody artist was looking for something new to do, something unique that others weren’t doing.
So she headed over to the library to take out a few books on how to build the Mexican celebratory objects.
She played around with the craft for a while, figuring out the best recipe for her papier maché creations.
And this is what she came up with: She ripped telephone book pages into strips and mixed them with a flour and warm water solution before smoothing them onto a balloon.
One layer was done a day for six days to form the head.
Next came the body that, depending on the character, was embellished with clothing and plastic jewels.
Finally, she popped the balloon and cut an opening at the top of the head to snake through a ribbon, which could be used to hang the piñata from the ceiling — either for decoration or to smash up.
“I found the last procedure was like performing brain surgery,” she laughed.
Munro launched her business, It’s a Piñata, by donating a few to her friends. Then a few dear ones — Alice in Wonderland and Mad Hatter — were handed over to Canuck Place.
Now, Munro has some of her piñatas in Vancouver shops.
She has created piñatas based on the likeness of news and radio hosts and, for her clientele, she has made caricatures of them for big occasions such as milestone birthdays, anniversaries and weddings.
Munro likes to make images of celebrities, too. On her website, she features piñatas of Madonna, John Travolta (à la Pulp Fiction), Marilyn Monroe, Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy and Amy Winehouse.
Her cost is $100 and rises depending on the caricature.
“If you want a piñata of yourself morphing into a super girl, that would be on the higher end,” Munro said, “but if it’s just the basic Mad Hatter and you give me full licence to create then it would be less.”
Still, her piñatas have evolved since when she began.
Last fall, the former Walt Disney Canada artist displayed eight to 10 circus-themed pieces at the Port Moody Arts Centre for its Art 4 Life exhibit “but now I make the heads much bigger,” she said. “It gives me more room for their expressions.”
She acknowledges the piñatas are a fun vehicle to get her art out there (currently, the Vancouver Film School alumna is working on an ink drawing series of shoes).
However, she worries how long her recyclable art will last. “I need old phone books because I find the thinness of the paper to be perfect,” she said.
“I’ve got a steady stream of friends donating them but I almost fear that I may run out one day because they’ve not as common as they used to be.”
jwarren@tricitynews.com
FIND HER
Web: itsapinata.com
Instagram: @itsapinata
Email: itsapinata@gmail.com
