The Borsa Puppet Pattern is designed not only to enable you to build a great monster puppet now, but to teach techniques and skill sets that will help you in future puppet-building endeavors. The Borsa Pattern includes a puppet pattern and instructions for building a "live-hand" or "human-arm" monster hand puppet with a pointed or conical head shape. The finished puppet stands 24 inches from the top of the head to the base of the body. By adding facial features (such as eyes, a nose, horns or teeth), you can create your own unique monster character.

A live-hand puppet typically requires two puppeteers. The main puppeteer operates the puppet’s mouth and head as well as the puppet’s left hand. The right hand of the puppet is operated by a second puppeteer. Because of its basic design, this type of live-hand puppet is often called a "sack" puppet. The puppet's body has little or no understructure and, if turned upside down, largely resembles a sack or bag. (By the way, "borsa" is Italian for "bag".) You may recognize this basic design in many famous monster puppets.

A very useful tutorial is also included, the Working with Faux Fur tutorial. The following lists outline the topics and techniques that are covered in the Borsa Pattern, as well as what is included in the package.

What will you learn?

• How to work with faux fur in the Working with Faux Fur tutorial, including a technique for machine-sewing fur without trapping the fur fibers in the seam, a method for giving ordinary stock fur and interesting distressed or matted appearance, and much more.
• Basic design principles for "live-hand" puppets.
• How to use different adhesives such as hot glue and contact cement for building puppets.
• A couple of basic stitches that will prove to be very handy in all your puppet-building endeavors.
• Basic foam construction techniques.

What is included?

• A CD from which you may view and print detailed instructions with photos and diagrams that take you from character creation to finished puppet. Check out the system requirements for the CD.
• A full-sized printed pattern sheet that doesn't leave you guessing.

What are the possibilities?

The possibilities are endless. With a little creativity you will see thousands of furry monsters are waiting to be brought to life!

It is also interesting to note that a live-hand puppet can be very useful in a cast of characters. It has the ability to pick up objects, throw things, pull ropes and a host of other similar "super-puppet" abilities. Otherwise, with a cast of strictly hand and rod characters, you would most likely have to resort to a few prop or camera tricks to accomplish the same simple activities. So a live-hand character not only adds variety in shape and technique, but can also be very practical as well.