Pigs in Space! by Claudia

Do you know (or remember) Captain Link Hogthrob, First Mate Piggy and Dr. Julius Strangepork - the crew of the fabulous Swinetrek?

I loved them when I was a kid! And when I saw the awesome pig wood shapes over at the Calico Craft Parts Shop, I knew immediately that I had to use some of them to re-create my very own version of "Pigs in Space!"

Calico Craft Parts used:

- Artist Trading Block Cube Kit - Round Aperture - Large
- Pig MDF Wood Shape - Style 4
- Pig MDF Wood Shape - Style 3
- Pig MDF Wood Shape - Style 9
- Vintage Style Pig MDF Wood Shape Style 23
- Vintage Style Pig Head MDF Wood Shape Style 10

I started with cutting circles from acetate (from old packagings) and sanding their edges to create a visible outer edge.

Then I used DecoArt Americana Coral Blush and Dusty Rose acrylic paint to colour the pigs. I left the areas of the space suits untreated.

These were painted using Light Buttermilk and Charcoal Grey.

Once the paint had dried I drew on the details of the space suits using Faber Castell PITT Artist Pens.

I added a wash of DecoArt Media Prussian Blue to the sanded acetate circles and wiped back the excess.

To glue the astronauts helmets in place I covered the pigs' heads with DecoArt media Gloss Varnish and simply put the acetate circles on top while the varnish was still wet. This way the varnish worked as an invisible glue under the transparent acetate.

The ATB cube was assembled using matte Decou-Page, then generously covered with sprayed on DecoArt media Turquoise Shimmer Mister and sprinkled with tons of turquoise glitter while the spray paint was still wet (well, at least it felt like tons to me as I still found the glitter on my clothes, my workspace, hair and face days after!)

I drew four holes in a wood circle (that once was part of a wooden toy) and covered it with gold paint and gold glitter. Once it had dried I glued it to the top part of the ATB cube.

Captain Hogthrob was painted and then glued to a piece of round cork which I had painted dark blue.

Black thin wire was cut and bent into shape and then fixed to the backs of the pigs using sticky foam pads. I simply left the backing on the backs.

Then I inserted the wire ends into the drilled holes and added short tooth pick ends where the thread was too thin. You simply insert the pointy ends of the tooth picks in the holes and break off the (big) rests.

This way the thin wire is firmly held in place - even if the drilled hole is too wide.

I painted a die cut banner for my ATB cube and glued it to the front.

Then the top was finally glued in place - and I was done! I just needed to bend the wires until I was content with the positions of my pigstronauts.

"Captain Hogthrob! To the bridge!!!"

Ah, he definitely looks like the born spaceship Captain, doesn't he?

And here they are - my pigs in space (or in front of my husband's blue sweater to be more precise...but who cares anyway! lol)

This guy is an old stager obviously. 

Miss Piggy below has put on some lipstick.

That guy doesn't seem to be very focussed...

...and this one obviously needs addtional exercise at floating in space.

I just need to do it one more time...."PIGS IN SPAAAACE!!!!". lol

"So tune in next time for another digestive episode of..." - no, no! - no more pigs next time. I promise! ;)

But I hope you will stop by on Monday in two weeks to see my new project and tutorial then. And of course you mustn't miss the fab projects of my lovely teamies in the meantime!

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx