Dressing the Naked Hand: The World's Greatest Guide to Making, Staging, and Performing with Puppets (Book and DVD)

Dressing the Naked Hand arrived today and I devoured it and watched the first half of the DVD. The book starts very basic with turning a stuffed animal into a puppet and then moves along through glove puppets and up into more advanced builds with foam and fleece/felt (ala Muppet style). The book includes a DVD of additional demonstrations and instruction. The DVD is divided into two parts: Construction and Performance. I've only watched the first part so far. It follows the curriculum of the book, starts out reallllly basic and is designed to be kid-friendly but then segues into the more advanced techniques, demoing foam building and sewing and that part is actually quite good and will get you a long way toward building the character of your choice. Includes some basic patterns in the book and the video on building posable hands with integral rods is alone worth the price of admission, in my opinion (something a lot of beginning puppetmakers struggle to get right). I also like his take on the mouthplate, which looks particularly comfy to use. I'll be testing it on the next puppet I make. Good stuff all round. All the information is clearly presented and easy to follow as long as you already know how to use your sewing machine or at least how to thread a needle and follow a basic pattern. I wish that it had more advanced stuff eye blinking and movement mechanisms, but it's an excellent book for beginning to intermediate puppetmakers or even someone who wants to build more elaborate cosplay pieces. Solid book. Great addition to my library.

Love this book. got it for a puppet class and enjoyed it very much. puppets rock!

Very good instructional / informative book if you are interest in puppet making. I would definitely recommend this book.

My kids and I love puppets. We love making them and performing with them for friends and family. We ADORE this book. It's got enough material to keep us busy for ages. There are projects simple enough for the kids to be involved in. And still plenty of advanced material to challenge me. It's simply a delight, from the first page to the last. For the price, you'll be getting a steal, because you get the DVD and all it's content. The hilarious puppet performances woven through the DVD tutorials had us rolling. We're attaching a photo of some of our stuffets--puppets made from stuffed animals. (Tutorial in chapter one.)

Just got it today. Arrived in excellent condition & delivered quickly. This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. Info, inspiration, pictures, and encouragement. So thankful for this book and my library program will benefit!

This book is AMAZING!!!!!!! It beat my expectations by far! Love it

Love this puppetry book! I highly recommend it!

This book and video are very nice. The video has a list of contents but there is nothing in the video where it says; legs and feet. I would recommend this book for moms to give to children who are interested in puppets.