Like everyone else, I was enchanted by the idea of Bendi dolls when I first read about them on a Yahoo stamping group and saw them decorated with paint and stamps and bedizened with feathers and findings.

Then I realized that their muslin bodies aren't primed for wet media. So I made my own 21" version on canvas, using my own Annie Mae Art Doll Kit, and I think you will enjoy making her too. She's even sturdy enough to hold a pencil and Post-It pad.

Materials and Equipment:

Annie Mae Art Doll Stamps and Templates from Evedom®

Exacto with 3-4 fresh blades

Wire snippers (optional)

Flexible Wire - I used 50# picture wire

2 Sheets of 12" x 16" primed canvas from a Frederix Canvas tablet, or 3 sheets from an 8-1/2" x 11" pad will do it too

Fiberfill. Thinnest packing foam would have been better.

Xyron Machine 12" (optional)

Hot Glue

Acrylic paints

Drill to make holes in her head (for twine to hang her)

Plan to use 3 or 4 new Exacto blades cutting through all this canvas. Canvas unravels if it's pulled rather than incised, and the ragged edge will be a nuisance later.
Procedure:
I ran the pattern sheets throught the Xyron and cut the pieces out so I could squeeze them onto the wrong side of one canvas sheet and leave plenty of extra canvas to stamp the two heads (front and back). The paper pieces stayed on the canvas and are inside the dolll

I wanted the wrong side of one piece of canvas to be tacky enough to hold the fiberfill in place, so I ran the second canvas sheet through then Xyron. One sheet of canvas had the pattern on its wrong side. The other had Xyron adhesive on its wrong side. Then, I paper-clipped the sheets together, wrong sides out, right (paintable) sides facing in, and cut out the pieces.
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