Too Many Flames on P.net!

[Steven Ragatz]

At the risk of actually making an useful contribution to P.net, I thought I would interject my own ideas on the recent barrage of flames on this site...

If you are a juggler, check out:

http://www.stevenragatz.com/bkstage/torch1.htm

and

http://www.stevenragatz.com/bkstage/torch2.htm

I particularly like the self lighting torch idea on page 2! It's a slick little finesse that I have never seen anyone else do.

Steven Ragatz

[Scot Free]

self lighting torch eh? that's freekin' cool! I'm a gonna try it out.

[Mr.Taxi Trix]

Thanks, Steve. Thats a refreshing read. Are you doing 5 torches? I'm teaching beginner 5 club at the convention this summer, and looking for resources, three club drills, ect. any ideas?

[Steven Ragatz]

Taxi:

I don't have any unusual insight on numbers. A cascade with five torches was as far as I ever got.

Work under the trick, on the trick, and beyond the trick. How much time you devote to each depends on your frame of mind and how easily frustrated you become.

To work "under" on five, I would say that a three chase, four crossing (five with a hole), doubles, and triples would be a good start.

When working on five itself, any trials of short, clean runs of X throws, followed by the occasional run of X * 5 throws.

To work beyond, you could be working towards six, with three in one hand, or six and seven balls/rings.

As far as torches go, they are somewhat more forgiving than the clubs because they are skinny. I use one piece clubs that have a similar handle structure to the one piece torch. But, you have to keep the torches pointed up so that the flames don't take the hair off of your arms on the initial down swing to start juggling, particularly if they have more than one wick. Once you get to the five level, the fear of flames should no longer be an issue. Depending on the torch construction, it isn't that bad to catch the wick - the only thing you have to look out for are metal hardware that attaches the wick to the neck. This is why I don't attach my wicks with wires. The wick burns cool, as it is the fuel that supports the flame, but any hardware used to hold the wick in place gets very hot.

Anyway, by the time one can juggle five clubs, there isn't any chance to accidentally catch the wrong end. If the spin is wrong, you just let it fall. If you do catch a half spun torch, you do so on purpose. One of the three torch tricks that I did in my street show was to "accidentally" get them backwards and juggle the wrong end. You can't stop and hold the wick, and it makes your hands all messy, but the heat is bearable as long as there is no exposed hardware .

Good lighting will help. Although fire looks brighter in the dark, when you start juggling with more than three, seeing the handles clearly becomes more important, so painting the handles white will help.

Steve

[Triona]

Pokie-Poke made one about two years ago. It uses a whole different principle though. I'll let him post the design if he wants to (otherwise he'll yell at me).

[Steven Ragatz]

I've see other designs for self lighting torches that use lighter mechanisms. I used a space heater starter mounted on a torch stand to automatically light one once. It worked fairly well, but there was a delay of several seconds before the element would heat up enough to ignite the torch. I like the match idea because it is so cheap simple. A box of 350 matches in the states costs less than two bucks.

On a different note, whenever I do fire in a show I make sure that I have a small rag or towel in my pocket before I go on. "Why Steve? Why do you have a towel in your pocket before you go on?" I hear you ask...

Well, it's one of those fluke things. I was doing a long series of ice shows one summer. The show was called "Fire and Ice", and since the skaters didn't deal well with flames, I did lots of fire stuff to compensate. Even though I was with the show for several hundred performances, I think I practiced the torch juggling with lit torches in rehearsal only once. In that one time, I finished the routine, tossed the last torch as a high toss, then missed it. It fell onto the ice and broke, just at the neck. This left the burning wick separated from the handle.

Now it was sitting on the ice, so there was no danger of anything catching fire, but I realized that I had no way of picking the piece up! I wasn't about to reach into the flame and carry it off by either the burning part or by the hot metal part! I had to kick it off the ice and wait for the flames to die down enough to blow it out. I was so lucky that it broke the one time I was rehearsing and not in performance because I dropped that last throw often (I had a good drop line that I liked using at that point in the act).

Consequently, I now carry a small towel in my pocket to be able to pick up any flaming parts in case of a mishap. Of course, now that I am prepared, it has never happened again...

Steve