I'm working on a puppet that I'd love to have glove hands, but also hands on rods depending on the use at the time. Does anyone have any ideas on making easily removable arms, but not so easy that they might fall off?

A friend suggested plastic bolts... which I'll probably use but I thought I'd see if anyone else has experience with it.

Plastic bolts with a wing nut are a great idea, hot glue the bolt thru a plastic washer and then fold the ends of the arms onto themselves.....

Heavy duty snaps work as well.

Your on the right path.  I would also duct tape and cover the end of the bolt to make sure the hot glue does not pop loose as happens with plastic to plastic.  Also, you will want to glue another plastic washer on the inside of the puppet to give a nice tight fit to the detachable arms.  Cut the plastic bolt down in size so it doesn't come in contact with the puppeteers arm inside the puppet.  Instead of a wing nut you can also use a nylon cap nut as long as the bolt is not to long.    

Julie

I offer them on my web site.  I use velcro.

I offer them on my web site.  I use velcro.

Here is the website
http://www.puppetshoppe.com/

I rough up smooth plastic a little with sandpaper to make hot glue stay together. We had foam tubes that we inserted into the shirt sleeve and removed as needed to change a human arm puppet for lefties or righties. We did not have to attach them to the shoulder as the tight shirt kept them in place enough. We have velcro detachable legs, but they don't take the same stress that active arms would, the velcro is wider version. OOOh I just had a vision of a velcro arm rippping off in the middle of a show, that might be creepy.

I saw Kevin Clash doing an interview an he had Elmo's with him.  He showed how they use those key rings that unsnap. He showed how they unsnap them to remove Elmo's arms to dress him.  I thought that was a neat thing to try on my next puppet.  These type keyrings can be found in places like Wal Mart.  I'll have to upload as picture.

I saw Kevin Clash doing an interview an he had Elmo's with him.  He showed how they use those key rings that unsnap. He showed how they unsnap them to remove Elmo's arms to dress him.  I thought that was a neat thing to try on my next puppet.  These type keyrings can be found in places like Wal Mart.  I'll have to upload as picture.

I would love to see that interview, did you find it on youtube?

Why not just stuff the arms and hands when you want to use them with rods instead of switching them out. I would think this would be more secure and look better in the long run not to mention easier.

Daryl at Stiqpuppets did a video about this didn't he?