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I sometimes volunteer

at a pre-school

for immigrant and refugee children.

I made this dragon head

For their dragon parade

in honor of Chinese New Year

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I made this "piñata" in approximately 16 hours.

That's including dry time.

I used a blow-dryer to speed up the process.

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For the head and snout, I used a big balloon and a smaller balloon. The eyes also are  balloons. The mouth and nose are made from a McDonald's drink tray. For the back of the eyes and nose, I used paper plates. (The firm kind.) And I used a lot of masking tape to contour and cardboard for the different shapes of fine and horns.

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Btw, this head shape is easily
converted to a horse head or something else.

And my mom thought I was crazy when I first started.
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After I had the shape I wanted,
I proceeded to glue strips of newspaper.
Just like I did the original balloons
that serve as the base.

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Once you spray paint,
it really starts to come together.

I always recommend laying a tarp
or newspaper down
so you don't get paint everywhere.

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These are my twin nieces

SOFIA & AMANDA.

Their teacher that year
is my bestie.

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I painted the face red & blue,
and the inside of the mouth black.
It's hard to see in these pictures,
but I also used mesh to spray
golden scales on the sides of the face.
For the eyes, I used tissue and 2 foam circles.

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Happy Chinese New Year!!

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