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Pricilla was born in a warehouse because her mother was very poor and could not travel to the country to give birth in a proper pigsty. Poor Pricilla was the homeliest piglet her mother ever saw, but she did love her and wanted the best for her new piglet. Since she was so very poor and could not provide all that her piglet needed, she put Pricilla in a box and set out to find someone that could provide a comfortable home for her.

After hitching a ride in a UPS truck she saw a house in Constantia that looked just right. There were animals in the yard that looked happy, healthy and well loved. She crept up to the house, put the box on the doorstep, rang the bell and ran away.

Sue came to the door and saw a strange box that said "Top Secret" on it. Being the inquisitive type, she tore open the box hoping to find some treasures. Was she ever surprised to find poor little Pricilla lying in a bed of Styrofoam peanuts along with some other odds and ends.

"Well, well," said Sue. "What on earth am I supposed to do with you." Pricilla just laid there staring into space, too shocked from her ordeal to say anything. Sue held Pricilla, laughing a bit and crying a bit. "Someone is playing a joke on me" is all she could say.

Sue kept holding Pricilla hoping to form some kind of a bond with her. She knew if Pricilla looked prettier she could love her more, so she decided to paint her. Don't be shocked folks, Sue used Color Magic, made especially for pigs of Pricilla's type. All of a sudden Pricilla looked like a new pig. She was purple, the color of fairy princess pigs. Overnight, Pricilla sprouted wings and she became Pricilla the Fairy Princess. She looked so beautiful especially with the star crown that never did fit just right, but it looked right on her.

Now Sue had to make Pricilla a place to live. What would be more befitting than an Enchanted Castle. She looked through the box of odds and ends that Pricilla arrived in to see if there was anything she could use in a castle. Low and behold, there were gold metal things (filigrees) that looked perfect for windows in the towers. She began making towers and put windows in 4 of them. They looked just right. The tops of the towers were quite plain, so she added glass nuggets to give them a whimsical look.

She needed an entryway and thought the round glass sparkly thing (faceted jewel) would look good as a feature window in the top. To give the sparkly thing an enchanted look, she gave it a rainbow effect using more of the Color Magic paint.

"Oh, oh" she said, "there are 6 long thin sparkly things (pencil bevels) left in the box. What should I do with them? I know. I'll paint them rainbow colors and use them for towers by the entryway." And indeed she did just that.

Sue bought some sheet copper and fancy scissors to make the decorative top on the entryway and for the top of the fence. The fence was made from fracture and streamer glass to give it the look of vines with some flowers growing up the fence.

Since she didn't want to put a bottom on this wonderful enchanted castle she had problems with hinging at the corners where each piece connected to the next. One time Sue picked up the assembled castle to solder a seam and the entire thing began folding up like an accordion. She had one heck of a time getting it put down before everything tore loose. She fixed the problem by soldering brass rods along the inside bottom edge of all the pieces. "Now it will withstand the strongest windstorm," she said.

"Now I need to put a gate on the castle", said Sue. "What will I use for the gate?" She agonized over the gate more than anything else. One morning she woke up, poked her husband to wake him up and said "does chicken wire solder?" It took him a bit to wake up and understand what the heck she was talking about, but once the question sunk in, her assured her that chicken wire solders very well. She was out of bed like a shot, ready to build a gate. Chicken wire and brass rods were all it took, and the gate was made in a short time. A coat of Color Magic paint with accents of gold irridized paint on the cross sections made the gate look very magical.

Pricilla was put in the middle of the entryway looking quizzical, whimsical, and most of all like a true Fairy Princess Pig. She now has a home of her own and she will live happily ever after in her castle sitting on top of the television set in Sue's studio!

Diminsions:
18" wide
11" high
9" deep

Glass used:
Wissmach English Muffle and Corella Classic
Bullseye fracture and streamer

Other materials:
Sheet copper
Brass rods
Color Magic paint
Glass nuggets
Silicone
Old earrings (for the gate handles and the decorations on the back building)
Chicken wire

My biggest challenge was photographing the project. It was very difficult getting everything to show up well. The pig does not look it's best in the main photo, but there is a very good picture of it in the smaller photo.

This project was the most challenging so far. Coming up with a theme that wasn't obvious (like "when pigs fly") was difficult, so I worked backwards by painting the pig and giving it "fairy wings" and then figuring out what to do next. It finally all came together.

I can hardly wait to see what the others have come up with. Good luck to everyone.

       
   
   
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The ship is 33 inches long, 24 inches tall and weighs 16 lbs. The idea for the project was inspired by a beautifully illustrated children's book called Ship of Dreams. Mr. Sandman (remember him?) flies just behind sunset and follows it around the world sprinkling magic golden sleeping sand on all the children to get them off to sleep.

CONSTRUCTION The base of the ship is constructed of segments of Bullseye glass. The sections were decorated and fused with other Bullseye glass, Hot Rodz, stringers, dichroic glass and small dots made from stringers. The ships main floor is made of black Spectrum and the front and rear decks out of gray Spectrum. The front railing is made of round lead came stacked on top of each other. The posts under the top rail are large brass fishing spinners.

The hot air balloon is a glass globe for a ceiling light that is decorated with different sizes of glass globs, wire, lead came and lampworked beads. I also cut up the filigree from the theme items and used them on the globe. The weight of the globe is resting on a circle of copper refrigerator tubing and is attached to the ship and supported with heavy gauge twisted copper electrical wire.

The "burner" for the balloon is made out of copper pipe, ball chain and sheet copper. I also have a light socket wired into it and a flickering flame light bulb. The firebox is made of sheet copper with decorative soldering and jewels on top.

The main sail mast is a 1/4 inch copper tube that is soldered into a small copper pipe that goes through all the deck layers and is soldered to the support structure for the ship. I used the glass bevels for the upper rear sail. The two front sails were slumped to shape them. I twisted wire for all the ropes. The ropes for the balloon are connected to washers painted red and then to red buttons wrapped with lead. The rope pulleys are sewing machine bobbins. The large jewel is located on the top of the main sail mast.

Other decorations include the Sandman's treasure chest that is filled with the golden magic sleeping sand. It is made of sheet copper and trimmed with lead came. The top is decorated with wire, solder and jewels. There is also a cast lead frog, a cast lead dragonfly at the end of the large sail and other misc. bells, coins and bobbles.

Last but not least, the PIG. I thought she would make a perfect figurehead for the ship. She was airbrushed and comes complete with a full head of wire hair and wings. I added a couple of solder "mounds" to her chest and gave her a sparkling green bikini. In order to support her full figure, I drilled a hole through her rump roast and back (boy did she squeal) and soldered in welding rods that were attached to two different places on the ship.

CHALLENGES
Other than the big fat pig, the major challenge was support. Every time I added something I had to determine if it added strength to the structure or weakened it. If it weakened it, I had to add something to compensate for it while also serving as a decorative part of the design. Another challenge was trying to find objects to use in the construction that portrayed the image I had in my mind. Having never built anything resembling a ship, fantasy or otherwise, I am pleased with the project and had a great time building it.