What the Gonk?

Happy Halloween my nerdlings! After a month on hiatus, the Nerdess is back! I’m back just in time for my favorite holiday, Halloween! This month’s craft is going to be how to make a wallet accessory for everyone’s favorite hostess with the mostest…. assets. I’m talking about Elvira, the one and only Mistress of the Dark.  We are going to make this wallet look like Elvira’s familiar from Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, Algonquin (AKA Gonk). Gonk is a white poodle that Elvira gives a little makeover to. We are going to do the same thing to a plush poodle of your choice. I got a poodle that has light pink ears, so I had to reduce the color with my white paint pen. This didn’t work out so well, so I would advise you to get an all white poodle

You will need:

1          6” White Plush Poodle  (I bought one made by Aurora World Inc. off of EBay)

1          Magenta Fabric Paint Pen

1          Black Fabric Paint Pen (or Sharpie)

2          3” x 4” Rectangles of fabric of your choice

1          1” x 6” strip of black fabric

1          Piece of ¼” ribbon (Just big enough for your button to fit through)

1          Button (or some sort of closure for your wallet)

5          Small spikes (I used a flat spacer bead and a crimp bead, but spikes would work out better)

1          Pair of scissors

1          Spool of white thread

1          Spool of black thread

First we are going to empty our little plush friend. Now carefully, using scissors or a seam ripper, split the seam on our buddy’s back. Once this is done, empty out the stuffing from the main body cavity only (leave the stuffing in the legs, head, and tail).

Now we need to give our little guy a haircut.  We are going to use our scissors to snip away most of the hair on Gonk’s left ear and some from both sides of  the center portion, to create a Mohawk.

After Gonk is all trimmed up, we will start to color his hair. I have a few color tips to help you:

1.     Hold each part you are working on away from the rest of the body until it is dry.  Due to the poodle being white, it is very easy to transfer paint on our little friend.

2.     You can use a red paint pen if you can’t find magenta. The red pen works with the white of the poodle and comes out looking fairly pink.

3.     The best option here would be to use the fabric pens, but if you don’t have any on hand or you can’t find any at the store, regular paint pens work fine for this project. The result with the paint pens will be slightly stiffer than with the fabric pens, but this poodle isn’t really for cuddling so I don’t think it matters that much.

Gonk’s right ear is going to be mostly black with a bit of pink at the bottom. The left ear, the shaved down ear, will remain mostly white with a bit of black at the bottom. The Mohawk is pink. The little poofs on the poodle’s legs will alternate. They will be pink on the left front and black on the right front. The back legs will be the opposite. The last part to color is the poof on the tail, which will be half pink and half black. Please see the image above as a guide.

Now it’s time to make our lining for the inside of Gonk. Take the rectangles of fabric; mentioned in the materials list, and put them right sides together. Sew the two shorter sides and one long side, leaving the top open (see diagram above). Next fold the top edge over ¼”, right side facing out. This folded edge is going to be sewn to either side of the seam we cut into the poodle at the beginning.

Before you sew the pocket to your poodle you will want to pin it. For your button closure you will want to pin your small loop of ribbon at the top of the pocket in the center (see Diagram 1). I sewed the pocket in place with a simple backstitch, but if you have access to a sewing machine that would be preferred over hand stitching. I used white thread, so it would blend on the outside and be a decorative element on the inside. Just use whatever thread you feel would work well here. Now sew your pocket around the opening and then sew the button directly across from where you placed your loop.

Gonk isn’t complete without a badass collar, so next we will take our 1” x 6” strip of fabric to make the collar. To start we want to add spikes, or something similar, to decorate the collar. I used 5 flat silver spacer beads and 5 crimp beads. I sewed one flat silver spacer bead with a crimp bead in front approximately every inch along the collar. Now we can wrap our collar around the poodle’s neck and pin it where it meets in the back. Next we sew the collar on the back of Gonk’s neck with black thread this time, so it isn’t very visible.

Tah-Dah! Now you have you very own mini Gonk for your Halloween festivities. This little guy will be perfect to hold cash and there may even be room for the luscious red Elvira lipstick you will be reapplying all night. 

Thank you for reading and please subscribe to my blog! Check back next month for my nerdy take on Thanksgiving! Unpleasant Nerd-Dreams!

The Crafty Nerdess