I call them Flids!

[image]https://photos.offline.org.uk/showpic.php?picid=t3534[/image]

Of course you'd probably call them something else, because literally everyone in your area uses them already, kids, babies, your mate dave and even your gran's 3 legged artheritic dog has a set and can spin btb 7 beat weave with them. The only reason you don't spin them is because you grew out of them years ago and think they're crap. But personally, i've never seen any before, so until anyone else says otherwise i'll call them flids

There seems to be this trend at the moment for stupidly large monkey fist wicks (*ahem* you know who you are), which are pretty cool, but for my next set I wanted some which are big, but not so big and heavy that I only ever use them as a novelty and not on a daily basis. My previous set were some 2 inch cathedral heads bought from homeofpoi, which have served me admirably, so I decided to go one step further and have 2.5 inch cathedrals. The second thing that I wanted was to be able to do bareskin wraps with them, which means no metal parts exposed (and i don't care what anyone else says about not getting burnt from hot metal, cause I melt from the slightest touch). I don't like to have to get dressed up for spinning, other than denim trousers and a cotton tshirt, so I looked for a way to make them metal free.

When in brighton this summer I had a play with weasel boy's snakes, which were extremely exhilerating to use to say the least (like loosing my fire poi virginity all over again ), but i disliked the fact that with full length snakes you can't wrap them around your hand mid spin to shorten the length during buzzsaw moves. Then I played with Lolli's snakes, which are half snakes, half chain, so buzzsaw is possible. The thing i liked the most was that in the form of a knot on the end she had made the wick out of the rope, meaning no metal parts. I guess the next step up from this would be to make a monkey fist version of Lolli's snakes, but wanting to be different i decided to stick with cathedrals. Monkey fists do look cool, but i'm a sucker for tradition and really liked my current set of cathedrals.

Thus when i got to 1000 posts I decided to make a HoP contribution in the form of 12 feet of 2.5inch wick, 8 foot of 1cm rope and a spool of kevlar thread. The basic design is 2.5inch cathedral heads with rope threaded through the middle with a knot at either end to secure, then rope going half way up and chain for the rest. For extra security and compression in the abscence of a bolt/washer, the cathedrals have kelvar thread sewn through them and pulled tight and the knots a sewn together with extra thread.

This way I can still do inner hyperloops on ball chain, and after the first few minutes of the burn when the rope has gone out by the cathedral still going I can do bareskin arm wraps on the rope with only singhed hairs as the result, not burns and scars. Because the cathedrals burn a lot longer than the rope, the rope will start to fall appart a lot quicker, but, because it is seperate I can replace it without replacing the head. Because there is no metal, the weight of them is only 25% more than my previous set of 2inch cathedrals, so when i spin them i won't feel like my arms are falling off!

I was so happy with the first that i decided to take pictures whilst making the second and put them on the internet So, if you're sitting comfortably, happen to have the day free, a few rolls of kevlar and set of tools handy then lets begin.

(N.B. This board doesn't allow more than a few pictures, so to see all the steps with pictures click here: https://www.fire-chains.com/projects/flids.php
)

Recipe:

12 feet of 2.5 inch kevlar
8 feet of 1cm kevlar rope
1 spool of kevlar thread
2 handles
2 lengths of 18cm chain (i used ball, but you could use any)

[image]https://photos.offline.org.uk/showpic.php?picid=t3521[/image]

Tools:

a long needle
a set of needle nose pliers
sharp pair of scissors
pva glue

Method:

Cut the kevlar material into 2 6 foot pieces. To make one poi follow these helpful instructions

1) Take one of the pieces of kevlar material and cut it in half. Attach the handles to the chain and set aside.

2) Put one of the pieces of kevlar on top of the other, overlapping about 80% of the width and sew together using 3 or 4 tacks of thread.

3) Put the needle in the centre of the wick and start to build a nice and tight cathedral wick (see animation on HoP if unsure), making sure to extend the needle as you go so it is always poking through. If you don't use the needle now and try to push it through later it will be very hard to line it up.

4) Build the wick all the way up

5) Cut the excess wick off, and fold the top under like you did at the bottom, so no frayed edges are showing.

6) Wiggle the needle around inside the wick, trying to enlargen the hole as much as possible.

7) Begin to unfold the wick again, keeping the needle in, but as you do each fold and take it off the needle, stick the pliers in the kneedle hole and pull them appart to widden the hole, without breaking any threads.

8) Keep going till you've gotten to the end.

9) Now push the end of one of the pieces of rope through the hole in the stiched together part. You will need to use the pliers to open the hole as much as possible without breaking any threads, and a bit of patience.

10) Start to rebuild the cathedral head, threading the rope through as you go. The top of the wick will take some figuring out, but i'll leave that to you I'd hope that if you're coordinated to be spinning fire you can figure out how.

11) Sew kevlar thread through each of the corners of the wick, but don't tie till you've done them all, or else it will go lop sided

12) Compress the wick down and tie up the threads, cutting off the excess with scissors. Tie a double knot at the bottom of the wick, and a single knot at the top:

13) Pour yourself a drink, you deserve it

14) Now take the long piece of rope and fold it round the end of the chain and pull it down to the length required, tieing another knot at the top of the wick. Use kevlar thread to sew up the knots and put some PVA glue on the ends of the rope to stop them from fraying

15) Repeat, and you have flids!

(This board doesn't allow more than a few pictures, so to see all the steps with pictures click here: https://www.fire-chains.com/projects/flids.php
)

Have fun!

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