Need some basic advice

Okay, just be nice to me because I am just beginning, I bought my first pois at the Byron Bay markets the other day and I have just started using some things I learnt when I was travelling and the lessons on this sit, I am still getting the hang of that mexican wave thing YEAH I SAID I WAS JUST STARTING, I ment that.I can do other things of course but I am just doing the lessons in order so I wont move on until I get this one down. ANYWAY, so back to my questions, the pois I bought are made from courdroy sacks of sand with ribbons attached and all the wires and what not. ANYWAY, they looked really cool when I bought them but when I started using them for certain moves I found the ribbons to be a little bit unpractical, I have managed to stop the pois colliding but the ribbons catch on the ends and screw everything up. SO I have been wrapping the ribbons up to do those certain moves but I guess I just want to know are the ribbons always going to collide or is a case of practise makes perfect? I dont want to cut them off because they are fine for any moves were the ribbons dont go near each other just those butterfly ones. Allright, I guess thats it for now, hope someone can get back to be on that. Bye!

Tails, ribbons, etc. will be more prone to tangle but with practice that will minimize. Mine still get tangled but not in knots anymore unless I screw up terribly. While practicing new moves just wrap them around your poi and fasten down with rubber bands, no need to cut them off.
I will say that the longer they are the more prone they are to tangle.

A (very) reasons why they tangle:
Breeze
ANgle of your swing path is a little off (or alot off in my case)
Your timing is a bit off

If they tangle alot, perhaps you should adjust your swing and see what happens. Tails/ribbons can be a very useful tool for polishing your technique!
Good luck!

Kiri-san!
with poi comes practice,
with practice comes fluidity,
with fluidity comes grace,
does the poi not turn itself?
does the sun not rise or the night fall?
does the Cornholio not need TP for his bunghole?
actually forget the last bit! all ya need to know is that tails make it more important to be fluid. Additionally tails on poi should not simply rule out any poi tricks - they only make it slightly klassier/more diffcult lookin'
Hope this helps, Kiri-san! ;P

and practice keeping the planes in your butterfly just -slightly- out of parallel.

ummm, arashi, wouldnt the tails be more prone to tangle if the planes arent parallel?

that would mean the paths are crossing...

so actually, you wanna get the planes as close to parallel as possible...

Thanks for your help guys. I found the best way was the keep them the smallest bit off time, you can notice but it makes it easier, I have mastered the alternate butterfly (dont laugh) and I am on to the one handed one....er...see you in about 6 weeks! Hahaha. Feel free to give me any hints for that one, the picture in the lessons is too fast to see whats happening

Kiri,
I also learned the same as you I just went throught the moves in order and in two weeks of being unemployed I learned them all. except the BTB stuff it still pisses me off . I am new just like you, but i found the one handed to be pretty easy once you have the butterfly pretty good. i found the trick to be your right hand is slightly in front of the left in a butterfly so i just slid the handle of the left hand in between my right pinky and ring finger. The key is to keep both ahnds going in the same pattern. And I noticed that my hand was slightly tipped forward so that the original right poi was always in front of the original left poi. I hope this helps and good luck. If not I'm sure one of the more experienced people will help you, they're all great.

Molly

Thanks for the tips, I actaully got it much quicker than I though, but its one of those moves that I can do really good (ie. have it going one handed without colliding for ages) but some days I just cant get it right, I am still trying to work out a way so they never collide, the best way for me and the moment is to have the right poi around my middle and ring finger and slip the left poi just ion between my thumb and index finger, its kind of hard to explain. Anyway I am about to go and see what my next challange is, i'll get back to you on how it worls out