Forums > Technical Discussion > Stilts and *very* long poi

Posted: 18th Dec 2001
Your not completely nuts. A girl in my group (and I'm next..) does stilts and spins fire poi. The stilts added only about 1 - 1 1/2 meters to her height but she spins these really heavy poi's with 5 fire wicks in each chain. You can't do much with those but they look so damn good...

Posted: 18th Dec 2001
There is a video of a guy (Bill "Stretch" Coleman) that uses stilts and poi on the videos page. Also check for some pics here:https://stiltwalker.com/photos.htmI would like to try stilts.

Courage is the man who can stop after only one peanut

Posted: 18th Dec 2001
I can give you info about how I made my stilts if you like.I found stilts easier to pick up than tight rope and unicycle, both of which I am appaling at.

__ __ __ __ __You're depriving some poor village of it's idiot

Posted: 18th Dec 2001
yeah I wouldn't mind seeing the plans, my email address is in my profile.Cheers

Courage is the man who can stop after only one peanut

Posted: 18th Dec 2001
I met a woman, Connie , a professional entertainer, who figured out the whole fire-poi concept on her own to complement her unicycling. Her poi were about 5' long and made of very heavy chain, so they were very hard to manage (even standing on solid ground). She could only manage side-circles and butterflies with that setup. and wound up getting some more normal-sized (and more importantly, normal-weighted) poi.If you can rig up something on the cheap to practice with, and you have a spotter (or something to grab onto) in case the going gets weird, it's at least worth a shot. But yeah, safety first.

Laugh while you can, monkey-boy

Posted: 18th Dec 2001
Not surprisingly (given my hop name), that's one of the things that I do. I've not used 10' chains before, but I will say, when you try to do really fancy tricks, it gets kind of awkward. Another thing to watch out for is kero on the ground. Stilts and slick are a bad combination. Right now, I'm still developing plans for a pair of fire stilts to spin on. Maybe that's a bit of overkill, but hey , we already spin fire, why not take the extra step. Also, I have several stilt designs, one of which I think is quite good, if anyone can't find a design they like.

Posted: 18th Dec 2001
Have an idea for your slippery probem... on my stilts I nailed pieces of rubber cut from old car tires onto a the rounded bottom of the stilts. This provided grip for most conditions, although I have driven over a diesel slick before and know that even car tires don't stick to some things.'Nubis

__ __ __ __ __You're depriving some poor village of it's idiot

Posted: 19th Dec 2001
OK - this is a shot in the dark, but surely if you keep you poi in either split-time or butterfly formations (especially one-each-way) then they'd kind act as counter balances to each other?------------------https://welcome.to/thehugbubble The Mug Shot Gallery Words to memerise, words hypnotise, words make my mouth exercise.

Burner of Toast
Spinner of poi
Slacker of enormous magnitude

Posted: 19th Dec 2001
If you were spinning split time, then when the poi are horizontal you will have one pulling forwards and one backwards creating a coupled moment about your body. This might have the effect of spinning one.But hey.... I will try as soon as I get to Africa and find my stilts

__ __ __ __ __You're depriving some poor village of it's idiot

Posted: 21st Dec 2001
As for the the rubber on the bottom of stilts, I definitely have that, but I have compiled a list of things that I have learned(from working in clubs) that the rubber doesn't grip on. They include (but are not limited to): grapes, rose petals, limes, kero, rum, vodka, ok any kind of alcohol. I haven't fallen, but you can feel your balance waver. This is mostly a problem on slick dance floors, but I have felt my balance go on asphalt with kero on it.Basically, no matter what, it's important to be very conscious of what dangers are below. If you know that there is fuel on the ground, just step carefully. It is very doable, with caution

Posted: 21st Dec 2001
what about creating really long clubs so that they can be used for both swinging and four legged style stilt walking?