Who plays with fire?

Whether its poi, juggling clubs, fire breathing, devil sticks, some sort of pyro-eroticism, or anything at all that burns brightly, lets hear it.

Where are you?
what do you play with?
Do you work with some sort of group?
Do you perform for the public?
Any tips?

I play with poi, devil sticks and clubs, though only devil sticks on fire as yet. Poi will be burning in a matter of weeks (as soon as i get a set together.) Clubs are a long, long way off.

I'm a pyromaniac. does that count? i like to burn down houses and places of worship.

I went to my buddies house and his dad had a bottle of 151 rum. I picked it up and said "you know you can blow fire with ths shit." His face lit up, I took a swig and blew fire like a dragon. It's a great party trick. Now I want to put some rum on my hand, blow a flame on it and give everyone a flaming middle finger. But don't try this at home.

Alas, ia cannot eat/breathe fire on account of some pretty deep dental damage. Putting fuel in my mouth would equal poison. If i win the lottory and get it fixed i will pick up on that the very next day.

also:

good christ, hel! do they allow that sort of thing in norway? fuck! i feel so... tame. fuck.

I stopped playing with fire when I nearly burnt down my parent's bathroom. hee.

i have an oxy-acetylene outfit and i gas weld in my garage. does that count?

I'm oooooh so close to being licenced to make my own fireworks...I've also lit myself on fire several times during a prank (safety first).
One time I didn't plan properly (didn't do the checks) and one of my friends ended up in a circle of fire...needless to say but I plan everything now.

Well, sort of. Thats the sort of thing i'm working on in school. Or hope to work on soon.

Funny, i guess i have a think for fire. fucking aries.

By contact juggling, do you mean the balls a'la Michael Moschen in Labrynth?

I've been toying with those for a while on and off, and fuck if thats not hard. Most other things like that just kind of *happen* for me, but not that.

me!
i'm very new at it.
just poi for now, but i intend to move on to batons, blowing and eating.

i'm still waaaaaay to new to this to join troupes or practice in public.

The subtlety involved is amazing. Most of the other motion-type stuff has mainly large motions. But, not those bastard balls... I've can barely keep from dropping it, and i've been on it for a while.

Yeah, i would hesitate to call myself "good" or anything of that sort, but the nice thing about pensacola is that there would be no reason not to practice in public.

Performance isn't really something i had ever considered, except in the context of panhandling. Not like a "show." All of the motion-toy type stuff is very meditative, for lack of a better word, and thats my own particular bend on the subject.

Ok, heres a concern. Construction.

What type of fire poi do any of you use?
Did you buy them, or make them?
What do you use for Wicking?

I have an idea of the basic construction od the handles, thether, all the swivels, clips and other parts. The wicking is presenting a bit of a challenge, though. I am considering buying wicking from Brian Dube since all their other stuff is so well made.

Any tips that will help me not have to *order* stuff from somewhere will be appreciated.

My friend Tamara is part of the fire group RedMonkeyFire. Check 'em out
Redmonkeyfire

[Edited on Jan 10, 2003 by zero1]

they call it "fan folded" and i had no idea what that is, but what you described is what we used to do with the edge of old-style printed paper in grade school, and called them "cat tails." I think i can handle that.
---but---
Where do you get the wicking, or what do you use? Thats my main sticking point right now. My only option now is to order wicks from Dube. I'd rather go to some store and get some, especially since i don't really do credit cards.

For everything else, i plan on copying the dube non-fire poi that i have currently. Either with gear from hardware or fishing stores. I like the swivels and the looped one piece straps, though i was considering cables, i will know use chain.

Unfortunately, we are a little short on Rock Climbing shops along the gulf coast.

I've done Liquid Nitrogen swallowing. Its kinda like fire swallowing except with LN.

L, I saw that too (the fire contact ball), I realllly wanna do that someday. It was so cool! Myself, I first saw contact juggling at an open poi spin in Boston... I was so taken with it,I immediately put my poi down and played with the ball for the rest of the time. It's SO soothing and hypnotizing. It takes so much hand & wrist control though!
As for fire... yes, I do spin poi I want to learn staff and fire eating... but I think I'll always stay away from breathing. I made my own poi, and I used chain, kite swivels, key rings, and other various hardware that I forget the name of at the moment.
I don't belong to a troupe... I'm not that good yet. I rarely get to spin fire 'cause I'm away at school, but I have choreographed poi to songs and spun glowsticks at various campus events. For pics of me, tryptamine, and DreamMaker spinning fire, go here:
http://www.jts.org/sgny_fire/

I fire. *sighs*

oh, you guys are killing me with the pictures, and all. I haven't seen or spoken with another juggler/motion person in ages. Knowing that there are this many fire folks around just warms my heart.

L is using the same recipe I learned (he is currently spinning with the same folks I've been learning from). I remember that welded link dog leads make the best chains since you don't need to worry about the links coming apart. The length is supposed to be something like your arm (the wick should just barely reach your armpit with the handle in your hand) but you can change that for what you want to do (shorter for fast stuff, longer for major arm wrapping fun).

I know my troupe pals get their stuff online from www.renegadejuggling.com (go to the root of the site url for more links) which is a little cheaper than dude and you can order it in whatever length you want (I think).

I started leaerning staff from L's pals when I moved to Seattle in august 2001 and then did my first few burns at Burning Man (earned me a special Alien Love Nest pendant that year). I am not super dedicated so I haven't progressed as fast as some of my friends (Lane's girl already has far better and smoother staff transitions than I do and she started long after I did). I started learning poi and transfer and eating and double staves and other arts later, but I always loved the staff first and foremost.

Thanks, onethirdpassion for posting the links to the pictures in NYC and for spinning with us, freyja for taking the wicked pictures, and luna for hosting the spinning and the pics. It was so much fun to spin for everyone at SGNY. Next time, freyja, you should spin with us.

snakepiss: heed L's warning and stick to Lamp Oil. I have a friend who does fire breathing belly dancing in vancouver and had a nasty face burning accident. She's okay now, and has made some great paintings about what she went through, but I would reccommend always being as safe as you can, of course.

Nala: L is a great teacher and I can't wait to see how it goes next weekend

Hel: You kick ass!! I wanna see you do all that kick ass shit.

Dreaming of fire,
- DreamMaker