Learning Poi/Fire Spinning

Submitted by ti-bak on Mon, 02/26/2007 - 8:22pm.

ti-bak

Posts: 39
Joined: 2007-01-30

Hey people,
Many of us who attended the gathering at the Misled House on Sunday thought it would be cool to learn Poi. This will be our first self-education project together.
Although I'm not sure when we can meet up and practice (and this isnt the best weather to do poi outside anyway), I figured we can still coordinate online.

You can easily make your own poi with materials you can find at your house. If you want to purchase one online they start at about $20. The ones you can light on fire cost a little bit more. I made a pair of simple poi just to practice with and they work fine. I think we can make ones that light up just as easy. The materials to make practice poi are as follows:

-beans, rice or pennies
-Shoe Laces (I read that it should be the length from the tip of your middle finger to your elbow but I think this really depends on the spinner's preference)
-A pair of socks or cloth that you can wrap around the beans, rice or pennies.
*If you're using rice or beans, it helps out to conceal it in a ziplock bag before putting it in the sock or bundling it with the cloth.

Here's a website that teaches different spinning styles and DIY Pois
http://www.domorepoi.com/poi_fire_spinning_lessons.php

What are some ideas people have on this project? Someone mentioned having a poi making gathering at the meeting. How can we help each other out in learning this skill?

Tue, 02/27/2007 - 1:48pm

kid_prototype

Posts: 126
Joined: 2006-12-17

i wanna do it!

from the first time i saw somebody spin fire, i thought, damn, that's so cool...
Maybe we can get together and make the poi next sunday? I can help gather materials. That site looks really helpful. The ceilings on our room are pretty high, but i think if multiple people did it at the same time, they'd hit each other. if the weather isn't awful, we can do it in the backyard. The forecast says Sunday will be partly cloudy with a high of 42 -- not bad. Maybe id we get good we can perform at some events that we organize. Also my friend Beatrice is really experienced with poi, but i haven't yet got a hold of her.

On a side note, juggling balls are easy to make with balloons and a filling like rice or sand or beans. Let's start a circus!
--sarah

Tue, 02/27/2007 - 2:05pm

kid_prototype

Posts: 126
Joined: 2006-12-17

another question

Now that more people are getting interested in doing learning groups and stuff, i think it would be good to discuss some of the ways misled youth has envisioned supporting these groups. We've done some writing about these things, a while ago i posted all the writing on the forums so that people could give feedback. Here is the link, definitely give yr input...

http://www.misled-youth.org/node/60

also check out the threads about the library, collaborative projects, and the omnibus...

--sarah

Wed, 02/28/2007 - 11:50pm

mynweb

Posts: 490
Joined: 2006-10-31

let's get specific...

who's interested in getting together soon and actually trying this poi thing out? If so, when? I'd be available friday or over the weekend...we could do it in our house our in a park. The good thing about our house is we can warm up and eat, but a park in manhattan might be more convenient. I'd be willing to send out an email announcement if we can set a date/time.

--sarah