Forums > Technical Discussion > Something NEW to spin with?!

Posted: 10th Jun 2001
do you mean like fiber optic lights?

the music feeds my soul that glows and grows with every spin i take.

Posted: 11th Jun 2001
im not sure if its optic fiber try and checkout glowstickfactory.com and coolwireusa.com might be the same product as im talking about but its not assembled and you would have to put one together.

Posted: 11th Jun 2001
Yeah, the "glow fibers" are electroluminescent (EL) wire, same as Malcolm said. Completely different from fiber optics.I've seen poi made of it, where the wick head was something like a tin can that had been wrapped with EL wire, with the controller inside. Seemed to work OK. I made an EL wire suit for Halloween last year, but the stress on the wire from repeated wearings (what, you think I'd wear it only once?) eventually killed most of the wires on it. It was worth it though.

Laugh while you can, monkey-boy

Posted: 11th Jun 2001
Yeah, EL wire is incredibly fun stuff. I think the reason why they say not to spin with and stuff like that is that it's not structural wire; it's more for decorative purposes, and so doesn't have the strength to stand up to repeated bending and flexing (or, Goddess forbid, the kinds of stresses a poi cable undergoes!).Wrapping around the poi heads would probably work great, like Adam mentions. Using EL wire as poi cables would be a bad idea.I've got a couple of strands of violet EL wire that I sometimes lace up and down teh sides of my pants when performing or going out to raves. I think that works better than lighting up the poi themselves, especially if the poi are on fire.Adam -- sorry to hear your suit broke. It must have been damn tight while it lasted.