Making and Manipulating Marionettes

I was trying to find a book that I could take my wood carving hobby to a more useful realm. Kind of like giving your sculptures life by having them animated. This book went well beyond anything I ever considered. Like moving eyes,mouth and how to design various movement mechanism to make the puppet interesting. I didn't want to be too life like as that may scare small children. This book also gave examples of posturing to create mood as well as facial expressions to convey your characters intent. Not only are the puppets in this book made of wood it uses other mediums such as casting forms for different materials. There is much to learn from this book. I may take my hobbie in another direction that may only include wood as a form to pour something into. Never thought I would consider changing mediums. I guess the controls will still be wood. A great creative book that would fit well in a crafters library.

This book is an all-inclusive and very complete reference to all things marionettes-except for staging. There are enough books out there that cover staging anyway. Here, though, you'll find valuable information on all aspects of construction, design, and manipulation of a variety of marionettes including animal and trick marionettes. The one thing this books describes in detail that very few other books do is how to construct heads with moving eyes and moving mouths. I found this part worthy of the price and then some. David Currell hit a home run with this one. It's a winner. If I had to have only one book on making and manipulating marionettes it would this one hands down. Good for beginners and I believe even advanced puppetmakers would find something new or inspiring. Great pictures, diagrams and very detailed. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in making marionettes.

This is a great book for people who are just starting out. The pictures are colorful and informative. There are a whole bunch of construction options to choose from, so you don't have to try it just one way. It helps you with demensions and such. My only wish is that it had a list of places to get some of the materials. Or resource websites to help out with finding resources. Other than that, I loved it.

Precise, organized, illustrated. One of my goals was to find out more about materials and here, because the author is British, I didn't receive the satisfaction I sought. Names of materials in the U.K. are likely different than in the U.S. (if found here at all) so I'd like to know what the U.S. versions are especially if i can just saunter down to the local Home Despot and pick it up cheap vs. ordering via the web.

Beautiful book. Well illustrated and informative. I am a woodcarver and have been wanting to make one on these for awhile. I bought the book but haven't started the marionette yet. Very good pictures and illustrations on how to make this. I have looked at several books through the years and have always came back to this one so I decided to purchase and have no regrets.

How does a church compete with video games, Ipods and 3-D? By finding something that children don't experience often. Marionettes were a way to get the whole church involved: carpenters to make them, seamstresses to cloth them, teens to build sets and manipulate them, and youngsters to watch the plays.This book was very useful.

This is a gorgeously printed state-of-the-art book on marionette making. I have so many books from the past on this, but it is so delightful to see something current, and this is it. This is bound to become a collectible book. Be sure and get this one before it is out of print - I doubt many were made. Great stuff on trick marionettes, as well.

This is a semi-non-technical book for the beginner to experiment with and investigate in forming and using these puppets. It is not too technical and a well seasoned or experienced individual might not gain as much insight with this book as a novice or amateur would.