Custom fabric poi?

Hmmm... I need a pair of socks for busking... hows yours coming along mucky? ? And what is it about the HoP ones that make you want specifically tailored poi? What kinds of alterations were you thinking of?

Hey MNS sorry for not replying earlier... The HoP ones are great for practice, but they aren't very showy, especially if you were planning on busking (which I'm not, but I'm still an incurable attention junkie). I'm not a fan of the solid color scheme. My practice poi are black and white striped tights (like the jailhouse poi), and I have a couple other striped patterns. They look pretty good but the shape leaves something to desire as far as visual effect. If I were to design the pattern, I wouldn't do stripes the whole way down, probably something more like the right poi in the picture I've attached (Mods, I borrowed a picture of the HoP cone poi just to show the color scheme I was thinking about; if this is a problem please let me know and I'll take it down)

And besides the material for the poi, I keep going back and forth about the actual shape of the poi... In the HoP cones, I like the taper before the head, but I'd change the head shape, make it more of a flair than just a ball in the end of a pouch type look, make it more visible. Probably I would use something like a rigid or semi-rigid plastic cone to give it that flair, and make the head look a lot more visible. The look I'm envisioning is something of a flexible juggling club, something that is highly visible, but also attractive. (Ok, I added another bit to the picture to compare the HoP cone poi with the type of head I'm looking for)...



Oh, and I'd probably modify the handle design somewhat, but I'm still thinking that one over. If I can't figure out a way to incorporate the swivel above where I usually wrap it around my fingers/hand, I'd rather do away with them rather than having an extra metal bit that isn't really doing anything wrapped around me. I like the security of wrapping them, as well as the visual effect of having my hands always open instead of closed; to that end I might go back to the stick handle I started my poiing with, and that way I could keep the swivels, which do make hyperloops and stuff a bit cleaner (at least for me).

Yeah... I was thinking of just getting some of the bright yellow HoP ones and keeping em nice and clean. So they're bright, easily noticable in any setting.

I tell jokes and junk like that while I do it, but I mostly want people watching ME while I do it, as i tend to get a tiny bit of a groove on as I do it.

I see what you mean about the cones... it sounds a funky idea, I'd love to see what is eventually produced, but that isn't my cup of tea for actual use... I'm leaning toward the HoP ones, really. Laziness has a lot to do with it, so I'm feeling iffy on the choice, still.

The reason I'm thinking of getting new poi is that my current ones look a bit scrappy, which is fine when they're in motion... but I want to start using the first movement from bluecats "Spinnach sessions: The Lost Leaves" (Which is tying them in a bow in a funky way) and my currents would look a bit scrappy.

Any thoughts there?

Haven't seen Spinach Sessions.... Have to look it up one of these moments 'cause I can't quite envision the action you're describing...

I have the yellow HoP cones actually, and they are great (but they do get greyed easily... I've only had them for about a month and a half or so, and the handle area (since I wrap them around my hands most often) is quite a different shade already. If you do get the cones, I suggest you get a set of the triangle quicklinks to replace the triangle links with so you can easily remove them and wash them... If you get the ball handles anyway; I suppose the loop handles wont' clunk around in a washer that much. Actually, I'm not sure if they're certified machine-washable, but the fabric is pretty tough! If you're looking for poi that you can use without further modification, though the HoP cones really are the bees' knees.

My picture with the modified head... the size is a bit bigger than what I'd go for actually. But ideally there'd be a distinct "head" portion and "rest of the poi" portion. It may not be the ultimate poi design, but frankly the choices on the market for non-fire poi now are "sphere on the end of a cord" or "amorphous bag on the end of a tube." With lots of variations on the designs of the spheres and amorphous bags, but there isn't a super-cool rounded cone on the end of a tapered tube, nor other cool poi body designs that could be tapped into.

PS. Aw crap, just saw that vid. Thanks, Bluecat, and I was just starting to think maybe my poi spinning was decent. *Sigh* back to the bricks. (Coincidentally, I just spotted Nick Woolsey's review of the HoP cones!)

PPS. I made a really crappy mock-up of one of the heads with a foam football - it's the perfect size, very visible, and I think it looks great. Well, for being a plain sock with duct tape on it. The foam football shape seems like a much simpler solution than my original plastic cone idea; the one I rummaged up happens to be hollow and thus would allow for added weight.

Pretty cool.

How are wraps and such?

Hey Aston, to be honest I haven't used them that much since I made them, but they function a lot like any other sock poi, except the head is longer, and it does get in the way a little bit. The sock material is really thick and bulky so it makes the whole thing feel sluggish. Wraps with normal heads kind of hug your arm/leg/neck/whatever, but this head has a lot of non-flexible length so it kind of sticks out a little bit as you do a wrap. I haven't noticed any perceivable difference with airwraps or hyperloops, besides what can be accounted for by the heavy fabric. I will say that they won't be your general-purpose poi; they're probably going to be best for non-techie stuff. My style involves a lot of speed/direction/timing changes with a lot of really broad movements so I wanted something that would be visually impressive.

Edit: Here's a quick shot of some spinning... The video quality is... lacking... but there it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-qr0TpBRoU

Look pretty decent.