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2011Angry Birds (and Pigs) Ball Tutorial
Angry Birds (and Pigs) Ball Tutorial
The Angry Birds (and pig) balls were the hit of the party. I am so pleased with how they turned out. I had originally intended to make birds in every color, but I found red and green balls at the grocery store for $1.00 which was much better than the $15 price tag of the balls I found at Target and online in white, black, yellow and blue. I found the larger red and green balls at Target for $2.50.
You will need the following supplies:
Dry eraser marker, acryllic paint, primer, paint brushes, black paint pens and sealant (not shown).
Step One: Draw on the face with a dry eraser marker. You can wipe off the marker if you make a mistake, but only if you do it immediately. I tried to correct one face after letting it dry for about five minutes and not even a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser could remove it. I used these free printable Angry Birds balloon faces from The Party Animal as a guide.
Step Two: Fill in the outline with two coats of primer. I put on three coats in the eye area so that none of the ball color would show through.
Step Three:
Paint on the face. I found it helpful to use multiple brushes so that I could start on a second color while the other brush was drying.
Step Four:
Once the paint is dry, outline the face and add details with the black paint marker.
Step Five:
Paint a thick coat of sealant on your finished face. This will help protect the paint when you launch the ball. I used Triple Thick Glaze by DecoArt.
Now repeat about a dozen times. When you are finished you will have….
Something to note: We found that the smaller balls were not heavy enough to knock down the cardboard structures unless they were 8-10 feet away from the slingshot. We tried a heavier kick ball and it worked great but it would really hurt if you got hit with it.
Nikki Brown
Simply….just too cute!!! Everyone is into Angry Birds these days!
Meredith
I just did this (of course, before I found this website!) and I used kick balls. They were great at knocking down the boxes we painted.
Brendan
My son’s birthday is in the winter of new england. We’d like to do something like this inside our house. Can these “lighter” grocery store style inflatable bouncing balls be purchase anywhere on line? (in plain green and red). I think the “kick” balls might be a little to heavy duty for inside play
Maegan
Meredith, they turned out great! Awesome job!
Maegan
Brendan, I searched Amazon.com for playground ball and all that I could find were the more substantial kick balls, which I agree, would be much to heavy duty for inside play. Sorry I couldn’t be more help!
Nicola
You have done such a great job with this! Where did you get the boxes for the towers? They look a little lighter than a Uhaul box. Thanks for your help.
Maegan
Nicola, they are U-Haul boxes with a few random shipping boxes I received tossed in for good measure.
betania
This looks so hard to put together.
Maegan
It’s really not.
betania
How did you put the towers together?
Maegan
We stacked the boxes to create all sorts of structures.
traciebillingsley221@gmail.com
I am trying to find a red ball from target but no luck so far, could you send a link orsomething that may help please! My sons angry bird party is in two weeks.
Thanks so much
Lisa
I started our red balls today! I had to get the BIG ones but they were only 2 for $5 at Walmart. I’m going to do two red birds and then three-four green smaller balls if I can find them. I may end up have to buy the stuffed pigs if I can’t find the balls, or I may just make the pigs from the BIG balls, too, since Walmart does have that kind. Thank you very much for sharing this! My son is thrilled! His party isn’t til April but we’ve already accomplished so much and gotten so many ideas!
Tomeika
These are adorable! My DS birthday is this upcoming weekend. I found some smaller balls at the dollar store in all the ” angry bird” colors. I plan to give them out as favors with some angry bird gummies! The only exception is that they have a slight texture to them. Just started the balls today-seems to be going well. Thanks for the inspiration!
Jill @ A Mom With A Lesson Plan
What a fun idea! I think it would be perfect for a backyard summer activity.
Sandy
Thank you so much for the tutorial. I’ve just applied the gripper and will be painting them tomorrow for my son’s birthday party this weekend. I thought I’d pass along a small tip for those like me who don’t have an artistic bone in their body. I cut out the templates and traced around them with a Crayola marker and then eyeballed the inside lines. These markers leave plenty of room for error as you only need a damp paper towel to wipe off any mistakes. Once I got it looking how I wanted it, I traced over the Crayola with a Sharpie. After it dried, about 1 minute, I took the damp paper towel and wiped off all of the Crayola marker underneath as it will bleed into the primer paint. For me, it was a lot less stressful this way and only took a couple of minutes longer.
Maegan
That is a great tip, thank you! I didn’t even try Crayola marker. I didn’t think it would stick. I am definitely going to give that a whirl next time.
Jocelyn @ Hip Mama's Place
I’m excited about this project! My two sons’ birthday party is in a month and I’ve started gathering up the stuff we need for a fun Angry Birds themed party! I also just ordered your birthday banner and I am definitely making these fun Angry Birds balls and the colored bottles for the bowling game. Thank you so much for the inspiration!
Maegan
You’re welcome!
Jessica
Just love this idea! We are going to try it for my sons’ birthday party! Can you tell me – did you need special primer on the plastic or just regular wall primer? And, did the face last on the balls?? Thanks for the tips!
Maegan
I used “Gripper” primer from Home Depot and it is fantastic. You can use it for anything. My balls are still going strong a year later. My girls play with them all the time. Make sure you seal them with some sort of glaze (there is a link in my post) to protect the faces. Have fun!
Amy
I followed your tutorial to the T – (I’m so grateful I found it, thank you!) but the Triple Thick DecoArt glaze is tacky to the touch. Did you have that problem? It’s been a week since I have finished them and they are still tacky. I’m just wondering if you encountered this issue and just rolled with it or I have clearly done something wrong, haha! I don’t want them to be grass and dirt filled after one go
Maegan
Hi Amy,
You must have been *very* thorough with your glaze. When I use the glaze, it is dry and not tacky by the next morning. Maybe try a hair dryer? Good luck!
Louise
Merci for the inspiration. I did it and it was a big hit!
Kevin
hi, can you add a tutorial on making the boxes? I really want to make this for a party we have coming up soon and your boxes look soooooo good. Thanks.
Maegan
Hi Kevin,
I’m on vacation right now so I can’t create an entire tutorial right now, but the quick version is this: Paint your boxes with a roller. I tried using spray paint (each box sucked up almost an entire can of paint) and painting them with a brush (which took FOREVER), so use a small roller. Also, you can get sample cans of paint at your paint store (I went to Fred Meyer) for $5. They are intended to use for color swatching your walls and are a great affordable craft supply. Next up, I used brown Sharpies to create the wood grain. You will need a handful of Sharpies b/c the cardboard boxes dry them out really fast. Hopefully that helps. Have fun!
Kevin
thanks for your help! Sorry for the double and triple comments. My computer was messing up. That advice will help big time. One last question for you. Were the longer boxes from Uhaul too? Thanks again!
Maegan
I purchased them at The Container Store.
Miranda
Wow I looooove this! So about the box structure…. did you put anthing inside of them to weigh them down at all?
Maegan
No, we wanted to keep the boxes light so that the balls would knock them down.
Tiffany
I loved this idea as my son loves angry birds right now and his birthday is coming up. I was just wondering is this safe for younger kids as they like to put everything in their mouth. My son is 4 but all cousins are younger. Thank you and great job!
Maegan
I don’t imagine anyone would be able to fit a playground ball in their mouth. LOL!
angela
What did you use for a sling shot? Great idea by the way
Maegan
You can read my step-by-step tutorial here: http://www.simplystyledhome.com/2011/07/angry-birds-birthday-party-part-3-of-5.html
Joy
I’m using most of your ideas for my son’s party this weekend