And Mary's "What's the Story, Winston?" Necklace

The Real Winston

As soon as I saw this necklace online, I KNEW I had to do a tutorial. Swedish designer And Mary's What's the Story Winston? on ModCloth is just so awesome and totally DIY-worthy. Plus, this tutorial literally takes minutes and involves only minimal "ingredients", so there is no excuse for you guys not making one yourself!! 
Here is my "Winston"....

DIY Winston. 

I used a small plastic dog (like for dollhouses, or even maybe a kid's toy) and a scrap of ribbon I had laying around. The real necklace is porcelain; so if you drop it, you are kind of out of luck! My plastic version solves that. Also, on the necklace's website, many people had complaints about the bow unraveling, thus ruining their necklace. For my version, I used both superglue and hot glue (which seems to literally melt the plastic underneath and form a super-tough hold) to prevent this problem. Also, I sealed the ribbon with clear nail polish. No unraveling!

Winston's glamour shot

Let's get started.

Step 1: Gather materials. Needed are pliers, scissors, hot glue and superglue, clear nail polish, gold chain and a jumrping, thin satin ribbon (I used pink to match the real, but you can substitute colors), and a plastic dog figurine (mine was about 1" long and .75" high). The figurine needs to have a good clear neck spot to attach the ribbon to. If you don't have a dog, you can use another animal. Cats, giraffes, horses, what the heck. Just make sure you pick one with a clear neck spot. You can find a lot of these figurines on Amazon: puppies here, cute monkeys here, cute little random animals here, and I am OBSESSED with these little DOMO charms!!!

Step 2: Make the small bow. tie a bow in the center of your ribbon scrap. If you need help making a perfect bow, follow my tutorial here. Once done, drench the back of the knot with superglue, making sure to get around all sides to prevent unraveling. Paint the ends of the ribbon with clear nail polish to prevent fraying as well.

Step 3: Attach the "collar". With another piece of ribbon, take a dab of hot glue and squeeze it onto the back of your dog's neck. Immediately press one end of your ribbon on the glue, and press down to embed in the glue. Take your jumrping and thread it on the ribbon from the free end. Wrap the free end of ribbon around the front of the dog's neck VERY SNUGLY, so that the jumrping stands up and doesn't wobble, and so that the ribbon lays flat and tight against the neck. Wrap till it meets the back of the neck; dab some hot glue on this seam and press again firmly to embed the other end of the ribbon into the glue. Once dry, cut the ribbon as close to the glue as possible. Then, drench this seam with superglue, extending a little to the plastic as well, to really hold this in place. 

Step 4: Your dog should look like pic. 2. Then, take your bow from Step 1. Dab hot glue on the ribbon collar where you want your bow to lay, and press the bow (superglue side in) on the collar, embedding it in the glue. If you want to add superglue to the sides of this as well, you can. I added a very little amount behind the bow but where it meets the collar to keep the front clean but still give extra hold.

Then, attach your chain to this jumpring and wear!

Wasn't that worth it?!

Winston worn.

Winston likes cookies....

Close-up of Winston's behind

If you share/use/post this tutorial, please link back to me. It is much appreciated!